Removing Headliner on Subaru Outback

Has anyone ever removed the headliner - that interior fabric roof in most cars - from their vehicle? I want to mount Yakima landing pads to the roof of my Subaru Outback, but in order to do this I need to remove the headliner in order to see what I'm drilling into.

The factory rack only allows me to place bars 30" apart which is ridiculous for the Tandem Island. By installing my own Landing Pads I can have cross bars about 5 feet apart. Plus, this will make the boat sit about 3 to 4" lower which might allow me to park in the garage with the TI on top.

So if anyone knows how to remove that headliner, I'd love some pointers. It looks to me like something that will never go back on properly.

Thoughts?
Thanks,
Andrew

https://www.rei.com/product/692554/yakima-landing-pads-set-of-4

I had a leak in the roof on my jeep Cherokee which caused the fabric to separate from the cardboad backing on the headliner. It eventually got so bad that the fabric would simply rest on the headrests when the vehicle was unoccupied. Guess where it rested when I was driving ? I eventually had to take the headliner down and use fabric adhesive to reattach all of the fabric to the backing. You're right, it seems like it will never go back on right but it actually isnt too difficult. The hardest part was actually getting the fabric to adhere without any bubbles or creases.

Once you get the molding around the corners of the headliner off, there are usually a few snaps/clips that hold it to the roof. Just make sure that you have an extra set of hands because the headliner is really clumsy to handle once you get it down and man handling it alone could easily bend/crease it.

Perfect, thanks!

Pretty easy actually. Take out the interior panels around the headliner and some screws around the sun visors and interior lights. The fiber glass headliner will fall off the roof easily. Just be careful taking it out of the car so you don't crack it. If the cloth is already sagging or dirty n faded just peel it off slowly. Then scrape off the old glue and cloth left behind with a wire brush. I bought replacement cloth and spray can glue from O’reilly.
Place clean headliner on a flat table. Spray glue on headliner and cloth in small sections. Start on one end working your way to the other end. I waited i think a couple of minutes to let stuff get tacky before I pressed cloth to headliner. Allow for overhang like 1.5” so you can fold and glue on back side on the perimeter of the board. Use small squidgy to press cloth to take out slack and creases.

Some things are better done at the upholstry shop
Have them remove as much as you need then reinstall
Save the hassle

I finally installed Yakima landing pads on the roof of my Outback. The bars are now spaced 5 feet apart, much better than the nearly-useless 30" fixed distance you get from the factory rack.

I pulled the headliner back just enough to see where to drill and to get the backing nut onto the screws. An easy job once the headliner was out of the way. Everything looks pretty solid and the car is now back in one piece. The bars are also about 3" lower than before so hopefully this will make car-topping slightly easier.

Nice job!!!! Looks great! Gonna be doing the forester soon....

Thanks. The front was easier than the back. I broke two plastic tabs on different panels, but thankfully nothing critical.
The back was harder to access and there were more components underneath that interfered. In fact, I drilled in the wrong place a few times, but those holes are covered by the landing pads.

I would recommend getting a 2nd person. There was a lot of reaching and holding awkward positions as I tried to tighten the screw from above while holding the nut underneath.

But I'm very happy with it. Looking forward to car-topping the TI again.
Andrew

seeing these hatchbacks with racks really makes me think they're the way I need to go with my next vehicle whenever that is.

good gas mileage, a decent amount of room, and if it's anything like my old 2005 subaru fun to drive. and about 3 or more feet shorter than my truck.

all loaded up with kayak and gear does it have to fight through the wind ?

Thanks. The front was easier than the back. I broke two plastic tabs on different panels, but thankfully nothing critical.
The back was harder to access and there were more components underneath that interfered. In fact, I drilled in the wrong place a few times, but those holes are covered by the landing pads.

I would recommend getting a 2nd person. There was a lot of reaching and holding awkward positions as I tried to tighten the screw from above while holding the nut underneath.

But I'm very happy with it. Looking forward to car-topping the TI again.
Andrew

Looks great.

Paul