How to remove headliner and install aftermarket roofrack in 2016+ LX570

[daeojkim]

I have been meaning to write this for the past year.
As we all know, 2016+ LX570 has a roof rail system that can only be removed by removing the headliner. If you want to install an aftermarket roofrack such as Prinsu roof rack, there is no other way but to remove the headliner and remove the aluminum rail.
I will do my best to walk through this as best I can. I do apologize in advance if somethings are not clear.
Just to warn you that if you are doing this for the first time, it will take you a long time. It took me 8 hours to remove the headliner the first time as I was trying to figure things out and trying not to damage anything. Now I think I can do it in 2 hours or less.

This is also a great time to run some wiring over the roofliner if you are thinking of installing additional video cameras, power line, etc.

DISCLAIMER: Attempt this at your own risk. This is only a guidance and I will not take any responsibility if you break something while you attempt to do this.

Parts that I recommend you to get.
1. White and blue panel clips. You will likely break or drop these while removing panels. So have extras ready just in case you are not stuck while putting panels back together.
2. Roofrack mounting bracket x 8. Genuine Toyota BRACKET, 63187-60040. (please confirm this part number at toyota dealer, dont go to Lexus dealer)
3. Clear silicon
4. flat and phillips screw drivers
5. Butter knife (Helps to remove screw covers)
6. Trim removal kit
7. Socket wrench
8. Ratchet wrench, tiny wrench, adjustable wrench
9. Good lighting.
10. Beer and music

Step A: Disconnect battery.
Remove the overhead lights and control panel by removing 2 screws hidden under the cover at the sunglass storage. Then pull on them and disconnect all wiring.

Cont. next thread.

 

[daeojkim]

Step B: Remove center light by gently pulling on them as they are attached by clips. Disconnect All wiring.

Step C: Remove visors holder (see photo) by turning it counter clockwise. Then remove hinge cover and remove screw and remove the outer visor. There is a wiring when you remove the outer visor at the hinge carefully disconnect. The inner visor can be removed by removing the cover with a butter knife and removing the screw.

Step D: Remove all fixed handles on A and B pillar by removing the screw cover and removing the bolt.

Continued...

 

[daeojkim]

Step E: Remove all hinged handles by removing the cover (this part is tricky and I used a small butter knife to pry it) and gently pressing on the clips to remove them.

Part F: Now that all handles and lights are removed, you start removing parts from bottom towards the top. Also you do not need to remove air vents on the headliner or the B pillar. Don't try to remove the vents as you will break them. They are attached to the panel and glued to it.
Remove the bottom door sills on all 4 doors by gently pulling on them, then disconnect wiring that illuminates LEXUS.

Step G: We will start to remove panels on the B pillar. Remove the cover on all the way on the bottom by pulling on it. This will expose the seat belt anchor. Remove the seat belt anchor bolt and allow seat belt to retract. Remove the bottom panel. Check for all clips and they may fall and lose them. Then remove the bolt holding the top panel. pull on the top panel with care to remove it.

Step H: Now we are going to remove the panels in the trunk. (Mine is a 2 row model, so I do not have a third row seat to deal with. I will assume that third row seats have been removed if you have the 3row version). Open the tailgate and gently pull on the tailgate cover, they are held by blue panel clips. Check on the clips and the rubber O-ring seals and not to lose them. Those seals are fragile and can break easily.

 

[daeojkim]

Step I: In order to remove the rear quarter panel in the trunk, you need to remove the following
- Hidden bolt on the 3rd row access step next to the second row seat by the door. Remove cover and remove bolt.
- The second row seat belt anchor. Remove the cover and remove the bolt. Allow belt to retract.
- A hidden bolt under a cover in a "cubicle" near the rear window. see photo.
- A plastic clip that was under the tail gate cover that was just removed. see photo. Just press on center then pull it out. Kind of like the engine bay cover clip.
-There is a deep screw inside a round cover next to where 3rd row seat control switch are located (see photo)

Then gently pull on the panel as they are held by clips. Be mindful of wiring and disconnect them before fully pulling on the panel. Check on all the panel clips.

 

[daeojkim]

After removing the rear quarter panel and disconnecting the wiring, this is what it looks like. Please don't mind the metal bar in the middle of the trunk that is just for a drawer system.

Step J: Remove the panel on the D pillar. This panel on the passenger side cannot be removed without disconnecting the trunk opening arm (whatever this is called) So just pull and let it hang. Disconnect any wiring.

Step K: Remove upper panels on the C pillar.

 

[daeojkim]

Step L: Now we are ready to remove the headliner. Start from the back and gently pull down. These are held by clips. Do not pull more than you need as you don't want to leave a crease on the headliner. Just pull enough to disconnect attachment points. Keep pulling on the edge of the headliner up to the second row seat.

THIS PART IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!!
The headliner around the sunroof is attached by Velcro so you can gently pry on them. But do not pull down all the way when you feel like velcro has detached. On either side of the sunroof there is a plastic D loop that is hooked to the roof. If you just pull down the headliner, you can break this plastic loop. Please see the second photo to understand what I am talking about. You have to slide these plastic loops first then pull down the headliner. I almost broke mine as you can see in the photo the strain marks on the plastic.
Also the rear window washer fluid tube runs along the headliner, so disconnect the line before fully pulling down the headliner. MAKE SURE TO REMEMBER TO RECONNECT OTHERWISE YOU MAY END UP WITH MESSY HEADLINER.

As for the A pillar cover, I just pry it loose enough to allow roofliner to be removed. I just let the A pillar cover hang loose.

The front part of the headliner was not easy to remove with some running wiring etc. So I just loosed enough and hang. This was enough to access all bolts for the roof rail.

The side of the headliner are held by plastic wedge that goes into a metal clip on the edge of the ceiling. See photo below.

 

[daeojkim]

Step M: Now that the headliner is down, you have to access the nuts holding on the roof rails. In order to access them, you have to remove the flat air duct system that run from blower motor on the driver side and runs along the D pillar and onto each side of the roof. These are held mostly by push tags similar to the engine bay cover push tags. Once you remove the tags, the ducts come apart easily.

Also you will have to undo some bolts on the tail end of the air bag that run along the edge of the roof.

The nut looks like this

Here is the removed rail. There are 4 locations that you will have to reach to remove the nuts.

 

[daeojkim]

Here is another photo where end of airbag on driver side had to be dismounted to access the nuts.

Step N: Now that rail is removed, you are left with 2 holes at each of 8 mounting point. This is where the roof rack holding bracket is crucial. This is exact fit to those spots and this is proper way of doing it. Once you have installed the bracket you can easily mount other roof racks, either OEM LC roofracks or aftermarket ones that are designed for 200 series. If you don't want roof rack you can buy the OEM mounting point covers that will fit these brackets perfectly.

Photo from inside.

Photo from outside

The bracket comes with a clip that holds the bracket in place. But it is known issue where the bracket can fall in and you have to remove the headliner again to fix this. So I put a small amount of silicon on the contact point that will keep the bracket secure AND also make it water tight.

Now do this in all 8 mounting points.
Then install your favorite roof rack before reassembling everything back in reverse order just in case.

 

[daeojkim]

Here is the final result with the Prinsu Roof rack and Roofnest Falcon.

 

[nakman]

this is great info, thanks for taking the time to document!

 

[82SC]

Good job. Great write up.

I am in the midst of taking the trim off the entire passenger side and hatch and rear headliner running some wiring on my LC. interesting how they are similar yet different.

Only suggestion would be disconnect ground on battery if messing with the airbags.

But great and detailed write up.

 

[daeojkim]

Good job. Great write up.

I am in the midst of taking the trim off the entire passenger side and hatch and rear headliner running some wiring on my LC. interesting how they are similar yet different.

Only suggestion would be disconnect ground on battery if messing with the airbags.

But great and detailed write up.

Good call. I will add this detail.

 

[grinchy]

After removing the rear quarter panel and disconnecting the wiring, this is what it looks like. Please don't mind the metal bar in the middle of the trunk that is just for a drawer system.


View attachment 2931196

View attachment 2931197
View attachment 2931198

Step J: Remove the panel on the D pillar. This panel on the passenger side cannot be removed without disconnecting the trunk opening arm (whatever this is called) So just pull and let it hang. Disconnect any wiring.

View attachment 2931199

Step K: Remove upper panels on the C pillar.

View attachment 2931202

Where’d your subwoofer go?

 

[daeojkim]

Where’d your subwoofer go?

No subwoofer. This does not have Mark Levinson system. I specifically did not want one as the amplifier is located under the driver seat under the carpet and if it gets wet, we are talking 1000 dollar fix.

Without the subwoofer I get more storage space too.

 

[AnyMal]

Wow. Holy crap bro.

No offense to you or others and thanks for this massively useful pictorial guide but there is absolutely no way im ever doing this to install a hideous full length overland style roof rack. Not on a 2016 anyway.

Thank you for genuinely convincing me to never ever do this and bravo to you man. I have taken apart a few interiors and its like the one thing i wont do on something i plan to keep. They’re just not designed to come apart. I would first dismantle the engine before i would pull apart the plastic fastened interior.

If i had done something like this though, I would have never reinstalled it like factory.
Every clip and fastener would have got a threaded bolt and grommet and headliner would be drilled through to accept external hardware and completely modified for a non blind, non clipped in and out modularity. I dont mess with body clips at all, and if i ever touch one it gets replaced with new.

 

[DirtNap]

Then install your favorite roof rack before reassembling everything back in reverse order just in case.

You sir have done a great service to the community, whether it helps someone DIY it safely, or scares people away from it (@AnyMal )
Thanks for the extra effort to take the pics during the job and write it all up so well!

While we may doubt your sanity, we will never doubt your perseverance!

 

[AnyMal]

You sir have done a great service to the community, whether it helps someone DIY it safely, or scares people away from it (@AnyMal )
Thanks for the extra effort to take the pics during the job and write it all up so well!

While we may doubt your sanity, we will never doubt your perseverance!

No doubt this was a monumental undertaking!

Pulling and popping and reinstalling panels is the second worst part of working on a vehicle right behind rusted and seized hardware.

 

[daeojkim]

No doubt this was a monumental undertaking!

Pulling and popping and reinstalling panels is the second worst part of working on a vehicle right behind rusted and seized hardware.

Surprisingly these panels come out pretty easily if you follow the right steps. Also they go back in nicely and tight. They are pretty well designed to be installed in right sequence. Someone had to put these in a certain order in the factory right?

May be because this was a brand new car when this was done, the plastics were more pliable and less likely to break and forgiving.

Having done this and being able to see how all wiring, tubing, airbags, vents run gave me a great insight on how thing work.

 

[sreyes1103]

Surprisingly these panels come out pretty easily if you follow the right steps. Also they go back in nicely and tight. They are pretty well designed to be installed in right sequence. Someone had to put these in a certain order in the factory right?

May be because this was a brand new car when this was done, the plastics were more pliable and less likely to break and forgiving.

Having done this and being able to see how all wiring, tubing, airbags, vents run gave me a great insight on how thing work.

Great write up and thank you for sharing this with everyone. I noticed in one picture that you have only the rear end of the headliner coming down. Did the Front come down as well or did you have to squeeze your hand in there to get to those bolts?

 

[daeojkim]

Great write up and thank you for sharing this with everyone. I noticed in one picture that you have only the rear end of the headliner coming down. Did the Front come down as well or did you have to squeeze your hand in there to get to those bolts?

I only took down the rear end and sides. I was able to reach all bolts for the railing with the way it is in the photo.

Removing the front was going to be a lot more involved due to all the cables etc. Decided not to remove it.

If you decide to put additional rear back up camera (because rear mounted spare tires block view), then you can preemptively also install a cable while you have the headliner down. Any other cables for that matter.

Hope this helps.