If your dash is bubbling, and your out of warranty, their is another option other than the $$$$ and dash removal the dealer wants. One of my local HIGH LINE used car dealer friends gets all his XF dashes redone by a guy who removes the front glass. It takes 2 days for him to remove the glass, stretch glue and then clip/staple the dash leather so it can NEVER shrink and wrinkle again for hundreds instead of thousands.
So if your in So Cali and need more info PM me, if your out of so cal check with some of your local High line used car dealers, My contact says he has never sold an XF that 'didn't need a dash repair' (Its a common XF problem) so this method is probably out there already.

 

From what I have read there is no need to remove the glass you should just be able to pull the dash and take it somewhere?

 

As for prevention of this common occurrence, I purchased the OEM sunshade for the front windscreen when I initially took delivery of my XFR. Even after parking the car outside on many different occasions, even in temperatures reaching north of 120 degrees (Las Vegas and Arizona), my dash still looks brand new!

Combined with my window tint, the heat rejection factor makes the car completely bearable to enter even after sitting for a few hours. The A/C also seems to cool down faster as the vents and piping have not been cooking under the dash.

Jaguar part number is C2Z21715.

 

I actually have one of those Patrick, unfortunately I didn't notice mine pulling away from the front of my cowl until after I bought the car..lol And once it starts to bubble or peel, the only quick fix is to cover the dash.

 

Pulling the dash is very labor intensive in the XF, not to mention getting everything back in, in perfect working order (Power vents, infotainment..etc) and all with no squeaks. And from what I understand the vid you posted (Its posted before here) leaves out some steps. My luck, I'll leave 1 thing unplugged that requires RE-pulling the dash to fix..lol

 

I raised hell when it happened to my jag about a year out of warranty. They wanted to charge me about $4,000 to replace it. They ended up doing it for $400.

I now have the sunshade like Patrick. Not sure if it will prevent it from happening again, but it's worth a shot.

 

I also have the XF sunshade, but another option is to fit a dash mat.
Here in Adelaide South Australia the sun can be really fierce in summer, much the same as in Nevada, so I've always fitted a moulded dash mat to my cars.
But wouldn't you know it, no such thing for a RHD XF, they simply don't exist.
Plenty of LHD ones to choose from though, mainly in the States.
Of course many owners would consider that a dash mat spoils the appearance of the XF dash.
I use 303 Aerospace Protectant on my dash, works well, looks good (buff it down to reduce the shine), and no problems at all so far.

 

Pulling the dash wasn't difficult or time consuming. It only took me about an hour or two. I wouldn't call that labor intensive. Sure, there are a lot of bolts, but if you snap a picture of each bolt during the removal you will know how to put it all back together.

Here is the thread I posted in for my dash removal and install:
Removal post
Install post

 

Does anyone know what year model Jaguar upgraded the dash by adding the staples shown in the video?
If so, please share as to give other owners some piece of mind. Thanks in advance.

 

I just noticed the center section of my leather dash (around my center dash speaker) pulling away from the windshield bottom. Since I have no Jaguar warranty left, I'm on my own as far as the repair is concerned. It seems a good auto interior shop could do this. How many hours of labor are involved?


Also, I notice that the windshield is sort of delaminating around the top and side edges, with small yellow specks starting to appear (see photos). Since I have $0 deductible on my glass, I wonder if this would be covered by insurance. Anyone else have this issue?

 

Mine had the beginnings of delaminating and I and caught it just before my factory warranty expired. In fact, I had it in for the dash replacement when I noticed the windshield.

 

It seems most cars these days are built to last 4 years regardless of how low the mileage, because that's when the warranty is up. My wife's 2008 Mercedes has had over $6000 of repairs done after the 4 year factory warranty ran out -- and she only has 43,000 miles.

 

My other car is a 2008 G35 that I bought used with 27k and I have just over 80K miles now and it's needed nothing but routine maintenance.

There's a reason why I depend on it for my work miles and play with the Jag. I also don't have an extended warranty on the Infiniti but wouldn't feel comfortable having a payment and no warranty on the Jag.

 

Did you ever post the pics you took of the dash removal process? I only see a couple of pics in those links and they don't show how you did it.

 

ha ha... the dash leather is coming up near the gauge cluster hump on my car, 52k miles.

 

That's how mine failed.

And after a warranty replacement, I am still chasing new rattles as a result of "expert" work, which is why I am still hoping Blackcoog post his pics of the uninstall.

 

I just spoke with my dealer. He quoted $2155 for the new dash top and $1250 for labor. The labor alone is 8 hours, which seems much higher than what others here have said. I asked if they could give me a better rate on the labor and then send the dash top out to an auto upholstery shop to have it stretched and re-glued. He said he could check with upholstery shops and see if they could warranty their work for 1 year because the dealer has to warranty everything they do for 1 year and unlimited mileage.


There has to be a better and less expensive way. Other ideas?

 

Yea, as you can see above, no amount of staples will save you. If the glue starts to fail, the leather will come off in other areas like the instrument hump.

 

Hmmm. Are you saying that removing the dash and stretching/stapling the edges is futile? If so the only solutions seem to be:


1. Replace your dash with a new one ($2155 + labor)


2. Cover up the exposed edge where the leather is pulling away (using color matched leather)


3. Get color matched dye and try to dye the exposed foam to make it less noticeable that there is a gap


4. Live with it.

 

It was bubbling when I got my car, Jaguar replaced it for free for me. I plan on getting tint soon. I would suggest tinting your front windshield to keep the heat off of it, or the sun shade.