My car has the upgrade Alcántara fabric. But it’s coming undone. Near the visors and other areas where there are cavities that keep it in a relaxed state. The areas where things tug and tuck are still ok. What are some of you doing to repair? I assume the rear glass needs to come out to do it properly?

 

The procedure for removing the headliner for service is included in the service manual (available in the "stickies"). I'm pretty sure that no windows need to be removed to get the headliner out to replace the fabric. The pillars, sun visors and light & console fittings would need to be removed of course.

 

The front glass will have to come out to remove the headliner and put it back in without folding and creasing.

 

I'm sorry, I stand corrected - the final assembly to remove is the windshield. I was looking for the rear window in the OP question & completely missed that.

So I must say that what I'm pretty sure of now is that I was wrong.

 

Ive seen instructions on doing this through the side window / drivers door..

 

Yes we had the same thing on the S-Type forum. The factory says remove the windshield but if you remove the passenger seat and GENTLY bend the headliner as you remove or install it no need to touch the glass.

Now I have seen guys just recline the passenger seat as flat as possible too. But for a home guy that wants a good job .VS. a shop that is under a time constraint. It's much better to completely remove the passenger seat. Be very careful taking it out and putting it back in. The seat rails are like daggers and will screw up you door openings real quick! I recommend wrapping towels around the threshold and taping the towel down. Sometimes I will also wrap the seat tracks too.

Sorry but I forgot what I think is the most important part and that is to use two people! It's just too big and bulky for one guy to handle. I use one person inside the car and the other at the passenger's door opening. Remember for the XJ since we have that giant pano roof that means a giant cut out in the headliner. This is where it will bend and kink. If you do put a kink in it, all is not lost. It will straighten out when re-installed and if any wrinkles remain an upholstery steamer can be used to fix those.
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I will attempt to tackle this in the near future. My car is an L and it’s pretty large not sure how easy it will come out but maybe the l rear door will be beneficial in the removal.

After the heatwaves the rear passenger entire area has failed. And rear curtesy light area has come undone so now it’s a pure eyesore. My car has the Alcantara fabric and it fails from the foam. The A and B pillars don’t use foam but has also unglued itself. Car spent a lot of its life in FL so it makes sense.

i have read up on Alcantara on other car brands and we must remove and scrape the old foam. I’m thinking of reusing the fabric but install new foam and glue on both sides. Just glue will not do it as a repair. Has anyone performed the repair in similar? They sell the headliner foam separately. That or get new Alcantara with foam back to start fresh? But matching black? I can’t decide. Tips are welcomed.

 

Once the foam has failed you need to get rid of all the old material/foam/glue. Try to limit any damage to the backer board as it will show up as lumps and/or valleys in the finished job. Start with new materials and reuse the backer board. The pillar covers I clean and wrap with matching material since they are hard plastic anyway.

I would search out an auto upholstery place and give them a call. The actual material is not that expensive as the cost of head liner replacement is mainly the labor to remove the old stuff and then clean the surfaces. You want to save the backing board and that means scraping all the old glue and crap off it before you attempt to glue the new material to it.

I would get the material with the foam on it. Gluing the foam to the fabric and then gluing that to the backer board would add a lot of work and possibilities of wrinkles. I found almost all head liner material is foamed backed anyway. Again you will need to clean the covers before re-gluing the new material.
If you do get wrinkles there is a upholstery steamer than can help remove them in place. You will probably break one or more plastic retainers too so plan to search for those parts.
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