I actually used duplicolor fabric and vinyl paint and painted my headliner black. It took a good Saturday and was totally worth it. I also took off a pillars and top hard headliner and covered in black ultra suede. Painted all the visors and plastics black as well. Taping everything and 8 coats later, it looks amazing. Been over a year and looks like I just did it. I had a few places that needed touch up and just sprayed it with a little making with paper. Best thing I've done.

 

Did it feel rough? thats what my visors were dyed with and they feel rough to the touch

 

Do you remember how the plastic rear window frame attached? Mine is broken and I would likd to remove it and repair or replace it.

 

Got the headliner out today. The plastic frame is broken into several pieces. I am going to try to piece it back togeather as a replacement is hard to find.

BTW, the JTIS and you in your post mention the white tension cords that need to be unriveted. My top had none of these. There was webbing running over the frame from back to front. The only other cables I had to release were from the back of the top to the first bow ahead of the rear window. Any thoughts? Newer version? My car is a 2006 XKR.

 

Has anyone used velcro to reattach the plastic frame to the rear window? Also, I am thinking about using velcro to attach the headliner to the plastic window frame. In reusing the plastic frame, you need to remove the old headliner which was sewn to the frame. If it is resewn you will introduce another row of holes in the plastic and subsequently make it susceptible to breaking. In other words another row of perforations.
My thoughts are that the installation will go easier and if it is ever necessary to redo the headliner it will be tons easier to dismantle. My only question is whether the glue on the sticky back will hold up in the heat.
I tried to use the JTIS to dismantle the headliner. The procedure was difficult to follow and not 100% accurate. The pictures were not very helpful. I think it was for an earlier version of the process. I have it out none the less.

I have tried to clean the headliner, but the foam has broken down and soiled the inside of the headliner. There are few original manufacturers of headliners. Tops On-line, Acme, and EZ on / Robbins.

I ordered from Autotops on eBay. It comes from Acme. We will see what it is like when it gets here.



Jim

 

I successfully used headliner spray adhesive to attach the new headliner to the frame just in the stitched area. I would worry that velcro adhesive may not hold under constant tension in the heat.

I hope the headliner you purchased has the other sewn in plastic hardware. If not, return it and get the one from Topsonline.

 

Here's my headliner recovered using Alcantera, ready to go back in.

Regards,

 

I just finished cleaning my headliner. I had thought about replacing it after I tried cleaning as discussed here with brake cleaner and an upholstery cleaner. I even ordered a new one on ebay.

After the new one arrived I noticed that it was not a direct replacement. My frame from the old headliner was broken in about 7 pieces and I knew that I would have to reuse it unless I bought a new one from Jaguar for about $1000. I repaired and glued the old one.

Since the new headliner would require cutting sewing and glueing I decided to clean the old headliner out of the car. I washed the old one in the gentle cycle of the wash machine. I shouted out all the spots. It came very clean. There was no foam in the sandwich of the two layers of cloth. I thought about replacing but did not when I thought about the purpose of the headliner was to hide the inside of the convertible top.

I glued the headliner to the repaired frame and reinstalled. Reinstallation took about 8 hours. The JTIS on this was some help but not a lot. It does not even discuss the 14 screws that hold the plastic frame to the metal window frame. It also talks about cords that I do not have.

If anyone is attempting something like this PM me and I will discuss first hand. Bottom line is that my headliner is now clean, odor free and looks great.

 

I used fabric spray and changed mine to black in my XK8 convertible, it gets a little touch up every few months just around the rear folding area but still looks amazing!! I did cover the A pillars and bit of stationary headliner at windshield in black suede. No one even notices that it's different. Best thing I did to improve interior!