Can anyone recommend any auto upholstery repair shops in New England to repair and renew a sagging headliner? I am getting too old to attempt this myself. My car is a 2006 XJ8L long wheelbase. I want to find a shop that has done Jaguars before. Thanks !

 

I have done my headliner at A1 Autoapholstery in Waltham
www.A1boston.com
Comes highly recomended. The work he did for me replacing headliner and sunroof upholstery. It is GREAT, I should have asked him to reupholter pillars as well!
He did insisted on removing rear windshield out. I have read and heard of that it is possible to do without taking rear window out, but this guy said if you do not want to do it my way, find another place.
Check his reviews.

 

I just bookmarked this shop. Thanks for posting. I am in NH. I am planning on pulling the headliner and pillars and providing the micro suede. Can I ask what he charged for yours?

 

It is almost fixed price around here: $800; you have factor infaition, mine was done two years ago.

 

I can verify, you can remove the headliner from the XJ8 L versions (any of the long wheel base versions) WITHOUT removing the rear window - you can maneuver it out via the rear doors. I've personally done it on my previous XJ8L.

Also, highly recommend doing pillars, as rarely if ever will the new headliner material match old pillars.

Also Also (), when its out is the perfect time to apply sound deadening /aluminized butyl material to inner roof. And, make sure upholsterer scrapes old glue and foam off the form really good. When I had mine out, I scraped it clean with wire brush, then applied very thin coat of spar polyurethane to seal the (composite? board stock) form.

 

If you look at the Jaguar workshop manual, removing the headliner through the rear doors is actually the officially recommended way for the LWB versions.

The workshop only specifies the removal of the rear windshield for the SWB versions, but even here the headliner can be removed through the rear doors if you are very careful,you have just to bend the headliner a little bit... I know,because I have done the job myself some years ago. My car is a SWB SV8.



I would say that the guy is being ultra.cautious, which is not a bad thing...

Best regards,

Thomas

 

In my case, I have 2004 VDP, that year VDP's were SWB. So, I think man knows what he is doing!
I hate when professionals learn there trade on my job!
I have seen recomendations to cut form in half; headliner will cover the cut?!
Remove passanger seat...
The man did perfect job and matched pillars very well.
Reading this thread the only thing I should have changed; when headliner was out, I should have taken car home for a day and did what CTSEMICON suggested.

 

To add to the "it's the perfect time to..." part, it's also the perfect time to clean the sunroof drain hoses if your case has the sunroof! I did not do it at the time of the headliner renewal, so when I had to do at a later time the headliner had to be dropped again, although I did not remove it completely.

Best regards,

Thomas