Leather on dash 'pulling'
#262
#263
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makecopies (05-26-2017)
#266
Please see my numerous posts on this thread. If you can have the dash pulled by a mechanic, any upholsterer can repair it within a couple of hours for next to nothing. You don't need a specialist. The dash removal and re-installation will cost you a couple of hundred dollars or more, but the repair should not be more than a hundred dollars if that much. It's been more than 3 years, and mine is still perfect.
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Ozmag (05-24-2017)
#268
Please see my numerous posts on this thread. If you can have the dash pulled by a mechanic, any upholsterer can repair it within a couple of hours for next to nothing. You don't need a specialist. The dash removal and re-installation will cost you a couple of hundred dollars or more, but the repair should not be more than a hundred dollars if that much. It's been more than 3 years, and mine is still perfect.
Also, I have heard of big problems with the demister vents crumbling, and these are not separately available. Did you have any issues?
#269
I doubt you would want to drive without a dash, but a well planned day could have the dash removed, repaired, and replaced within probably 8 hours. And it is possible that the repairs could be made with the removal of the windshield and an upholsterer being able to get a long nosed air stapler in at the front of the dash and around the center speaker (since the glass would not be in the way). I was having body modifications done at the time and I wanted to do the dash repair simultaneously. I hadn't known in advance how straightforward the repair would be). As for the defroster vents, they will most likely crack as mine did in several places. We saved all of the pieces and glued them back together. They are not readily apparent unless you are looking for them from outside the front. Tomorrow, in the light, I can take some pictures and post. My repair is over three years old, and you don't really notice the repairs, and the dash still looks perfect.
#271
#272
Gents, I live in Central Texas and God knows the sun is hot here. My dash, even with my religiously using a sun screen, started to puff up, make waves and eventually pull away. I went to my Jaguar Dealer and service center in San Antonio, Texas because the one in Austin, Texas thinks that Jaguar customers are a bother, they like Land and Range Rover customers better. They looked at my problem and told me that the entire dash had to be replaced because once the leather stretches that way, it also warps the backer board of the dash. Me being me, I thought that was a crock of BS, for our British readers that would be Cow Manure or Excrement. I remembered that in a conversation I had with my Mercedes mechanic that if you take a hair dryer and a damp cloth and a plastic straight edge, that you can get all the imperfections out of leather, oh plus a little elbow grease. So i tried it, and I was able to streach the leather back out, all the way to the edge and beyond. The problem I had there was that I didnt have a tool thin enough to tuck the leathger back down the edges without damaging the leather. I have since found a tool, a ginocoligist spatula, just know I have friends in interesting places lol. I was able to tuck the leather back in but not perminately, because to do that you have to take the dash apart and reconnect the leather to clips. If you try and glue the leather down, in hot areas like Texas it will harden up, the glue, and discolor your leather and it will be very noticeable. The dealer wanted to charge me $3600 to replace the dash. A body shop or interior shop will redo it for about $500, just ask them to put a layer of padding between the leather and the backer board. Hope this helps guys and ladies
#274
Gents, I live in Central Texas and God knows the sun is hot here. My dash, even with my religiously using a sun screen, started to puff up, make waves and eventually pull away. I went to my Jaguar Dealer and service center in San Antonio, Texas because the one in Austin, Texas thinks that Jaguar customers are a bother, they like Land and Range Rover customers better. They looked at my problem and told me that the entire dash had to be replaced because once the leather stretches that way, it also warps the backer board of the dash. Me being me, I thought that was a crock of BS, for our British readers that would be Cow Manure or Excrement. I remembered that in a conversation I had with my Mercedes mechanic that if you take a hair dryer and a damp cloth and a plastic straight edge, that you can get all the imperfections out of leather, oh plus a little elbow grease. So i tried it, and I was able to streach the leather back out, all the way to the edge and beyond. The problem I had there was that I didnt have a tool thin enough to tuck the leathger back down the edges without damaging the leather. I have since found a tool, a ginocoligist spatula, just know I have friends in interesting places lol. I was able to tuck the leather back in but not perminately, because to do that you have to take the dash apart and reconnect the leather to clips. If you try and glue the leather down, in hot areas like Texas it will harden up, the glue, and discolor your leather and it will be very noticeable. The dealer wanted to charge me $3600 to replace the dash. A body shop or interior shop will redo it for about $500, just ask them to put a layer of padding between the leather and the backer board. Hope this helps guys and ladies
#275
Jaguar XK XKR X150 Dashboard Dash No Air Bag - Never Fitted | eBay
#276
I don't know if it is suitable for your car or what it would cost to ship but I saw this on EBAY earlier in the week:
Jaguar XK XKR X150 Dashboard Dash No Air Bag - Never Fitted | eBay
Jaguar XK XKR X150 Dashboard Dash No Air Bag - Never Fitted | eBay
#277
Anyone ever try using this on top of the dash ? Maybe it's a good preventative measure for those that still haven't had it pull back, or even to cover the existing one ?? I was driving in traffic next a Ferrari 360 today and he had a mat on his dash too - lol. I've seen they come in suede and carpet. never know ... might give it a try.
Dash Cover - Jaguar XK Series 2007-2015
or
Dashmat Dashboard Covers | Dash Covers for Cars | PolyCarpet, Velour, Suede, Molded
Dash Cover - Jaguar XK Series 2007-2015
or
Dashmat Dashboard Covers | Dash Covers for Cars | PolyCarpet, Velour, Suede, Molded
#278
RobB (and anyone else who thinks jerome's solution will work),
Unfortunately jerome's solution which is to restretch the leather, tuck it back to the lip of the dash in front of the windshield with a spatula of sorts, will not be a permanent, nor even a temporary solution to this problem. Through the hundreds of posts on this subject on both the XK/XKR and XF forums, outside of getting a dealership to replace the dash under warranty, apparently no one besides me has successfully repaired their dashes. There is NO SCENARIO, NONE! that will provide a permanent solution to this problem without anchoring the leather to the frame via staples. PERIOD! There are no "clips" to which the leather was originally attached, there were no magic fasteners, there was just glue. Jaguar did not even provide enough of an overlap of the leather to wrap around the underside of the dash where it might have helped to keep the leather from creeping up. The pictures on my early posts on this subject show the lack of any fasteners. I was fortunate to have a mechanic/body shop with whom I do a lot of business, take the dash out for me, so that I could repair it properly. The only other possibility without dash removal is windshield removal. I believe that with the glass removed, a long nosed air stapler can reach the lip at the back of the dash as well as around the center speaker. With glass out, the leather should be able to be pulled away from the foam, restretched, regued, and finally anchored/stapled to the frame. The removal of the windshield shouldn't be more than a couple of hundred dollars including re-installation as I have had it done on my other XKR by Safelite, and it was $225 including a new windshield. Everyone seems to have a theory about how to come up with an easy solution to this very common problem, but no one has actually done it and had a successful outcome besides me. As I've previously stated, I repaired mine more than 3 years ago, and there has been no change in its appearance since then. My car has never spent a night in a garage (during my ownership), is subject to temperatures in the San Fernando Valley that can reach (as it did one day this past summer) 120F, and which are typically between 90-110F from June through the end of October.
I am going to walk out to my car right now, take some photos, and post back in a few minutes to prove the point.
The solution is not rocket science but still has to be done correctly to work.
Unfortunately jerome's solution which is to restretch the leather, tuck it back to the lip of the dash in front of the windshield with a spatula of sorts, will not be a permanent, nor even a temporary solution to this problem. Through the hundreds of posts on this subject on both the XK/XKR and XF forums, outside of getting a dealership to replace the dash under warranty, apparently no one besides me has successfully repaired their dashes. There is NO SCENARIO, NONE! that will provide a permanent solution to this problem without anchoring the leather to the frame via staples. PERIOD! There are no "clips" to which the leather was originally attached, there were no magic fasteners, there was just glue. Jaguar did not even provide enough of an overlap of the leather to wrap around the underside of the dash where it might have helped to keep the leather from creeping up. The pictures on my early posts on this subject show the lack of any fasteners. I was fortunate to have a mechanic/body shop with whom I do a lot of business, take the dash out for me, so that I could repair it properly. The only other possibility without dash removal is windshield removal. I believe that with the glass removed, a long nosed air stapler can reach the lip at the back of the dash as well as around the center speaker. With glass out, the leather should be able to be pulled away from the foam, restretched, regued, and finally anchored/stapled to the frame. The removal of the windshield shouldn't be more than a couple of hundred dollars including re-installation as I have had it done on my other XKR by Safelite, and it was $225 including a new windshield. Everyone seems to have a theory about how to come up with an easy solution to this very common problem, but no one has actually done it and had a successful outcome besides me. As I've previously stated, I repaired mine more than 3 years ago, and there has been no change in its appearance since then. My car has never spent a night in a garage (during my ownership), is subject to temperatures in the San Fernando Valley that can reach (as it did one day this past summer) 120F, and which are typically between 90-110F from June through the end of October.
I am going to walk out to my car right now, take some photos, and post back in a few minutes to prove the point.
The solution is not rocket science but still has to be done correctly to work.
The following users liked this post:
Ozmag (06-02-2017)
#279
Okay, below are some closeups of my dash. It was too sunny for the pictures from outside the windshield to turn out, so these will have to do for now. I wanted to show it from the outside, because as previously posted, so that the staples would not show to the outside of the front of the car, I glued a half inch black leather strip that matched the dash perfectly to the front lip. I will take those photos another time. If you look at the photos of my dash, you will see that the molded areas that slope down from the sides of the center speaker are perfectly tight (previously I had the typical air pockets), the area surrounding the center speaker is tight and flat, and the cover over the passenger airbag (which on my car was not attached at all, it flapped around like a flag in the breeze) is perfectly fitted. All of this accomplished with a little bit of adhesive, and a couple of dozen staples, and that's it. And there is no other way.
#280
So I'm looking for a trimmer....