Has anyone replaced their headliner. I notice mine started drooping a bit on Saturday above driver. I went out Sunday and the whole thing had collapsed. Sure went fast. I have the Alston headlining and went down to an upholsterer and he said he didn't know if he could find a match for it so he is going to try to remove it, clean it, and re-glue it ($200.00). He thinks it might work since the fabric is so heavy. Has anyone tried this or know where I might find the replacement fabric if it doesn't work. Jag wants $650.00 for a replacement headliner plus installation.

 

It's unbelievable that Jaguar continues to be afflicted by these ridiculous headliner problems. My '83 XJ6 had a drooping headliner (OK! That car was 29 years old at the time...), but my 2006 XJ8 had the same issues under the visors. Luckily my XKR is a convertible, but yet the car is still finding ways to have headliner issues--the lining on the visors is starting to pull away and sag.

I think what your upholsterer wants to do sounds reasonable. However, it's not the glue that breaks down, typically--it's the foam that is between the roof and the headliner fabric that breaks down.

 

Yeah. My 2007 XK had the drooping headiner last spring. I removed the headliner and took it to a local upholsery shop and they did it for approx $70.00 bucks if memory serves.

Use care when reinstalling the headliner. I did not have the rear two bayonet style clips aligned properly and smashed them. Got new ones from Gaudin online for a couple of bucks.

 

Does Jag even make the headliner or is it pre-assembled and they just put in place?

 

Jag does sell the replacement headliner assembled for $650.00 but the Alston grey is on back order. I took it to the local headliner guy and he wasn't able to match it so he took it out, removed the foam and because material is so thick he was able to re-glue it for $200.00 and it came out pretty good.

I noticed that the material on all of the pillars and the visors are also beginning to get lose too so I took it to an upholstery place recommended by my dealer and was quoted $500.00 to replace everything in suede ( all 6 pillars, headliner, and 2 visors).

For now it looks ok. No one but me would even notice it needs to be replaced, but down the road I think I will go with the suede replacement. My service rep said she saw a couple of cars that they did in the suede and they looked nicer than factory. She said that it would be at least a couple of thousand to replace everything with factory parts.

 

Third Jaguar, Third Headliner!...can't seem to handle this Southern Heat. This time, I used UltraSuede II. Looks Great.....Also, for those who contemplate this, the el-cheapo soundproofing between roof and headliner is a sheet of cardboard RTV'd to underside of roof!...you'd think, Jaguar...I pulled it off, cleaned roof, and replaced 32"x18" cardboard with self-stick sheet of Dynamat....ever so much better. Forgot to say....I pulled headliner myself, cleaned board, then sprayed both sides with primer before install. Had local auto upholsterer actually apply headliner on board, they only charged $80. then I re-installed, maybe 1.5 hours in each direction (off-on).

 

Passion Suede which is very similar if not identical to the Alcantara suede option is available in any downtown textile district for under $10.00/yd (60" width). It is durable, washable, and should glue with spray adhesive very easily. While Ultrasuede is a wonderful product and looks very similar, it is more than ten times the price of Passion Suede and has a tendency to pill if rubbed too often. I have used tens of thousands of yards of each over many years in the industry.

 

I don't know how the XK headliner is but I recall having the same problem with my XJ-S. The problem I had seen was usually the headliner has a foam back layer which is sometimes glued to a cardboard backer. The problem is heat which through the years dries out the foam and it just crumbles. This causes the liner material to drop. The dynamat may be a good solution but you still need to have the material glued to a backer board for rigidity. My 2 cents here. But if you think about it why haven't this been a problem with other high end cars. Makes you wonder.

 

British have issues with glue in general. All the adhesives on velcro etc on my Lotus has melted from heat.

 

Yeah, it's usually the foam that disintegrates, but that normally takes longer than 6 years in the UK. It happened on my XJS, but only after it was 17 years old. I guess the heat accelerates the process in warmer climes.

 

Just had my 2008 XKR headliner replaced ($250). Man who did job has been doing it 23 years! So he knew what he was doing. Told me that Jaguars and Land Rovers all have the same problem. Foam just disintegrates after 8 to 12 years. He is doing a roaring trade! Best not to leave car in hot sun for too long. Yes, I now will have to get the pillars and the rest recovered.

 

Did mine in including all panels used this company http://m.yourautotrim.com cost me under 100.00

 

Hey - So how did the rear pillars come out of the vehicle? I'm trying to not get screwed paying 90$ per pillar to recover them in supplied fabric. These prices are making me angry - like I literally save people's live for a living and yet - gluing friggin fabric to a piece of plastic somehow garners 3x my pay rate ?! PLEASE HELP

 

I don't know, but the answer should be in the Workshop Manual. See the Sticky Threads at the top of this Forum to download the Manual.

See: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...2/#post2520485

 

You have to remove them in alphabetical order, A, B and C, front to back. All have clips. If done professionally, with time and materials, $90 might not be all bad considering it could take up to an hour apiece to disassemble, strip and clean and recover an stretch and glue new suede. If using genuine Alcantara, last I checked it was around $100 per yard.

 

The two rear pillars are probably the most difficult part of replacing headliners in our cars. (Visors are difficult as well). To the best of my knowledge the rear seats need to come out and don't forget that the rear panels require double stitching to do correctly. Your price seems reasonable, but aren't there other areas at your headliner or panels that require replair/replacement?

 

already replaced the headline and other pillars myself. Got the rear ones out - but hahahaa the center pillars are giving me a headache trying to snap in the rear clip and I知 scared to man handle it and break it off like a brute.

I値l prolly sell my rig and get another Cadillac ATS turbo AWD. I知 getting too old for this ****. Or覧 if I could do a body swap and put the XKR into the chassis of the Cadi and with all of not modern electrical accoutrements- THAT would be the bees knees.

 

That's why the upholstery shops get the big bucks. Unless you are only doing the center headliner and not messing with any side panels, it might be reasonable. Once you do the entire interior and then want to match everything including the visors... it get's very pricey. In addition to the expense, try and find a reputable shop that does decent work! I was lucky and got the guy to reuse my original interior and got everything done including the 6 trim pieces and the visors. Unfortunately the guy was an AH and I won't be going back to him again for anything.