Hello!
im a new owner of a 96 xj6 vanden plas. Have wanted one since my teens which would have been when these were pretty new.
im wanting to do some basic improvements, simple aesthetic changes, head unit, and the big thing i want to modify is re-doing clearcoat in pearl, theres some pealing on roof and trunk.
ill be reading through threads and buying goodies all the goodies that make simple improvements along the way

 

Welcome to the Forums.

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

thanks!
this car rides so nice.... and these have such beautiful interiors.... friday cant come quick enough!

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums LordUnicornFury,

Good to have you with us.
Enjoy the forum.

If you haven't done so already you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.
If you need help with getting around and using the forum follow this link for some help Forum Help

 

Welcome to the forums LordUnicornFury,

Good to have you with us.

I can see you've already found your way to the X300 forum so there's no need for a link to it from me. The 'HOW TO' thread at the top is a good place to start for information on regular issues. You can also use the US Central Region forum by following this link https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/us-central-36/ to find other members in your region.

I've added vehicle details to your Signature to help others to give relevant advice. If you want to change these, go to the User CP button on the left of the top menu bar, then Settings & Options under Your Control Panel. Select Edit Signature and enter the details.

Enjoy the forums.

Graham

 

welcome to the forum - enjoy!!

 

Hello,
Congratulations on your new Jaguar!
Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')

 

Welcome aboard.

 

Welcome and good luck

 

Thanks for the huge giant welcome!!! Im getting the jag delivered a day early! It comes tommorow afternoon

 

Your issue with the clear coat is a common problem with Jaguar. I have the same problem on my 95 xj6, my 98 xj8 and our 2000 s-type. I haven't seen this problem
on either x-type. We have three of those sitting in the driveway. Jaguar really skimped on the clear coat in the factory. Not only that. You need to be aware that the
basecoat is none to thick either. If you attempt to wet sand the clear coat, you may very well go through the basecoat as I did. I tried this on the rear bumper of the xj8.
I thought I could wet sand the clear coat and then a new clear coat would blend over. Well, before I could fully sand the clearcoat, I was through the basecoat.
Your really looking at painting the entire car. You can't spot repair this problem. In a year you will see clear coat peeling on another panel.
Your best bet is to wet sand the entire car and then Vinyl wrap the car. It's a do it yourself kind of project. Unless you have 2K to pay someone to do it. Seriously.
You can get just about any vinyl film for $500 and with some skill and a little patience. You could do this. There are plenty of Youtube videos about this. And don't let anyone tell you not to do this because it will not be original anymore. That ship sailed years ago. Give the car a good vinyl wrap job and the value of the car will get better. You will make the car more relevant and it will appeal to the current market. Jaguar as always been a pretty conservative car. It designed to be classic and blend in. The attraction has always been in the handling and the body work. The paint colors were damn modest compared to the rest of the industry and still are with a few exceptions. With a change in finish and color, you can make this car stand out among the rest. I'm thinking of doing my red xj8 in a Satin or a High Metallic. You could paint the car, but color matching is always tricky and with paint. It is what it is. Fixing any problem is huge and a pain. Any door nick or damage to the finish becomes a very costly repair. With the vinyl. You can peel it off that panel. Do your repairs and then apply a new sheet of vinyl and your done.
There is another process out there call "Dipping". It's a spray on vinyl coating. If you don't like it. Peel it off and try again. The vinyl film is the same way. You can always just peel it off. In a few years, you can change the color of the car. I've painted a number of cars. I don't think I'll ever paint another entire car, now that I can just apply this vinyl film. No primer, no basecoat. no clearcoat. Find a color with a pearl finish you like and wrap the car. With the help of a friend you could have it done in a few days. They say the vinyl film only last about 5 years. Well 5 years will ruin any paint job on todays busy roads. One rock and your paint job is junk.

 

thanks for that! Ill look into the wrap, i wasnt aware the paint could be so thin, though im certainly not opposed to just painting the whole car, the $500 in materials is really appealing given the amount of time id have into paint and still more then $500 materials.

 

OR



Orientation - the curse of the smartphone!

Smartphones and tablets store an image attribute to display images in the correct orientation. This forum and many others cannot interpret the attribute and so the image can appear horizontal or upside down, depending on how the device was being held when the photo was taken.

I had to rotate your avatar photo with editing software to give the second view.

Graham

 

Oh well half the time it’s either headed straight up the hill or straight downhill so it’s fairly accurate either way.
I’ll post pictures from my computer In the future

 

I'm always willing to try new things. This vinyl film is something anyone with some patience could do. The main thing about this process, will be the prep. Keep the surface clean before laying the film down.
This film is fascinating. You can actually pick it back up and lay it down over and over. It is the use of a heat gun that sets the bonding agents. There are many good companies that manufacture this film. 3M is a huge players in this market. If your looking for a bargain. Check out Walmart.com . They sell this stuff on line and have some of the best pricing and there are plenty of colors and finishes to chose from.

 

Welcome, LordUnicornFury.

The 96 Vanden Plas is one of my favorite Jaguars! Well done.

With that user name and avatar, you will fit in just fine here.

By now you are out driving your new Jaguar. But post a picture for us when you can, between drives.

 

Welcome. Its interesting that when I was teen, if you had a four door car, it meant only one thing, that your parents got a new car and gave you the hand-me-down. Nobody under 30 bought a sedan unless they were married. But while I wouldn't have wanted one then, I aspired to get a Jaguar sedan someday because I saw doctors and lawyers driving them. I'd still like to have a Series 3. Up through the 80s, most all cars were available in both two and four door versions, but by the 90s, most manufacturers were only making four door versions and you even started to see 4-door cars like the Subaru WRX outfitted with performance equipment and being rallied. I guess if you grew up in the 90s, four door sedans were the norm for teens.

Sadly with these cars, owners rarely are willing to invest in a total repaint because to have it done properly at a shop costs more than the value of the finished car and to do it yourself at home takes skills that the typical novice doesn't have time to develop (i.e. maybe if you were retired and had nothing else to do). But I would warn to avoid the temptation to get one of those cheap baked enamel jobs from some place like Maaco. It'll look ok from 10 feet away but will look really disappointing in five years and then it'll add 50% to the cost to have it done over again the right way as then they'll have to strip off all the baked enamel before they can start over again (actually cost about twice as much to remove as it cost to apply).

I don't have any experience with the films that rearaxle mentioned, but it sounds intriguing. Professionally applied wraps can be nearly as expensive as paint, but it looks like its far more DIY-friendly than paint since if you mess up, its no big deal to peel it off and do it over. My main beefs with wraps are the ones I've seen at local car shows often have obvious exposed edges (sometimes starting to lift) and the jambs around the doors, hood and trunk are often a totally different color and give it away. Certainly its possible to R&R all the trim in the process to hide the edges (just like you would for a proper paint job) but it must be incredibly difficult or maybe impossible to cover the compound curves in the jambs or more people would do it. I'd probably stay away from the "satin" finishes depending how you plan to use the car. Satin can look fabulous at the car shows, but those are purely weekend toys. All the daily drivers I see on the road and in the local parking lots with satin finishes look like absolute crap from all the accumulated fine scratches, often made worse by what look like futile attempts to remove them. It'd be better to stick with a gloss so you can polish it. I enjoy the AMMO NYC detailing videos and just watched one about polishing scratches out of vinyl wrap. Apparently it can be done, but its much slower than polishing paint because you have to be careful not to heat it up. If you decide to try a DIY vinyl wrap, I would be interested to read about it.

 

I talked to a mechanic and hes got a paint guy who he thinks i should talk to, ill see what he says. Im very capable of lots of things but lack the tim with mu business, but it does mean a bit extra money so i would love to just have it painted, maybe mettalic instead of pearl to keep cost down.
just anything i can do to make it look newer and fancier is the goal. I think these cars will gain value rapidly later on too. Will likely pick up a second to not touch.

 

Thanks! And yeah i love just hopping in it and driving nowhere lol