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My 2008 DTS has a large gap between the interior head liner and rear window.. ??????

6K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  billdaman 
#1 ·
I just bought a 2008 DTS... while washing the car I noticed that there's a 1" gap between the head liner and the rear window / roof. The gap is large enough that when I drive with the windows open the wind gets under the head liner it it appears to flop lightly.

I would think there should be some kind of trim or something that would seal the gap.

Is this normal? You don't notice it from inside the car unless you look above the rear dash board. Or look through the rear window.

Does anyone else have this gap on their 2008 DTS or is this some kind of manufacturing defect?

Joe
 
#2 ·
You may try pushing up on it across the top of the rear glass, there are some patches of velcro in different areas to help hold it up. When I bought my '08 a year ago the headliner was sagging badly and I got the dealer to replace it under warranty. It looked like it had about a 3 or 4 inch gap across the back.
 
#4 ·
Does your vehicle have a sunroof, and if so can you determine if it is a "Webasto"? GM routinely installed sunroofs at transport Depots for the DTS as the sunroof Spur line at DHAM could not handle the volume of DTS ordered with sunroofs. Because of this throughput issue during ordering peroids with large volume of sunroof vehicles, many vehicles ordered with sunroofs had them installed at Depots.

The key to this type of installation is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to install a Factory DTS headliner without damaging it once the glass has been installed without either removing the windshield or backlite. (I know this for a fact as I was a GM Engineer and did studies at the plant that required us to pull headliners out of the vehicle after they had been installed. The only option to put a new headliner back into the vehicle was to remove the Backlite.

The Depot will not remove windshields or backlites so they must install the headliner through the door opening which means that the headliner must be foldable in 1/2

Because of this these sort of Factory / Aftermarket vehicles will have what is called a "floating headliner" This means that inorder to get a headliner that will work with a sunroof into your DTS the depot took the front half of the headliner , kept that portion as a cloth backed solid substrate and installed it. The center of the headliner just behind the sunroof is a floating cloth portion just up to the portion above the backlite, and that installed portion is also solid fiberglass substrate. Everything inbetween is floating headliner cloth that gets stretched tight at the sides of the vehicle. It must float to allow clearance for the slider style sunroof to retract between the headliner and the roof sheet metal.

I also have this setup in my "Factory Installed" / GM Depot installed sunroof on my 2006 DTS. If I have the sunroof open and all the windows open the floating portion of the sunroof flaps about in a rather unsettling manner. ALthough it appears of shoddy Quality, it is actually a normal condition that can only be remedied by getting the floating headliner replaced, a rather costly event if your vehicle is out of Warranty. A Top shop confirmed that they could do very little to improve the situation even with a new headliner, and said best left alone.

Hope this helps!
 
#5 ·
Does your vehicle have a sunroof, and if so can you determine if it is a "Webasto"? GM routinely installed sunroofs at transport Depots for the DTS as the sunroof Spur line at DHAM could not handle the volume of DTS ordered with sunroofs. Because of this throughput issue during ordering peroids with large volume of sunroof vehicles, many vehicles ordered with sunroofs had them installed at Depots.

The key to this type of installation is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to install a Factory DTS headliner without damaging it once the glass has been installed without either removing the windshield or backlite. (I know this for a fact as I was a GM Engineer and did studies at the plant that required us to pull headliners out of the vehicle after they had been installed. The only option to put a new headliner back into the vehicle was to remove the Backlite.

The Depot will not remove windshields or backlites so they must install the headliner through the door opening which means that the headliner must be foldable in 1/2

Because of this these sort of Factory / Aftermarket vehicles will have what is called a "floating headliner" This means that inorder to get a headliner that will work with a sunroof into your DTS the depot took the front half of the headliner , kept that portion as a cloth backed solid substrate and installed it. The center of the headliner just behind the sunroof is a floating cloth portion just up to the portion above the backlite, and that installed portion is also solid fiberglass substrate. Everything inbetween is floating headliner cloth that gets stretched tight at the sides of the vehicle. It must float to allow clearance for the slider style sunroof to retract between the headliner and the roof sheet metal.

I also have this setup in my "Factory Installed" / GM Depot installed sunroof on my 2006 DTS. If I have the sunroof open and all the windows open the floating portion headliner rearward of the sunroof flaps about in a rather unsettling manner. ALthough it appears of shoddy Quality, it is actually a normal condition that can only be remedied by getting the floating headliner replaced, a rather costly event if your vehicle is out of Warranty. A Top shop confirmed that they could do very little to improve the situation even with a new headliner, and said best left alone.

Hope this helps!
 
#7 ·
Can you send a photo of the gap? Are all the plastic "Christmas tree" Plugs thet go through the rea portion of the headliner substrate inserted into place? If they are retained in the roof sheet metal they should be holding the rear edge of the headliner firmly in place
 
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