PRICE
“Based on a Google price guide, as a general rule expect a professional starlight headliner install to cost between $1500-$3000+ Australian.
Scroll to the bottom of this page for full pricing details and break down of individual costs.
However for a rough guide for us to drop down headliner board, recover in material suitable for starlights, install starlights and reinstall headliner board is:
Ute approx. price guide is $1750 (excluding shooting star kits)
Sedan approx. price guide is $1900-2150 (excluding shooting star kits)
Wagon approx. price guide is $2900 (excluding shooting star kits)
European/Specialist approx. price guide is $3200 (excluding shooting star kits)
TURNAROUND TIME:
MOST JOBS: Usually booked in for 3-5 full days work is ideal, for example 9am drop off Monday, and pickup Friday is sufficient time for most star light jobs. Our most common Falcon/Commodore Utes/Sedans we can bring to a shorter timeframe.
FAST EXCHANGE OPTION: We can get customer turnaround times down to a FAST 60mins for starlight installs on the most common exchange jobs we do, Ford Falcon AU BA BF FG and Holden Commodore VX VT VY VZ VE VF both in the Ute and Sedan range. This is only if picking from our stock we prepare during down times/cancellations which is jobs recovered in a finish matching the factory plastics/pillars/sun-visors for that particular model. We aim to keep all prepared boards on the shelf ready for quick exchanges, bookings essential prior to arrival.
- FORD FG UTE/SEDANS: (prepared in our #6v light oyster velour finish with approx. 400-550 fibre optics installed)
- FORD AU BA BF UTES/SEDANS (prepared in our #3 light grey velour finish with approx. 400-550 fibre optics installed)
- HOLDEN VX VT VY VZ VE VF UTES/SEDANS (prepared in either our #3 light grey velour, or #1 ebony velour, or black suede finish with approx. 400-550 fibre optics installed)
ABOUT THE RECOVERY STAGE:
If the headliner is sagging its a must that we recover. If it’s not sagging, and you’d like the kit to be just added to the original factory material we then will do a quality check on the current factory fabric/foam to let you know if it’s recommended and to proceed.
Most cars will need a fresh recovered headliner except Felt/Carpet headliners (which is seen on some Mazda, Subaru, Toyota models), as felt can hide imperfections and don’t tend to get the stitch pull effect.
Note: that below photos are under light, making imperfections much more visible than what they would be if the roof board was installed back in the car, with shadows and a dark cabin to hide more. You see more imperfections on star light boards during the day when lights are not visible.
HERE BELOW IS EXAMPLE OF IMPERFECTIONS IF FIBER OPTICS ARE USED ON FACTORY FLAT KNIT FABRICS: Stitch pull marks are visible.
HERE BELOW IS EXAMPLE OF A MUCH LESS IMPERFECTION IF FIBER OPTICS ARE USED ON SUEDE FABRICS: The holes are still visible during daylight/under light, but has much less appearance of the nasty stitch pull marks, this is why we recommend suede or velours. Velour fabric can hide even more imperfections. Our velour stock is, #1 Ebony black, #2 Dark Grey Charcoal & #3 Light Grey. Note: We now have the #6 light oyster available in a velour, we call it #6v.
If your Headliner is felt, you can wish to not get recovery in suede or velour done, this can save a little off the total. However Factory flat knit stitch headliners will give off imperfections when the fiber optic is pushed through, so we only recommended to recovery in either foam backed Suede fabrics, or Velours.
STOCK UPDATE: We now have a light oyster velour #6v, and a Black foam backed suede. (not advertised on the list below)
Note: We now have the #6 light oyster available in a velour, we call it #6v. This product is ideal for the Ford Falcon FG if getting a Starlight install done, but wanting to keep with original cream/beige/tan appearance. See photos below for example of our #6V (velour)
Below: Any roof lining can vary in colour appearance depending on what light hits it at the time. Below shows example of the same fabric looking more cream/tan in one photo, but then more light grey/beige in another photo. Both are same car, same fabric, same day, different lighting angle.
HERE BELOW IS EXAMPLE OF USING THE FACTORY FELT FABRIC (SEEN ON FORD RAPTOR JOB WE DID): Factory Felt headliners can look like a flat knit appearance, but felts usually don’t give of stitch pulls, so can be used for fiber optics. However, felt headliners can crease very easily when removed out the car and reinstall, so we will explain options we have, one being that we can actually apply starlight kit while board is dropped down but still inside the car.
We suggest recovery in Velour, as our high quality Suede is now out of stock till (Awaiting ETA on new stock). We will have light oyster suede, black suede, light grey suede. However customer can always supply there own suede fabric, depending on the quality it may hinder longevity but still work OK.
SEE A CLOSE UP OF OUR VELOUR STOCK HERE: Not updated to include our suede fabrics yet but a list of our fabrics can be viewed here in this video https://youtu.be/f8ObVAdKnzw
Q&A: WHAT IF WE SKIP THE RECOVERY STAGE?
If leaving your headliner alone untouched, not recovered, the issue with factory flat knit fabrics, is that as the fiber optic light cable is pushed through, it can very well leave an imperfection/Stitch pull on the fabric, that’s why it’s usually suggest to recover in Velour fabrics or Suede to lessen the appearance of imperfections. But they still happen even with using that suggested fabric, just way less noticeable. But is totally up to the customer to decide. If we subtract the recovery stage from the quote, however we are still left to include the removal and reinstall stages unless you are bringing the board to us, removed, and you’d be doing the reinstall stages, if this is the route you’d like to take, get in contact with us and I’ll let you know the figures.
EXTRA NOTES ABOUT THE OUTCOME/HANDOVER
The starlight engine device can make a slight hum when on its twinkle mode function, which may be more obvious if starlight engine is placed overhead inside the roof behind headliner. However usually only noticeable if you have the car turned off and have the twinkle mode running. So what we suggest if the sound was not ideal and your stationary with car turned off but starlights are on, is to just turn off the twinkle mode, as thats what creates movement inside the star light led engine and makes the slight hum/vibration that may be noticeable.
The cut fibre optics that are visible coming through the fabric can be a little sharp if rubbing hand/fingers along them. When using our suggested suede or velour fabrics, then this usually cushions the feel. However fibre optic strands may have more noticeable feeling of sharpness when having the optics come straight out of felt fabric, so we do suggest suede recovery or velour if that is any concern to you. We like to not place fibre optics around sun-visors or grab handles, as thats where your fingers/hands may touch freguently when inside the car, so this keeps any accidental/unexpected rubbing of the fibre optics to a minimum.
WE DON’T ADD IN FIBRE OPTICS TO THE SUNROOF SHADE PANELS
Note: Sunroofs we currently don’t do with fibre optics, just the headliner board surrounding any sunroof.
Some sunroofs may be the style we wouldn’t work on, so check with us for confirmation. If your car has a sunroof we haven’t worked on before, it would be the type of job we would need to sight prior to see if it’s something we would work on. All depends on how the headliner comes away from the sunroof section, as we usually leave sunroofs installed in the car when we remove headliners (and even recover sunroofs inside the car), and thats usually achievable when the headliner is just clipped in around sunroof. The ones we wouldn’t work on is when the headliner has tiny screws around the sunroof cutout usually seen above looking into the car when sunroof is open, if it’s the screw setup we would then be required to remove sunroof shade panel to get the headliner out, and thats not a service we offer unfortunately on most makes/models. Aftermarket sunroof setups is usually also generally something we avoid.
FULL BLACK OUT OPTION:
As for spraying plastics black we suggest 2 options, as its not something we do any more.
1) You bring the car to us, and we remove the headliner, pillars, roof components, and let you know once removed for you to come back and pick up the removed components ready for your self to spray black, & drop off back to us once done.
2) or You drop the already removed headliner and/or Pillars for us to do the recovery stage only, and you do the removal and reinstall stages, which also drops the price as well.
Pillar recovery where possible, We suggest to recover these in #5 Anthracite black charcoal flat knit fabric, same as FGX & Holdens Black shadow grey. As that way we can reuse the non foam backed fabric we keep that’s clean and came off other headliner boards for pillars to get that tight factory finish. For pillars we usually book the car in for approx. 6 hours extra in turnaround time, and brought to us. Otherwise using our new fabric stock is same price, but does have a foam back about 4mm that can’t be removed, so that gives a sponge effect to pillars, not usually ideal. I suggest the tighter finish with the old reused Anthracite fabric as we only use sections of offcuts we keep that are super clean. Or recovery in Suede would look nice to complete a full suede look. Velour on pillars can look nice too.
SUMMARY OF HOW IS IT DONE
Video of the shooting stars & the process explained on our YouTube Channel
https://youtu.be/bzetu0ZBQQg
EXAMPLE OF FINISHED INSTALL
Q&A’S: WHAT IF THE ORIGINAL BOARD IS NOT SAGGING?
If the Headliner board is in good condition, and recovery wouldn’t most likely be needed, you could then save on recovery stage. However I do suggest to get it recovered in Suede because it’s hides most of the imperfections of the Fiber Optic poking through. Wheres the factory original flat knit fabrics show imperfections, sometimes stitching gets pulled as fiber optic pokes through. If the job isn’t ready to sag, or a model where the roof board is not designed to sag, recovery in new suede material can be done straight over the top of existing factory fabric. As we do that on roof boards that have factory material permanently fixed or too new to budge off the board. Usually Felt/carpet liners are permanently glued.
Q&A’S: JUST SEEKING THE SUPPLY OF KITS OR BOARD ONLY
If your just after the kits we use, we buy it at roughly $150-$600, but our stock is low and assigned for upcoming orders, so in these situations we suggest customers to buy there own kits directly from supplier.
We buy off eBay usually,
Here below is the link to starlight kits on eBay, suppliers and stock changes frequently, so gets difficult to send you to an exact product, we just search for ‘twinkle’ as that gives you the changing star effect. Also ones where they come with a meteor shooting star unit is great too. And I’d recommend at least 400+ stars for sedan, and roughly 800+ for wagon. Also check the lengths of fiber optics, we like to buy 3m length, that way we have more options to hide the unit once installed.
IF YOU WISH TO DIY, FIND A STARLIGHT HEADLINER KIT HERE BELOW ON EBAY:
https://ebay.us/uM5XCA
Q&A’S: IS THIS SERVICE ONLY OFFERED DURING OFF PEAK WINTER?
Starlight Headliner installs is currently going to be a seasonal thing we offer around our off-peak winter season in MAY, JUNE, JULY, AUG, SEP, OCT & NOV. This is because we are kept extremely busy during Summer with back to back orders of standard jobs. This is because starlight headliners take a long time to complete, and during that time frame we could book in on average another 20 standard jobs within the same week, which makes the opportunity cost too high to make Starlights a job we do during summer peak period.
(We still working at it, If the information on this page get too confusing, or if you have further questions, we can have a chat via phone call to go over further in detail) – Adelaide SA based
PRICING FOR CUSTOM STAR LIGHT FIBER OPTIC INSTALL:
OUR SUGGESTION ON WHICH KIT TO USE ON SEDANS / UTES (ALSO WAGONS BUT WITH LARGE CUTOUT OF A MOONROOF TAKING UP SPACE) IS:
For Sedans/Utes job you could get away with 370-500 stars, or even a 550 (depending on which kit is available). However you can still choose to go with the larger 800-900 stars on a sedan to amplify the overall look and really fill out the roof board with stars.
OUR SUGGESTION ON WHICH KIT TO USE ON WAGONS IS:
A larger amount approx 800-900 stars on a wagon. Note: if the wagon has a large sunroof cut out that takes up space, you can select to go for less stars as there would be less space required to fill.
PRICE BREAKDOWN
(If the figures get too confusing, or if you have further questions, we can have a chat to go over further in detail) Notes: We use an approx. star light fibre optic number as kits that are available vary in size.
- A: PRICE TO INSTALL THE STARS
- $1250 for install of 370-450 stars
- $1500 for install of 550 stars
- $2050 for install of 8-900 stars.
- B: PRICE TO DROP DOWN AND REINSTALL BOARD
- $70 Standard Commodore/Falcon UTE
- $200 Standard Commodore/Falcon Sedan
- $200 Standard Commodore/Falcon Wagon
- $200 to drop down a single sunroof shade panel (note: not all sunroofs we work on)
- $250-600 Specialist/European Car (Price varies depending on job, send us photos so we can confirm this price)
- C: RECOVERY OF BOARD IN NEW MATERIAL IF NEEDED eg: Velour or (Suede stock may vary in price)
- $280 Standard Commodore/Falcon UTE
- $300 Standard Commodore/Falcon Sedan
- $350 Standard Commodore/Falcon Wagon
- $300 for single sunroof shade panel recovery (note: not all sunroofs we work on)
- $400-800 Specialist/European Car (Price varies depending on job, send us photos so we can confirm this price)
- D: SUPPLY OF STARLIGHT FIBRE OPTIC ENGINE & WIRING/FUSES
- $150 for approx. 370-450 star kit
- $200 for approx. 550 star kit
- $300 for approx. 800-900 star kit
- E: SUPPLY and INSTALL OF SHOOTING STAR KIT $300 (Note: most shooting star kits can be spilt up to branch of and make up to 1-2 shooting stars quite nicely, depending on the kit available of-course. However its sometimes possible to get a 3rd shooting star and sometimes even more out of the same unit.)
- $150 for install of 1-2 shooting star, (+100 for a 3rd shooting star or each additional star added)
- + $150 to supply kit
For a TOTAL price, we add (A,B,C & D) some sections we don’t need to add, eg: Recovery stage if its not required.
Note: We aim to keep the price updated regularly depending on what kits are available.
Ute approx. price guide is $1750 (excluding shooting star kits)
Sedan approx. price guide is $1900-2150 (excluding shooting star kits)
Wagon approx. price guide is $2900 (excluding shooting star kits)
European/Specialist approx. price guide is $3200 (excluding shooting star kits)
THE GOOGLE PRICE GUIDE: As a general rule expect a starlight headliner to cost between $900US – $2000US+ for the installation. Which is approx. $1500-$3000+ Australian.