Originally Posted by Simon Tan

It feels silly to put in words, but the sticky button situation on my XKR was affecting my enjoyment of the car to an irrational degree. I tried to just ignore them for a while, but found I couldn't since they're right where your eyes and hand go anytime you start the car. Other than those four buttons, the car is almost pristine. Besides the buttons feeling like they'd been freshly glazed in honey that won't wash off, the first owner apparently felt compelled to dig his fingernails in every single one of the console buttons and left visibly deep gouges in each of them. I've seen the soft touch coating degrade on my old Boxster and on my niece's A4 before, and on those cars the coating would first get gummy then eventually start rubbing off revealing the base color of the button. Not only would the partially white buttons look horrible against the rest of the panel, the label or icon on the button would also get lost, like these:

So for a while, I thought I was going to end up with the same situation on my otherwise beautiful XKR.

I finally decided I'd had it with the buttons and was willing to just paint over them even if it meant losing the icons. But as I started rubbing off the coating, I discovered the soft touch used in the Jag is just a clear coat and separate from the underlying black finish of the button, so the button stays black and the illuminated icon isn't affected by rubbing off the coating (which is quite thick). It took a bit of work and some Goo Gone, but the buttons now look and feel like new . They just feel like hard plastic now (same as the "Start" button), but that's perfectly fine with me. I really can't fathom why Jaguar decided to "update" the XK's interior with the soft touch buttons when almost every other manufacturer learned their lesson about the coatings years ago.

Here's the before/after:


Anyway, just thought I'd share my small, but oh-so-satisfying (to me) success story .

Originally Posted by S-Typer

Originally Posted by Sandro Felisio

ok, I will try on mine!
I will let you know.
thanks!!

There is a guide to unmount the door panels and the center console? Something like a repair manual? in pdf?

Originally Posted by Simon Tan

Yes anywhere there is coating can be scraped clean. No need to remove or disassemble anything. Just persistent scraping with your fingernail and a Goo-Gone soaked towel.

Originally Posted by pwpacp

That is the hardest part. After removing most of it, I wound up using a tooth pick and sewing needle for the sides. I never got any of it completely cleaned out but still 100% bettter than before.