Just got this 2011 XJL on March 19. I plan to share any of my interesting DIY work/mods here.

Haven't had this one a week yet and I am already changing it for the better.

 

The first improvement I tackled was to replace the slow touch screen with a newer one sourced from a 2012 car. Replacing this screen was easy and well documented here.

Since I was going to have the center console apart I wanted to address the blue/purple shifter bezel. The one in this car is pretty "ripe" and really detracts from the class of the interior. I have read theories that this discoloration was caused by sun but this car has rarely been in the sun so I am skeptical. Seems more likely just a bad plastic mix.

Here's mine now. Yuck!



In all my prior Jaguars there has been some sort of wood around the shifter area. I kind of miss that in this car so I decided to take a crack at wrapping the bezel with a wood grain to see what that might look like.

I searched for a while to find a suitable vinyl wrap that could match the wood of the doors. This car has the "striped" wood look so I wanted a similar striping but not so pronounced as we see on the doors.

The final selection was VViViD High Gloss Dark Brown Cedar Striped Wood Grain. Here is the Amazon link.

So I wrapped the bezel in this vinyl. Took some time to figure out how to work with this vinyl. Wrapped it once and made a few mistakes. Wrapped it again and now just a few slight imperfections but good enough to see how this might look in the car. I have enough material to do this several more times and will probably do it again when I have more time. I did this one as an opportunistic experiment since the console was apart.

Wrapped piece turned out ok for an amateur wrapper.
Notice that I did not wrap all the way to the front edge. The vinyl roll was only 12 inches wide but was just wide enough to be ok since that portion is hidden under the vertical bezel. I wanted the wood grain to flow in this direction so rotating the vinyl was not an option for me. The wrapping process is tedious and you need to use a heat gun to get the material to stretch otherwise it will tear. Found that out on my first attempt.


After I got it wrapped I gave it a quick test fit before reassembling it all. I think this is going to look pretty good. Definitely changes the character of the interior. Less sports car more refined transportation. And the stripes are just subtle enough to not overwhelm to whole thing.


By the time I got the console reassembled it was dark outside so my first look at it was this. I am liking it. Feels like home now. And the new touch screen works perfect too!


The next morning I took a look in the sunlight. I think I an going to keep it this way.


And the wood pattern/color matches the doors well. Could easily pass as a build option. And waayyy better than the bluish purple I had.


This vinyl already has a good gloss to it but next time I wrap it I might give it a few spray coats of clear gloss for a little more depth and richness.

I can already see that this will hide fingerprints way better than the black.

So this was my first mod. Was fun to do and cheap at only $15.

I had the car open and lit up inside for a short time but it was long enough to get the low battery warning. I think maybe this car will need a new battery very soon. Probably still has the original one but I have not looked at it yet.

 

Hello and welcome to the forum and X351 ownership. How does this Jaguar compare with your others? The other car in our garage is a 2006 Lincoln LS V8, and there are plus and minus items of comparison between the two.
Shifter trim looks great! That vinyl you used looks like it would match my walnut trim perfectly.
Even a new battery will result in a "start the car" message after a few minutes.

 

Not bad looking at all. Good work. Re the low battery warning, you'll either have to get a CTEK charger, and charge the battery from the underhood points so that the battery management system is kept in the loop, or get a scanner that can tell the battery management system that you've installed a new battery (even if you really haven't). I had chronic low battery warnings even with driving around for a while trying to charge new batteries. The CTEK solved those issues for me.

 

Hey another guy with a Lincoln LS! I had a 2003 V-8 sport and really liked it. So much so that when Lincoln quit building them I jumped to an S-Type.
.
.
.

 

When I bought this car I knew that I would have to fix the hideous color choice by Jaguar to put a light colored headliner and pillars in this car. The light colored trim parts stick out like the proverbial sore thumb.





The A-Pillars were a distraction. The B-Pillars were just fugly. And the C-Pillars are not good either.

So I sourced a full set of dark covers from a 2016 with 17K miles that are in great condition. Cost was about $350 for all of them. After thinking it thru I am going to leave the headliner in light color for now. It was just redone by the dealer so no sagging issues in the near future. And I am guessing that the light color will not retain heat as much as the dark so here in Florida that could be a benefit.

Regardless the pillars had to change for my sanity.

Only did the A and B ones so far but looking better already. And the light color overhead is not distracting at all.

 

Agree with you 100%! Odd because Jaguar takes great pains with the interior and is one of the reasons I bought my XJ. Which has almost the same interior colors as yours except it did come with a black headliner and pillar covers.
.
.
.

 

Damn you, Rothwell!
I never gave the A,B and C pillar treatment a second glance until I see what you've done
Now I must change mine But I will keep the headliner OE, too.
Where did you source your covers?

 

Glad I could help.

I found my set of dark pillars on eBay. I had started looking for them even before I went to pick up the car. A set turned up complete with headliner and all the plastic bits. I only bought the pillar covers. The dark stuff seems to be more rare on eBay. There is another set listed but only being offered as a complete set for like $1300.

I do intend to keep watching for the dark colored plastic bits that attach to the headliner. Then maybe in a couple years I might have my headliner recovered to match.

Anybody know where to get black vinyl/leather to match the dash and door caps? If I could find that I think I would redo the A and B pillars in that. I have never been a fan of the fabric covers - but at least they are the right color now.

Planning to fit the C pillar covers this weekend. Anybody know if it can be done by just tilting out the rear seat back? Or do I need to remove the entire seat? I haven't RTFM yet for the C pillars.

 

This may be a little more difficult than I envisioned. According to my 2012 sales brochure, the three headliners (and pillars) colors are black, white and tan (jet, ivory and canvas, in Jagspeak). Since I have navy blue upper trim, I don't think black pillars would be appropriate. Maybe better than tan, but perhaps I could dye mine to match the navy trim. On a vintage car site I subscribe to, lots of folks dye seats and trim as part of their restoration. I'll check into this. Meanwhile, if any of you have experience or suggestions for this color transformation, please chime in or PM.
Hey Rothwell, what are you doing for wheels?

 

How time flies ! A 2011 is now 10 years old. So it must be about that long ago that I first test drove the new XJ at the Mottram Hall Hotel in Cheshire !
I had one as a courtesy car from our local Jaguar dealer, (yes really !!!), and drove it for about 4 days. It's a lovely car, but very big for the UK and our toy car parking slots. I drove it to Chester to visit our optician, and didn't dare try parking it in the underground car park.

 

I would imagine dyeing the fabric would be easier than dyeing leather. On a side note, I was pleasantly surprised this past weekend to discover how easy it is to clean the fabric. I had some dark marks on the driver side B-pillar, and they came right out with just a little water and dish soap on a towel.

 

So your car has blue instead of black on the dash and door caps? I am curious what color is the B pillar base section? Mine was already black - but it is not the softer suede material more like the carpet kinda rough. Are your belts blue or black?

I have never tried dyeing a headliner material but I would be interested to know if it can be done. Even if you do dye the material that doesn't address the issues of the light color plastic bits. Should be easy enough to paint those bits. Instead of dye maybe consider recovering in matching blue vinyl/leather. If I can find a suitable match for the black I would do the A and B that way on mine for sure. I recovered the A pillar and header on my XK8 with matching leather. Looks way better than the fabric. A mystery to me why Jaguar still uses fabric in these areas.

The Aleutian wheels on the car now are not ugly, but not exactly the nicest I have seen for these cars. However even though this car has under 15K miles on it I think many of those miles were up against curbs. Clearly this car was a parking challenge for the previous owner. 3/4 have some level of rash on them. I did get the Jaguar C2A1237 touch up paint kit for them and am in the process of cleaning them up for the near term. The dealer put a new set of PZero Nero tires on the car so I will probably keep the wheels until at least I wear out these tires. Plus the car drives/rides so smooth right now I am not motivated to possibly upset that delicate balance.

I could end up replacing the wheels. Would like to ride in an XJL with 20" wheels to see how the ride is affected. Might just strip these Aleutians and powder coat like I did a set of Apollos for my XK8. I got pretty good at wheel restoration. Those turned out awesome but it took me many months (they were a spare set of wheels). I have a lot of time to figure this out.

My favorite wheels are the Amirante style but they seem rare. I like how they hide all the brake bits.

 

something doesnt seem right about that A-pillar....it shouldnt be black if the rest of the headliner is beige. i had an XJ and XF with that london tan interior, they both came with fully beige headliner (A, B, and C pillars)

 

Something doesn't seem right about using the Canvas color at all in this London interior.

I am much happier driving it with dark A pillars. The light ones were the only thing in my view with that color so they were a distraction to me. Now they disappear while I am driving. Plus they don't stand out when looking at car from outside. The C pillars have the same issue where they are visible thru the side and rear window. Once dark they too will disappear and not draw your eye.

 

totally agree with you, my XFR had the two-tone black and london tan interior, and i hated that they used the Canvas color for the headliner, especially because the exterior was black as well. my OCD would get to me regarding the different color headliner, but what you're saying about visibility makes sense

 

B pillar base section is blue, carpet-like material. Belts are also blue.
Or I could source the black plastic bits, which would be more durable.
I think they look pretty good in chrome. I'm a guy "of a certain age" that has always liked chrome. As a teenager, I lusted after the Cragar Super Sport model, but could never afford 'em!

 

If you do take the headliner out, know it has to be taken out and put back in through the windshield.

I learned that the hard way!

 

So when the dealer had the headliner replaced they had to remove the front glass?

I'll have to look closely at that area now..

 

100% had to. Check those seals, or if it's even an original glass.