I have been trying to decide what to do about the A pillars in my 2005 X-Type. The fabric is starting to come loose on them near the edge toward the windshield. It seems like it will be hard to reattach it from what I have read on here. I found a local guy on Craigslist who said he was parting out a X-Type (not sure of the year) and I wrote him to see what color the A pillar fabric was and if it was tight and clean. I thought I might pick them up from him if they were OK. He wrote me back with pictures and the color is right but he says they are plastic and not covered in fabric. Is this right? In my 2005 the headliner material also covers the front A pillars. He says his A pillars are plastic, like the B pillars. I think this would look a little cheap. When did they make this design change?

Thanks

 

Hey,

I've not seen an X with plastic A pillars. As far as I know they all covered in fabric.

I changed my pillars about 3 month ago. I had tried to glue them back (the fabric had small "waves" at the front edge) but after a couple of weeks they started to do it again. After that, I was looking for a set of used one, but finally just got new ones from a dealer in SC - $65 each + shipping.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks that is probably the best idea. I have read the "how to" thread but I still am a little baffled. I tugged on the door gasket and it doesn't seem to want to pop out. How hard to you have to yank on it to get it out of the channel it sits in? And do you have to take it off or can you get to the clips without removing it? I read one post that said you also had to remove some plastic piece on the headliner that stretches from the A to the B pillar but did not see mention of that in other posts about removing the A pillar. Any advice appreciated.

 

I did not remove the door washer strip (I don't see why you need to, since you can just put it back over the pillar using your finger haha).

Just pull it. Also keep in mind that there is a retaining strap so once you detached the pillar panel you also have to detach the strap (basically it's just a clip with a short plastic "wire") to fully remove the pillar cover. And you don't need to remove any other interior trim.

5 min for everything including a short coffee break

P.S. My new pillars came with new clips (including the retaining strap).

Cheers

 

Thanks Nardoswiss.

 

I'm not sure when they changed, but my Sep 2001 2.5SE has plastic A pillars. I've never looked at them closely, but they don't look too bad!

Regards

Rob

 

Could you make a couple of pics and post them here? I'm a bit curious.

Thx

 

Nardo, my 2003 X-Type (US Make) has plastic A-pillars. I think that was part of the upgrade that was made in the 2004.25 "redesign".

 

Thermo, I'm surprised. Since the JEPC says that the difference in part numbers began from the vin # E79272 (I assume it's somewhere around 2005 model year). So basically all pillar covers before the vin E78271 were the same. But apparently there are not

 

Apologies in advance for the poor quality photo (taken on an iPhone in a dark carpark).

My car has the dove interior, and the A Pillars are a perfect match for the other cabin plastics.

Regards

Rob

 

Just a note to help out others with this problem. I just replaced my A pillars because the fabric was coming loose. In general it is an easy job, but it took me more than the 5 minutes (Nardoswiss must be better at this than I am).

You do have to remove the door seal/gasket a little but you should only pull it back from the area where it covers the A pillar. It will make the install easier. You take hold of the top of the pillar cover and if you can get a grip also the side facing the interior and just yank it toward you. If you are sitting in the seat when you do this pull it at an angle, toward your body and slightly toward the center console.

There is one clip and a tether that hold it on, plus it has some tabs that are inserted into the appropriate slots on the end at the dash. Of course if you have purchased replacement pillars you already know this. My replacements had new clips with the tether attached at the upper end of each but the upper clip does not pop out when you remove the old pillar, it remains atached to the post. So you want to remove the clip and tether from the new one, and attached the existing tether to the new pillar. To be honest I don't know why they use that tether arrangement but since it is there I used it and unless you try to pry the old clip out you have to use it anyway.

So to install the new pillar you slip the bottom end, near the dash, into place and line it all up, then slip the plastic clip for the tether onto the new pillar. Place it in position and give it a good rap with the heel of your palm over the middle clip and it will snap into place. In both the left and right replacements my pillar did not snap in tight the first time I did this. I do not know why, but it was not snug at the top for some reason. I popped it out, lined it up a second time, and snapped it into place again and that time it fit nice and snug. Then you just slid the door seal back into place and push it flush. Job done.

I got my A pillar covers from my Jag dealer for $92.00 each. They did not have them in stock but took one day to get them for me. I gave them my interior code, part numbers, vin number, and also told them the color I needed as I had determined that by asking members in the forum. In looking at the old ones it looks like it would be a little bit of work to reglue the fabric without getting the glue (spray adhesive would be best I guess) on the rest of the fabric but I think I might give it a try for kicks. Nothing to lose and maybe I will then have a back up set. Plus I can see how it holds up in the long run.
__________________