Picked up a '10 XFR, I absolutely love the car but I've a few small things to deal with.

1. One of the FOB's seems keen to drain its battery quickly, seems as though it's shorting out somewhere. I'm guessing it will need replacement, is the XJ FOB compatible? I'm not sure how the dealer will handle this but any recommendations for sourcing one on my own would be helpful.

2. The driver's seat bottom is showing a bit of wear and is in need of some help from a good leather care routine. Can anyone comment on what keeps their leather looking like new?

3. Oddly, the Jag emblem in the centre of the steering wheel is indented, it's perfectly centred and doesn't look totally awful but it isn't perfect. Can anyone confim there's isn't indented? I'm guessing it's not impossible to pop a new one into the existing cover...could be interesting dealing with the airbag though.

4. My console wood trim has one crack running the length of it, it looks as though some wet sanding could take out the raised edge of the crack, has anyone done this?

 

There is a known fault with some of the fob backs causing poor contact with the battery. Mine were both replaced under warranty. However, the symptom was a fault display on the instrument panel, not battery drain. It is possible your fob is not draining its battery but suffers from this poor contact problem which gives a low battery fault message.

I've used Lexol leather care products with good success.

I wouldn't attempt to sand that crack. The veneer is micro thin and the "varnish" will be very hard plastic resin. Replacement parts should be readily available at a dealer.

 

Yes, Lexol products work great on all the leather in the car.

 

I have had great results with Leatherique leather solutions. I used them on my Rolls Royce for years and will not use anything else! It has no harmful chemicals in it and it keeps the leather clean and supple.

 

Take the car to a experienced detailer.

Have him do a interior and exterior and tell him to concentrate on those specific issues.
I know you will get your moneys worth on the leather (as long as the guy is good)

Thats what I do to all my new,used, purchases.

 

I purchased a 09 back in August of this year. Still has a year under warranty. I had similar problems. Crack in the wood panel down the length of it on the driver door as well as the emblem on the steering wheel looks like the last guy punched it. The dealer swapped out the panel on the driver side door for free and said they claimed it under warranty. The color is a little darker (noticably actually) but it is better than the crack in my eyes. The center steering wheel badge they said would cost me $1000 to replace...I told them I could live with it. All in all my dealership has been excellent to deal with.

 

Detailer? Really? Hmm, I would just do the leather yourself. Lexol is really simple. You wipe on cleaner, wipe off with a damp cloth. Let it dry. Apply the Lexol lether conditioner and wipe off excess. I like to do it on hot days, soaks into the leather more but doing it sooner than later is best. Usually every 6 months is good enough to maintain.

 

Hmmm, sounds like they want to sell you the whole airbag assembly to replace the centre cap...booo.

 

Just an FYI....6 month interval is way too long. Jaguar recommends once every two months.

 

Well, nothing will actually happen to the leather if you don't treat it at all.

By all means clean and treat your leather but don't do it believing that it is necessary because it just isn't. I do mine infrequently. In fact, I've never done mine since I bought it. Automotive leather is even tougher than furniture leather.

The same is true of shoes, gloves and coats all made of much nicer and more fragile leather than car interiors.

You also don't need to wash or wax your car. All of this is purely cosmetic.

 

Not sure I could manage to never wash or wax my car, but the interior leather gets occasional wipes over with one of those leather wipes we use for the sofa at home. Otherwise, it doesn't get treated at all, and it looks like new after 17k miles.

 

Dealer told me to never store my key-fobs within 6 feet of each other for any extended period of time as this tends to drain the batteries. He might have been FOS but that's what he said. My business partner says he's never waxed a car in his life and his always looks like new. Washing, no problem, waxing, not such a good idea. He claimed it stripped away the factory gelcoat. He may also be FOS but his cars always look nice so ???

 

Wax just goes dull and gets dirty fairly quickly. It doesn't hurt the car's paint to wax it. However, polishing does slowly remove paint, that's how it works. Wax alone doesn't make a car shine. You have to polish it first. The first time you polish the car you remove the surface hardness of the paint. The resulting scratch free finish is then made to shine by applying wax. Lazy owners use one stop polish and wax, not good. Every time you want to re-wax your car you must polish it first or it won't shine up properly.

Trouble with waxing is once you start you always have to do it. Wax goes dull quite quickly. Car wash detergents remove wax a little at a time each time you wash the car.

The " permanent" polymer treatments seem to work well.

Washing any car is completely unnecessary.

Basically modern car paint benefits from careful washing periodically only to allow you to enjoy the colour, and shine assuming you havent got sucked into buying one of those new flat paint jobs!