Thanks to this thread, I'm now paying close attention to the leather. I have some faint pulling and will try to do some preventative care. Sun-visor usage has seemed to help prevent mine from pulling much.

Food for thought,
If you are going to have to pull the dash....why not wrap in alcantara ?
Or even better, replace with a carbon fiber replacement?

Regards,
D. Fricke

 

The leather dash, while beautiful, was clearly not designed for hot climates; the leather shrinks because of sun and heat; my 07 dash is still factory perfect - but then, I frequently use a GOOD conditioner on all the leather in the car (which on my car means almost everything in the Caramel colour). I use LEXOL but there are other good conditioners (the definition of "good" is almost the same as "containing no silicone" - beware: many of the famous brand car-care company conditioners contain silicones; silicones will seal the surface effectively preventing any further conditioning oils to penetrate!).
So, what can you do? use a good conditioner frequently. That keeps the leather supple and clean (you allow it to penetrate for several hours and then buff the surface - you will be surprised at the amount of dirt that has been brought to the surface). Do NOT EVER use that stuff whose brand name begins with 'armor..."

 

One thing to try guys....

I noticed my dash starting to pull. Popped up the center speaker housing, removed the dash ventilation on top, then lifted the leather slightly and applied some Gorilla glue under the leather area. Massaged the leather until the pulled area was flat and held until it bonded. Then made sure the leather trim edged slipped back under the ventilation at the top of the dash.
I'll keep an eye on it and see if it starts to pull, but this seems to have fixed my issue.

Highly recommend using the Lexol conditioner as preventative maintenance as well as using the jaguar sun-visor at all times.

 

I have 2 areas on either side of the center speaker that are starting to raise. I have a 2011 XKR vert. Still under Factory warranty and was going to have it looked at on my 30K maintenance. Hopefully this should be covered as the 2011's warranty seem to cover everything. Thoughts?

 

^^^it does

 

As a low desert resident where it is always sunny and almost always hot - the solution is a simple one. Custom made sun shield. Every day. Every time it is parked in the sun. + regular and liberally applied leather treatment. So far my '11 XKR shows no signs of shrinkage.

 

unfortunately, I am the 2nd owner and the damage was visible when I purchased my car. I am very thorough with the leather conditioner now in all areas.

 

I keep a reflective folding screen over my dash held in place with the sun visors when my '08 xkr is parked outside. So far the leather is perfect

 

Brought my 2011 XKR in this morning and they are putting in a new dashboard. Still on warranty.

 

Attached is a picture of where my dash leather is shrinking. It is only over the portion of the dash covering the speedometer/Tach.


I purchased this 2011 6 weeks ago and the vehicle is CPO through 2018. I noticed the black plastic trim where the leather pulled the day the car was delivered but silly enough thought that it was designed that way until reading this thread. Obviously the Jaguar dealership missed it during CPO process along with my independent inspector who was detailed enough to notice the vanity mirror light was not working on the passenger side.





I purchased the car in Texas and Live in CA. I took the car to Hornburg of Santa Monica and the service rep. immediately said not covered because the shrinkage constituted normal wear and tear.




Jaguar NA touts the CPO program for it detailed inspection and repair of the vehicle, including interior, prior to certifying. So I think JNA may be on the hook. Regardless, like many of you, I do not believe this is normal wear and tear, but more akin to failure of a part or defective manufacturing. What are your thoughts? Secondly, does anyone know if the dash is one piece or in the alternative this piece can be removed separately? If it can easily be removed, I may not want to invest the time and energy in a fight with JNA and instead have it repaired myself. Other than this problem, the car is amazing!!!






Thanks to all of you for all the great information you provide.








2011 XKR Poltrano Frau
2014 XLJ


2011 XK (returned)

 

Sent you a PM, but it's ridiculous that a CPO car isn't covered for a well known issue. Go above Hornburg. However I think there may be a reasonably easy fix for this particular type of shrinkage.
Ted

 

As I stated, my entire dash on my 2011 was replace 2 months ago, no questions asked

 

I have researched this issue and have found numerous posts on blogs and forums regarding the glue holding down the leather on the DashBoards releasing leaving large bubbles and wrinkles on the dash. I bet I have read at least 75 posts and just stopped looking for them after that, trying to find a solution to this issue.
I know Jaguar NA has to be aware of this common problem and should have issued a recall to resolve this issue.
I have an 2007 XKR which is not a cheap ride. This kind of thing should never have happened in the first place. I have owned multiple German exotic vehicles and still own a Mercedes SL 55 AMG. Not one of them had the type of issues I have found with my first experience owning a Jaguar.
I have contacted Jaguar NA, and have yet after several emails and phone calls, to receive a call back from a customer service person to discuss this issue.
This vehicle is garaged all the time unless being driven.
Anyone with any luck with Jaguar NA on this issue.

 

This problem probably has more posts than any other on the forum. If you read my earlier posts on this subject, you will see that I had the same problems and solved it for nearly nothing.

As for Mercedes' not having this problem, that's because Mercedes uses molded vinyl dashes not stretched leather ones. My 2002 XKR is 14 years old and 160,000 miles traveled, and the molded vinyl dash appears "as new." It's a convertible that I have the top down everyday, and has never been parked inside of the garage, and it's still perfect!

As in my earlier posts, the adhesive is asked to do far too much, and the leather when the dash is pulled out, needs to be anchored to the dash by stapling it to the side or underside of the dash as every Jaguar before and after has done.

Jaguar should have taken care of this, but they're not going to on older X150s. Fortunately, with dash removed, it is certainly fixable for very little cost.

 

I have read many threads on this issue and see no easy cheap fixes. Trying to inject glue under the loose areas is not a viable option. You cannot get 100% of all affected areas covered leaving small wrinkles and bubbles.

Jaguar dealerships want $3 - 3400. to repair this problem. Private upholstery shops will do it cheaper if YOU pull the dash yourself.

Jaguar NA should have stepped up on this issue and dealt with it a long time ago. I am in contact with them again now and just sent them photos at their request. I am 100% certain they are aware of this problem with this model and have ducked their responsibility to handle it.

Also, FYI...my 2004 Mercedes SL55 AMG has a Leather Dash, not vinyl. This to is a convertible and have never seen a clue of this problem.

 

So the question is, when is somebody going to post DIY instructions for dash removal?

 

One of the options I considered before we actually lifted the dash was to have the windshield pulled so that we could get at the edges of the leather at the back of the dash where it has become disconnected as it meets the windshield. I believe we could have re-stretched the leather and reglued and stapled it to the shell from there. Since companies like SafeLite charge about $200-300 to install a new windshield including the cost of the glass, I figured they would do it for somewhere around $200. An upholsterer could probably have done the work in an hour or two for a couple of hundred dollars. So all in all, not too terrible a price tag. I chose to have the dash removed since my car was going to be in the bodyshop for a couple of weeks having the rear bumper and side skirt modifications fitted, so that while it was there I could have my upholsterer work on the dash at the same time.

I believe this solution could be a viable option at fixing the problem.

 

Where do you find info on removing the demisters? I have the speaker grill out. I see the two covers and the two bolts below. One torx and the other hex.

Jim

 

I wonder if anyone has done this yet.

 

I would do the duck bill at that point of removing the dash.