The main thing i wasn't happy about when i recently got my S Type was the wear of the leather, particularly the usual suspect of the drivers bolster etc.
So i sourced a great company to do all the inside and bring it up as good as possible, brilliant job, about 5 hours the lot and they come to you!
Just thought i would post up a recommendation for anyone in the SW UK looking for a quality leather job.

Here are the before shots...










And the after.. very pleased with the end result...







The company is www.leathercareandrepair.co.uk

 

I really like the pillows on your seats. Do you know where I can buy a set?

 

I just got them through ebay, here's the link

2pcs Car Seat cowhide Protect Neck Rest Belt Headrest Pads Black Beige Gray for | eBay

Not expensive, i got 2 pairs for the front and back and was really surprised with the quality. The covers unzip for cleaning and they are really well made. Three different colours to match whatever interior you have. Mine were a perfect match for the leather.
If you want some more photos of them let me know.

 

Nice job all around!

 

I have always NOT been a fan of leather repair but yours came out great!
I would use them in a minute. Too bad I am in the states.

Can you tell us what you paid?

Again very nice work and really made the car look as new.
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Thanks.
I paid £300 (About $430). That was to do all leather inside: Seats all round, door inserts, arm rests & steering wheel. As well as cleaning the consoles, wood, dash etc up to new. I think it took between 5-6 hours in total, and with the result was value for me.

 

On average, it would cost that much for new "skins" alone, without any labor; assuming that there was no damage to the foam cushions. So, you got a great deal, and great result as well.

BTW, I had to order a pair of those headrest pillows. Brilliant idea! Looks so much better than a padded toilet seat cushion!

 

Great job, thank you for the photos
the pillows are great and i will be purchasing a few for my 05 STR

 

Amazon has them, but it'll take over a month to get, since they're made in China on demand. Worth waiting for, since the Jaguar logo is embroidered onto the cushion itself.

 

The interior looks great. Amazing job. By the way, can you give me a link to the Amazon seller who provides those headrest pillows?

 

The ebay supplier i linked to that i used is very good, had them here in the UK within 2 weeks, very well packaged. I think it is quicker delivery to the US 7-10 days.
I only found them while i was looking for actual head rests with the Jaguar logo embossed to replace mine but had no luck, and these looked a great alternative while adding something. Wasn't expecting much to be honest, in look or quality, but was a bit shocked (the good way ) when they arrived. Nice when something comes off like this for a change

Here are some more photos of what they look like in place for those interested.

 

I paid $580 in San Diego to have new leather installed on my driver seat. Looks great!

 

Did a search for leather repair here in the US and found a great source.
Just had them give me quote and for only $400 they would do all my seats.

Top Rated Leather Repair Franchise Opportunity! Creative Colors International





Just waiting for them to schedule me in.

 

Nice, let us see the full before & after! Good find.

 

They told me it was an issue with many Jaguars of this age to have this issue. And the
place we bought from just painted something over it. We would get white flakes all over
the car from getting in and out. And our clothes filled with it. I used a brush and vac to
clean most of it off. Can`t wait to see it look like new again. Have 2 other cars with
leather and no issues like this.

 

The pillows are so simple but add so much, thanks for the share!

 

Your UK leather repair company did a great job, and the headrest pillows are a nice extra touch. My 2000 S-Type had very similar wear and damage as yours did... a lot of cracking... but no deep rips or tears.

I fixed mine myself. I never thought of taking "before" pics like you did. But, my "after" pics could be traded with yours. I combined the 3M Leather Repair Kit that can be purchased at WalMart for less than $10 and a "dye kit" I found on eBay which is offered by a company called "Seat Restore".

Seat Restore offers all of Jaguar's leather colors by code. You don't need to do any color mixing or matching yourself. It costs less than $30. My car's leather color is Cashmere. And, it was a perfect match for my seats' color.

I started by using the "white" repair adhesive in the 3M kit. It dries clear. I applied 6 coats of the adhesive to all the cracked, damaged areas... allowing at least an hour of dry time between each coat.

After I was satisfied with the "smoothness" and "eveness" of the 3M dried adhesive, I started applying the Seat Restore color (after wiping the area with isopropyl alchohol, per Seat Restore's instructions). It goes on superbly and just one thin coat had the seats looking almost new right away. But, I eventually applied 5 more coats of the color... each pretty thin... with another hour of dry time between each coating.

A simple, little trick for this part of the process is to smooth or wipe on the color with the special brush/pad provided by Seat Restore. Then, after you have the area completely covered... immediately go over the area with a light tapping, dabbing action over the wet dye. This dabbing effect will help emulate the leather's texture when it's completely dried.

The only downside to this approach of leather repair is that you need to allow the drying time (in my case 12 hours total) to occur naturally. Using something like a hair dryer can cause cracking if either the adhesive or the color dye dries too quickly. I did my job over the course of 3 days.

You also need to give your final color coat at least 8 hours (minimum) to dry and cure before sitting on the seat... and Seat Restore says 24 hours is actually better. Then, after "several days" it's recommended you should apply a good quality leather creme or dressing to protect and add luster to the repaired area. I used Meguiar's Leather Cream and now people can't believe I didn't buy another seat or have it recovered by a pro... it's that good.

So, I ended up with a non-detectable repair that cost less than $50. If you have really large areas or perhaps even a whole seat's area to fix, you may need to buy more than one 3M Kit... and understand you will only be using the adhesive compound and a spatula from this kit. I didn't even attempt to use the 3M colors which you need to mix to match exactly. As far as the Seat Restore dye is concerned... I still have more than half a jar remaining after I finished.

 

Have my appointment set for Monday April 18th 9am. Will take it outside and get some
better interior seat shots before the work begins.