Living in AZ with a car that has spent its life in AZ means you WILL be replacing the headliner. I have done this on my older X300's in the past but I'm just too busy to do this one, or so I thought. I set about called 4 different interior shops yesterday and this is what I was told, which cracks me up.

2 said the windshield has to come out to do it. I said I don't think so then got "told" that its the ONLY way to do it, LMAO This guy was $550 plus a new windshield but he couldn't quote that but did say it will crack upon removal so it cannot be reused.

The other one said if your windshield had a crack or chips in the line of sight you can get the insurance company to replace it while its here and it would only cost you for the headliner ($500.00). Then said, look if something happened and it got a crack in it soon (I think he was suggesting self inflicted damage) I could get you in right away.


1 said, its a 2 day process and will run $850.00 plus material which should only be about $50.00. Nice, so its $900 basically, ugh, just say that.


Last one I am waiting to hear back from but given they are appointment only and primarily do custom work I can only image what it will cost.


Guess Im doing it myself with the out the back door slightly folded method.


UGH, getting too hot here to do it this time of year but hey ya do what ya gotta do. Thanks for letting me vent.

 

I understand your pain, but I have a suggestion if you have a way to transport the headliner to and from the shop. Request a quote for just the headliner, with you removing and re-installing it. That way you own the window issue and take it out of the equation. You can get the headliner out in under an hour in the morning while it is cooler. You might be able to drive the car around sans headliner while the job is being performed. Issue is what to do with the sunroof - which you SHOULD do. Maybe have them order some extra material and do that yourself unless you want to remove the sunroof and bring it in. If you don't need the car and have a garage then no worries.



My installer had no issues on my 2004 XJ8 (not an L) and had the car turned around in about 4 hours. Unfortunately she did not have enough material to do the sunroof and it has started to fail. I paid $250 with materials two years ago.

 

I had mine done this past winter in Bellevue, WA.

Cost $950 plus tax for the headliner and sunroof cover. No pillars.

 

 

If you have a short wheelbase car, Jag says to remove the rear window glass and then slide the headliner card out the opening.


Nobody is going to do that. Check the archives. There is a post in the last three months that tells how to get the card out after removing rear seat and driver seat.


That may have something to do with the prices being quoted. Print out the thread on removing the card without taking out the back glass and see what they have to say if they did that process instead.

 

The lady who did my car, a 2004 short wheel base, did not remove any seats nor the rear glass. So it can be done in a none intrusive manner if the tech knows what they are doing.

 

Absolutely possible as I have done this job. It easier if front passenger seat is unbolted and laid down as much as possible.

 

Ditto to Jackra_1, I too did mine myself on my SWB 2005 XJR.

Remove the passenger seat and you can get it out. I would suggest getting a shop to do the actual installation of the material to the headliner board itself.

There are a lot of contours to deal with and experience would be helpful.

Wooford Jag.

 

Thanks guys for the comments, I have done this job before so it doesn't scare me at all, just didn't want to do it. I might still see what they would charge if I brought the shop the headliner out of the car. Either way the taking out the window is, to me, just laziness and a way to have the "jaguar" owner pay more, LOL.

 

Hogwash! My upholstery guy here in So Cal has done both my 04XJ8 and my 05XJR. $350 installed, done in 1 day and Concours quality!

 

Since you are in Dallas, check out Jag Mac (next door to Gas Monkey...) - they quoted me a lot less (Haven't done it yet, so I don't know what the final bill would be - it was extra to do the sun visors, I believe).

/Mike