I thought I'd start a thread about the latest and likely the last modification to my 05 XJL. I've never been pleased with the dove grey interior colour. It stains very easily and no matter how much you condition/clean it, over time it takes on just this ugly brownish grey hue. The outside of the car is so beautiful and its such a letdown when you open the doors to see this interior. It does not do it justice. My old 04 XJ had a beautiful black interior that would envelope you when you get in. Even a nice classic tan colour would've been preferable to this plain grey which looks like the inside of my girlfriend's Camry.

Anyways, I stumbled across this UK based company called Furniture Clinic, who specialise in leather repair. They sell a complete leather colourant kit in different sizes, depending upon your needs. Using their kit you can change any colour to any colour, the sky is the limit. The kit comes with everything you need to complete their re-dyeing process. I ordered the extra large kit (which you'll need for a complete car interior) in the black colour. Good bye ugly grey. I'll update the thread when I get the kit, and post some before, during, and after pics. Finger crossed.

 

That is a big undertaking! Looking forward to hearing how it goes? Will you also re-do the headliner? and carpet?
Some of the leather re-color (colour) products I've seen for RR/Bentley are actually sprayed on with a spray gun.
Also on some of the BMW series if you have to remove the seats you need to dis-connect the battery first so the air bags don't deploy. Not sure about Jag but wouldn't want you to find out the hard (& expensive) way.
I'm sure lots of us are going to want to see your pictures of this process. Also I would guess some of us would like to know in ballpark terms time spent and costs. If you don't mind of course.
Cheers,
Chad (another dove gray int. owner)

 

It is quite an undertaking, but I've got a week of vacation coming up so hopefully I can tackle it then. I definitely want to redo the headliner and pillars with black alcantara, but that'll come later as an addendum. As for the carpet, I'll wait and see how the rest of the interior looks. If it looks decent enough, I'll just keep it. I recently ordered some custom floor mats in a midnight blue, with silver Jaguar logos and silver piping, so maybe those will be enough to change the look of the carpets.

The kit from Furniture Clinic cost about $250 shipped. That includes all the dye, leather cleaner and prep solutions, sponges/applicators, and a small air canister spray gun. According to the instructions, once you've cleaned and prepped the leather, you simply apply several coats of the dye with the sponges, allowing each coat to sink in, then follow it by a light coating with the spray gun for uniformity. Their website has some examples of work they and they're customers have done, and its quite impressive. They've done some beautiful work on Rolls Royces, Bentley, Aston Martins, even Jaguars.

 

Any updates?

 

I haven't received the kit yet but I will update when I do. Hopefully it'll come by Friday.

 

Where did you order your custom floor mats from?

 

food for thought
if you are removing the seats that may be a good time to redo the headliner. If you do the headliner after all the hard work has been done on the seats and the seats get screwed up ... well I know what I'd be saying (sailors would blush). The finish will probably be "soft" for a while on the leather. Just saying it may make more sense to work from the top down.
fwiw
also +1 on the mats here
Chad

 

Excellent point. I'll take that into consideration.

The floor mats I got from an ebay seller AutoEtc. They can make mats for most model Jags, but here is the link I used:

eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

They have a wide array of colours and options available. I opted to get the Jaguar logos on the front and rear mats. Bad pics, I know. They are very impressive in person. Driver's side heel pad is also available but I forgot to order it. An added plus is that the front mats come with O-rings for the floor hooks, and the rear mats are made especially for the longwheelbase.

 

How much would a black interior from a parted out xj8 cost?

 

Probably a f**ckton more than $250.