I purchased a shift knob topper from British Auto (Jaguar XF XFR XJ XK Piano Black Topper Emblem for Gear Shift Knob Rotary Control | eBay) for $35 and was very excited to receive it.

Upon receipt of the item today I noticed that the leaper logo is surrounded in bubbles and air. I can't in good faith install this into my shiny sexy car. I am sure that no one but me would notice it but damn, I would see it every single time I got into the car.

Am I over reacting?

 

Not at all. Ask for a refund.

 

No, but I expect British autowood will take it back and get you a replacement. He has been on this forum in the past if I recall.

 

By all means get a replacement. That should have never left the source!

 

He said he'll send out another tomorrow.

 

Mind taking a pic when you get it installed? I see the pic in the ad, but I want to see it zoomed out more to see how it fits in with the rest of the car. My 09 is all silver and woodgrain, so I worry it would look odd.

 

Glad Saul is taking care of you.

 

It looks like it has plastic wrap on it in need of removal.

 

That was my thought as well.
Every wheel centre cap, gear topper and badge I have bought has had a protective thin plastic coating which you peel off.

 

I know, but it doesn't, sadly.

 

Just a MFG defect. Could happen to anyone.

 

 

Looks awesome...Did you pop off the original cap and how did you do it? Or, did you just stick it on top?

 

It was actually a pain in the ***.

I applied the first defective one I received to the very top of the knob without removing anything while I waited for the replacement. However, the top black part came apart from the metal+adhesive base. Not even sure how it happened. It must not have been glued properly from the seller.

The replacement arrived today unexpectedly so I jumped right into the install after work. I got a very small pocket knife and used that to pry it up. Didn't work.

So I got a cordless drill and drilled a hole into the center. I did that and then tried sticking things into the hole and popping it off. Didn't work.

Next I tried a few other things to pry the top off from the side. At this point I've completely wrecked my shift knob. It looks like the car should be in a junk yard and I'm starting to ask myself wtf have I done.

I opened a beer and went to look in the junk drawer again for another "tool" to use. I found an old tool that I'm not really sure what it is. It's either a small wood chisel or part of a pumpkin carving kit. Anyway, as I'm digging and digging at this thing it finally starts to come up, very slowly.

Very, very little damage to the gear knob after the job was completely done. I pointed it out to my fiancee and she still said she couldn't even notice it.

 

Wow!..I broke out into sweat just reading this...I did notice on the ebay ad, they said to use a small jeweler's screwdriver to pry it off...I'm going to experiment slowly and see how it goes before I order one...
thanks for the help.

 

I've replaced the gear topper on 2 XFs now, and there is a really easy way to remove the stock aluminium topper.
Drill a small hole smack in the middle of it, than grab a medium size self-tapping screw and screw it into the hole, and keep on screwing. The tip of the screw will butt up against the surface under the topper, and as you screw the topper will be levered up and off.
The only damage I did was the hole in the middle of the stock topper, which obviously pretty much destroys it, but I never intended to re-use it anyway.

 

Well damn, that sounds very easy. Wish the guy who sold it to me would have suggested that.

Next time eh?

 

That looks really sharp. And man, I love the wood grain in yours. Mine's much more burlwood, so I don't know that the black would go well in mine.

 

n8ertot- your interior looks awesome!....did you have the wood grain wrapped? Looks brand new.

 

Did you mean my interior or n8ertot's? Mine is factory. Car is a 2012 and I guess the previous owner took pretty good care of it. It was a corporate car in its previous life.