The leather on my dashboard is starting to retreat. On XK forums people have had success stapling the leather to the dashboard and covering up the staples with a leather cord.

I cannot fit a stapler in between the dash and the windscreen. A hammer and tack nail did not provide enough force to go through whatever is below the leather. I'm curious as to what the dash is made of, before I start trying things with more force

 

This is not reported on the XJ but is a HUGE problem over on the XF forums.
Can you post a picture as I have never seen any dash problems on this model of XJ?

Yes it is covered in leather.
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But what I mean is what is below the leather (what the actual dash is made of). I don't want to apply too much force and end up with a cracked dash

 

 

The parts I have seen show it to be plastic. I have not removed the entire covering so I can only see the edges and cut outs. The XF guys also use staples into the plastic base and it seems to work well. I have seen numerous repairs on XF's and no one has reported that the staples let go or damaged the dash itself. I think your pretty safe.

Sorry to see the damage too!
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OK thanks, I had heard fiberglass so I wanted to be safe before possibly tapping a small screw in there. The only stapler I could fit is a slap hammer and that didn't have enough force to get through below the leather. I'm trying to avoid removing the dash as I have heard the trim is an absolute nightmare to separate.

Car is a 2011, mostly FL car FWIW

 

I'm not positive on Jaguar's, but on most cars, the instrument retainer is made from injection molded glass reinforced (strand) nylon.

 

I ended up using small wood screws to hold down the leather. It went through by hand and holds very tightly, I am no longer worried about my leather retreating. Now to work on hiding them cleanly

 

For those of you with the shrinking dash leather...did you condition it or not? Just curious I always forget that part in the leather care. Wondering it it would help and I should do it more often?

TJ

 

I don't do anything other than give a quick wipe to the dash. This is extremely rare and I think is the only case I can think of it happening.
Anyone else have leather problems on an XJ dash?
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This is also my first time seeing this issue on an XJ. Thankfully no problems here.

 

Dashboard leather shrinkage is a common problem on the X150 Forum (2007-2015 XK/XKR) for both coupes and convertibles. Some members have successfully stretched, reglued, and stapled the front edge of their dashboard by having the windshield removed, which provides easy access to the repair the dash without having to remove it. It's a lot less expensive to remove and reinstall the windshield than to R&R the dashboard.

Search the X150 Forum for more details.