Hello all.
I have been looking at replacing the leather seat covers on my 96 xj6.
The price of the leather seat covers for the front and rear is around $600.00 usd.
After doing some searching I noticed that the seats in the 98-03 xj8 LOOK ALMOST identical and I can purchase a set of Vanden plas seats in pristine condition for nearly the same price.
So my question is will they fit? I realize that the wiring and connectors may be different but will they physically fit the car.
If anyone has any experience in this area I would greatly appreciate your input.
Thanks in advance guys

 

I remember reading that the seats will actually fit but all the electrical plugs/wiring is different. What area of Florida are you located in? Have you tried some of the Pull-a-Part yards for seats? It's much easier to just find a stock set of 95-97 XJ6 seats than trying to make the later ones fit. And usually if you can pull them yourself you'll pay less than $40 a seat here. Just remember that if yours has memory seats then you'll need to find a similar seat with the same options. Also,you can find your interior trim color code on a sticker in the drivers door which will be a three letter code like AGD, that way you can make sure you've got the right color to match,as they used a variety of tan colors for the same years. Here's a site that you might try for parts too. It's Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market .It's a nationwide link to finding used car parts but remember,shipping a seat can cost a few hundred dollars depending on where it's located so it's best to find something fairly close. They also have a column to the right once the list of parts comes up and you can then search by distance. Good Luck!

 

I am in central Florida. I've checked with 5 or 6 yards but I haven't found anything yet. My original plan was to find a salvage yard with the right car and pull everything I need myself but it seems like no one has a 95-97 anywhere around here.

 

Keep checking as inventory changes constantly. Some yards have their own websites that show inventory of what they got but you've got to act quickly because all the good parts seem to go fast. Try that car-part.com website,put in your year/model info and select front seats under the parts section. When the listing comes up with all the parts,go over to the right and click on Distance and it'll bring up the closest places that have what your looking for. Your other option is finding a good upholstery shop and have him replace the sections of the seat that are worn,if it's not too bad. 1995-97 should interchange as long as you have the right trim color. You may or may not find a seat with the same options but you can always transfer the material/parts over from one seat to another. BTW,you can't use lower sections from other side seat because they have different measurements in their seam patterns. Not so sure about the top section because I haven't measured it yet.

 

Try the app called "ROW52" (I use Android, I presume there is an Apple version) for notifications when your nearest Pick-n-Pull yards get a particular model. Another thing to consider, if you can find 95-97 seats with sound leather, but the wrong color, Gliptone have dyes corrosponding to the trim codes, or they will mix up what you want to match a sample you send in, so you could overcome the color problem.

 

Aholbro1,how close of a match is their dyes? I've worked with paints before and I'm not sure if it works the same for dyes but wouldn't it depend on what your existing material color would be,I mean,if someone had a charcoal covered seat and needed it in oatmeal would it even be possible to lighten the seat that much and how close of a match does it get?

 

Light over dark may be a problem. I bought their Nimbus Gray, Cream, and Barley by code, in smallest quantity for touch up. They offer larger amounts for whole-seat or whole-car, etc. With the touch up kit, you get a tiny bottle of white and a tiny bottle of black for fine-adjustment. I also had a used kit of Nimbus gray from a forum member here. The Nimbus gray and Cream were perfect matches to both VDP's, unaltered, despite years of sun-exposure, etc.
The Barley in the S-Type? Not so much. Too dark, and not enough "lightener" amongst all 4 kits to get a match...even with some "Cream" from the cream kit mixed in. To Gliptone's credit, they offered a free replacement if I'd like to send in a sample of the proper color. Sample size needed to be 3" X 2" as I recall. Since I was just filling cracks and such, I couldn't find a business-card sized chunk of seat to cut out of the wife's car and send in without risking considerable damage to my person.
Also, to Gliptone's credit, when I ordered the codes, they held my order and emailed me: (Sorry, I can't recall the code just now) but, "You ordered XYZ, do you want Barley? or Champagne? Seems Jag used the same code and changed the name at some point, though reportedly, it was the same actual color. I asked if it mattered? "Yes, we maintain samples of each, usually sent in by customers for the first time we make a particular color...and they are different."
So, I called the dealer and gave them my VIN and they confirmed, "You have Barley." In retrospect, after realizing the no-match, I should've asked if perchance, their Champagne of the same code was lighter than their Barley? Anyway, I got it within "Good-from-far, but far-from-good" range, particularly with low-light conditions, and did the entire bottom cushion and called it good.

If your seats are ragged, you can probably easily find a business-card-size sample to send in to them for an exact match, weathering-be-damned! You probably should ask them about converting from a darker to a lighter color, and what the limitations are.

 

Brandon, meet Brendan: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...4/#post1525206

 

Thanks everyone I've already found quite a few good sets.
I would like to hear more about the dyes. I have not even checked into them as I had heard that they never match and always bleed on everything that touches the seat. Is that true.
Honestly my seats are not in bad shape. Just enough to annoy me. The drivers seat is obviously the worse with wear on the bolsters and the seat bottom. If it works and looks good I would definitely go with the dyes over a seat swap.

 

Well,here's what I've come across as far as seat dyeing........talked to a few auto detailers and upholstery people and of course,some dyes are better than others,but here seems to be the problem with many dyed seats. In order to get the dye to adhere/absorb into the old leather,the seat must be prepped by scuffing it with some sort of scotchbrite abrasive pad and cleaning it before applying.The first problem is that you tend to lose the grain/texture of the surface of the leather. The second issue is it tends to leave a glossy finish compared to the original surface ( guess this may dull down over time/use),and third,some dyes are particularly sensitive to what kinds of cleaners can be used and can lift,discolor,and remove any repaired areas if the wrong type of cleaner is used (Chemical Reaction). I've seen some good results but have also heard that some don't last long.

 

Just to chime in with my experience in redyeing leather, I've used the Leatherique products with very good results. Their stock Jaguar colors have been very close matches for our two XJ40s and they offer color matching to a small sample provided from the underside of your seat.

I have redyed new medium-dark gray leather to match the cream leather in our '93. The leather covers were sourced from a U.K. seller who purchased truckloads of seats from Jaguar and would remove the leather to reduce the cost of shipping to the U.S. The Leatherique dyes are quite opaque and I have no reason to think you couldn't turn black leather to white if you needed to.

I redyed the front seats on our '88 and the entire interior of our '93, (the front seats a second time when I replaced the leather a few years later). Here are a few tips I would pass along:

1. Follow Leatherique's instructions for prepping the leather. You wet-sand with 600 grit paper to remove the surface dye (I think they specify about 1 mil or 1/1000th of an inch to be removed). Do not sand so much that you create suede. Wipe down the leather thoroughly with their prepping solution, which will dissolve some of the remaining old dye and leave the surface degreased.

2. Thin the dye with filtered or distilled water by 10%-20%. You'll get the best results by applying 2 or 3 very thin coats of dye. One heavy coat will probably crack when you sit on the leather. The goal is to get just enough dye on the surface for uniform coverage but minimal buildup.

3. Use high-quality artist's watercolor/acrylic brushes to apply the dye. I used a 1-inch wide flat brush the most, with some smaller sizes for detail work. If you are just freshening up the leather, you can use a small sponge to to work the dye into the leather.

4. Save top-stitched seams for last. Apply the dye with a dry-brush technique, with just enough dye on your brush to transfer to the threads. If you get too much dye on the threads they will clog up and look like fake plastic seams in bargain-basement aftermarket seat covers. Trust me, you won't like it.

5. If you have contrasting piping, have your artistic wife dye it. Alternately, use a 3X5 index card or a business card to slide along between the piping and seat to reduce the application of piping color to the seat, but have a wet cloth handy for mistakes.

At the links below are a few photos of the first round of work I did on our '93:

Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page

Cheers,

Don