OK finished painting and clearing. Just need to let it all cure so I can wet sand off the imperfections and orange peel.

Love the look. Hood now flows without the glaring break up of the plastic louvers. May may wonder what the big deal is but for those of us with white cars, I'm sure can relate to the fact the the black hood louver looks out of place.

Interesting observation when removing the louvers...The motor cover "SUPERCHARGED" plates are located directly under the louver openings and the thought came to my mind if there was an easy way to Dremel open the louver so the plate underneath can be seen. If the flat area of the louver was cut away, it would look just awesome to have the engine cover plate visible, especially if you filled in the "SUPERCHARGED" lettering in say red. replacement louvers being cheap, I almost pulled the trigger to guineapig my louvers toward this idea but at the last minute I balked because I wasn't sure about the ramifications of rain or possible wind whistling with that area missing from the louver.

Has anyone spoken of this idea in the past? Might be worth investigating.

 

Looks great. Sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with the shop though.

 

'Supercharged' plate is visible on the 2014 S louver...

 

Awwww damn.

OK, OK. Jag had changed this design three times in four years. Wondering if it's all aesthetic or of purpose. For the latest design 2016-7 (gen III) , The hood openings are definitely the same as 2015-6 (gen II). The gen II louvers are definitely the most aggressive in terms of shape but need to be coded unless you have a black or very dark car.

The early (gen I) louver you show would look great color coded to the car but its missing height. The gen II louver modified may be the winner.

Heres a pic of the gen III louver on current cars and Jag went with a compromise of flat and a second level of height which looks better than the gen I in my opinion. You also can see the "SUPERCHARGED" with the gen III. I may just get a set of these once I find the part number.

Opinions?

 

Polaris, the differences aren't generational, but rather specific to trim levels and RWD vs AWD. DJS's 2014 RWD (V8)S louver is identical to my 2016 (V6)S RWD louver as is the 2017 RWD S louver. The AWD lovers are totally different since they are in a totally different location. There's also the black pak and chrome options. These have all been available since day one.

 

Yea. I'm kinda figuring it all out. I think I like what I have. Painted gen II

 

(Mine's a 2014 V6S.)

 

Makes more sense. The V8 cars had far less mesh area and you can't see the supercharged badge.

 

something like this

 

Thanks for posting this. I'm not really a fan of the murdered black wheels on the F-Type, but I really like what you did with the XJ.

From a design perspective I've always like the sinuous design of XJ with one exception which is the length of the trunk...it's very nicely tapered from the rear view but from the side view it extends too far back off the wheels and looks boatish and ill-proportioned to me.

By blackening the rear diffuser and using those high contrast wheels it really breaks up that silhouette in a nice way, thinning out the silhouette and giving the car a nice menacing stance.

 

I think you've looked at the LWB model of the XJ, I think what you dig about mine is that my car is the rarer SWB model.

 

It's much worse on the LWB, but also happens on the SWB. I think the issue is the front wheels are very close to the bumper but the rear wheels are set back a lot...so the car looks (to me) like the wheels should be shifted back a bit.

It is much worse on the LWB obviously.

BTW the XJ is still my favorite large sedan out there, would pick it over any of the comps.