Hey guys, it's good to see this forum is still active for X-Type enthusiasts. I have a 2003 I I bought about 8 years ago (it's the Quartz Metallic/Nebulous Grey interior base model with the 2.5 Litre - had 37k miles on it when I bought it and now at 52k - babied all it's life - it was a hardly used car for the chancellor of a major university, maintained by the university, and then yes - then it was owned by a retired school teacher/garage kept, then me.)

It runs perfect and has had only minor normal maintenance done to it (although the headliner has failed and I'm about to tackle it) other than an update to a more modern entertainment system, which is where my problem began. I removed the rear seat when I was installing the rear back up camera to run the lines through the truck and in removing the top portion of the seat (it's the one that is a very tight fitting SINGLE piece bench seat pressed rather snug against the rear pillars (the interior pillars - D Pillars/Rear Airbag covers?) the rear covers just shattered into dozens of small pieces. It was cooler so I don't know if that effected it or perhaps the intense sunlight over time, or are they intended to shatter that easily? They broke apart as easily as crackers.

Well, I've scoured the internet and have not turned up this particular interior piece(s). I've even been looking for ANY color. Since I'll be doing the headline (this is what is holding up that job) I came to the conclusion that I might have to cover these pillars in the headliner material as well (thinking of using a medium grey microfiber material) to get anything close to a match.

In as much as I have been able to locate covers of ANY color, I managed to scrape up all the the little piece from both sides of the car (had to put them into separate boxes to sort out) and even vacuumed everything and sorted through was was sucked up. Over time I have managed to "Humpty Dumpty/Frankenstein" two recognizable pieces back together with super glue. But they remain somewhat fragile even after some JB Plastic Weld inside and out (I can smooth the exposed side with a sonic sander and fine sandpaper pad smooth enough to not feel the breaks). I've broken a few of the protruding thinner pieces just handling them. At this point I am using fiberglass mesh and a large amount of epoxy to give the entire inside a thin coat to try to give them at least moderate strength. However, I'm not convinced they'll hold up even after the headliner material is glued on to camouflage the Frankenstein scars. My biggest concern is mounting the things AND getting that bench seat back in place without wasting all this effort.

Does anyone know of where these pieces can otherwise be found or any other solutions to this problem. I've even considered 3D printing services but have no clue as to how to get a correct sample to replicate since mine are not actually factory pristine at this point and I don't know how to model them anyway. Plus I'm assuming it might be rather costly.

Any help or thoughts appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
SJ

 

The D pillar does not have an airbag. There is a parts diagram here for interior trim pieces that you can use to find the part number you need but these interior parts are no longer made so might be hard to come by. Your options are probably:
- send a private message to user Dr. Dome here on the forum, he has used parts
- eBay
- Welsh Enterprises in Ohio carries new and used parts (welshent dot com)
- junkyard (car-part dot com)

 

Saltydogz, my options are similar to dh53's. I see only a few options for you:

-call a local salvage yard/recycle yard and see if they have any X-TYpe Estates on the lot. If not on their lot, they can tell you if there are any in the area.
-talk with the local salvage yard/recycle yard and see if they can order you in the 2 pillars that you need (as for price, that can be discussed then, going to be a lot of variables in that one).
-You can try the dealership. that may be a hit or miss situation as you are outside of a 10 year point that the X-Type has been made and the odds of the dealership having it lowers every day.
-Get on a place like E-bay and find someone selling pieces of an Estate, then write them asking if they would still have the pillars that you are after and if so, how much. A lot of sellers will create a special listing just for you and you can purchase the part that way.
-The final way is to find an online recycler and see what they can do for you. Again, the price is going to vary a lot because of the number of people involved and every person wanting to get their share of that pie.

 

In addition to what the others told you, it would be a good idea to post a location, so that if someone is near you with a parts car, they might check in.