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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?
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...
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.
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.
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.
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
???
There is no need of involving the headliner in frequent sunroof drain cleaning atall - nor even the 'trough' or collector the drains service.
Does help to get UP high enough to get clear eyeshot of what needs doin'.
Shop vac first (pollen, leaf debris & pine tree needles here), bit of weed-wacker kevlar 'cord' to push debris that doen't suck out, careful application of shop compressed air wand, then a wash & wipe-up with 409.
The cleaner they are, the better they "self clean", the longer they stay clean.
"PITA" is refreshing a dozen ground points on an X350, patting yerself on the back for being thorough.. then delving the manual ..... and finding an X350 doesn't HAVE a dozen ground points.
I agree that in a perfect world, where the sunroof drains get cleaned frequently, there's no need to remove the headliner.
BUT: the world is not perfect, and not everyone pays attention to these details... in my car, it seems that it was not done regularly, so soon after I purchased it, one of the drains got clogged and I had nice stains on the A pillar cover...
To be able to clean the drain tubes properly, they needed cleaning with a flexible shaft (I have an old tachometer shaft from a car built in the '70s, which is perfect for the job), and to do that I needed to remove them from the sunroof frame, and for that you need to remove the headliner.
No need to remove it from the car, you can just lower it and rest it on the seats, but if it is out it is the right time to clean the drains, as well.
I agree that in a perfect world, where the sunroof drains get cleaned frequently, there's no need to remove the headliner....
My headliner is overdue for renewal, regardless, and "it surely would be NICE.." if I could figure out what is preventing viewing graphics posted by those kind enough to share....
Any graphics files with :
cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg
or
cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg
In their URI...
Are rendered only as a really CRUDE blur with a rotating circle of white dots, centered.
I don't have 'ad blockers' in any of my many browsers, a 'grep' on '/etc/hosts' doesn't find those in my local DNS 'static' malware black-holer, constantly adaptive 'privoxy' doesn't throw a flag....... yet all I get is the blur and rotating circle.
Those and more than half all the others on the site.
You should be able to see them, as I only upload pictures in jpg format directly into the chat.
Graphics format is not the issue. My system can handle more than a hundred of those, counting "other-than browser" toolsets.
"Something" prevents the .jpg even being presented.
Most commonly, that's advert, tracker, ad blocker-detector, or similar-acting malware. Which is why I checked my security 'armour' first.'
I shall swivel my **** to a Linux laptop, do some tests, and return to edit it this in a few minutes.. I have "more than a few" browsers to test on THAT box as well.
No Joy. Linux box cannot render the blurred graphcs, either.
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?!
Well... no.. it won't. ..
That said, I have been plotting cutting my one and "installing" visible seams.. for a different reason.
I HAD BEEN.. smoking around five packs a day (100 cigarettes) - for the better part of fifty years. But quit outright ,12th of May 2024.
So I didn't want the 'usual' non-scrubbable "velour".
I want a covering I can CLEAN with ordinary cleaners.
For example: Leather - smooth or sueded, real or synthetic,
Suppliers to those who do high-dollar yachts - and private/corporate jet aircraft cabins - have some seriously nice materials and treatments that will look better, longer.
The goods are not as cheap as Velour, but WTH.. DIY labour is about the same, and the total square of material needed is not huge.
I HAD BEEN.. smoking around five packs a day (100 cigarettes) - for the better part of fifty years. But quit outright ,12th of May 2024.
Congratulation, Termite, on a milestone!
My better half and myself quit the habit 15 years ago, i was smocking for 35 years, I think. First 6 months what give me incentive is to go through humiliation of breaking first!
I wish you the best of luck in this endeavor! Just think how much funds you can transfer from 'up in smoke's to car fund. And what you can do with it!
.... Just think how much funds you can transfer from 'up in smoke's to car fund. And what you can do with it!
'Locally' that had gotten up to over $70 / carton ....every 2d day --- or 3rd day if I was too busy with other tasking to light up as often.
So yes - roughly $1,000 a month. About $300 - $500 left for more and better - or "sooner" - car parts.... after the Bidencomics hit on food ... and everything else .... is covered. Just ordered the rear pair of air struts for the X350, for example.
Not complaining, mind. The predictability of elected awficials has already fully paid the cost of the used Range Rover Sport.
Pols said they were going to kill-off fossil fuels? Bought fossil fuel equities.
Gasoline is expensive? The dividend checks more than cover it!
congrats on taking the step. Keep it up. I quit 17 years ago after 30 years of 2 packs daily and it's damned hard. I quit booze for good a few weeks earlier. Finally got my wife off 3 packs a day a decade ago when she went on a ventilator and I got the docs to put a patch on her while she was under anesthesia for the vent. Yes, it's damned expensive among other things.
"Among other things" - last "many" motorcars, not just this Jaguar - messing up the headliner adhesive so it fails years earlier than on a non-smoker's car. If not the tars or other combustion byproduct chemicals acting "directly" , then leaving it partially open to the weather to air-out in our high humidity, Virginia "monsoon", and/or the sprays (DEP) we use to try and de-stench the vehicle for when the non-smokers in the family need to use it... wotever.. the 'conventional' velour headliner adhesives fail earlier.
- Carpet can be effectively "shampoo'ed".
- Leather seats clean-up nicely.
- 'Velour" headliner? No Joy. Always a total loss, sooner if not 'only slightly' later.
Then.... it becomes a cost/benefit DIY labour exercise:
Even if no longer smoking, if I'm going to the hassle of replacing it 'at all', I want wipe-able or scrub-able material, going forward.
AND/OR/ELSE... 'sections' as can be readily removed for cleaning and just as easily put back in. Velcro? Zippers? Snaps?
I don't give the LEAST damn if an "improved" headliner has to have seams. BFD. The carpet and seats were never 'seamless'.
My shirts, trews, and smalls have plenty of seams.
06-10-2024, 12:54 PM
Headliner Repair shop in New England ?
), 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.
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