It is only sagging to a bothersome level over the back seats but most of it is loose, even over the center of the sunroof. Seems the sunvisors and limited roof area over the front seats limit the effect of this problem for front passengers...

Would it be a bad idea to go to a regular furniture reupholster or do I need to go to some sort of car-specific place?

 

I know this is really "ghetto" but I use small clothes pins lol, you know the ones you have to remove when you get a freshly packaged button down collar...

 

I like that phrasing, I used a similar tactic, push pins. I found some gold ones so they looked somewhat classy, but nothing beats a repaired headliner. Used the pushpins for 3 years without a problem though

Took mine to a local upholstery shop the guy pretty much color matched the factory headlining fabric, cost $200.

 

XJR, including the material on the sunroof area too? I am getting quoted much higher than that...

 

yes sunroof too, keep hunting around for upholstery places and hopefully you will find a reasonable price

 

The rear section of the headliner in my 02 XJ8L VP also became detached from it's molded shell about two years ago. JTIS says to remove the rear window glass to get it out. Add the cost of a replacement headliner from Jaguar and I was gasping for air! My ever-dependable independent Jag mechanics in Dallas came to my rescue: For $350 labor and nothing added for adhesives, they removed the headliner then working inside the car, they removed the cloth from the shell, applied new adhesive and replaced everything. It looked brand new when they finished and it still does.

Apparently this is such a common problem that your independent Jag shop likely will know of a good repair source if they don't do it in house. Regluing works; it isn't necessaary to replace everything.

 

Cubicle clips to hold up one of my headliners....

 

I bought a box of these and they work great:
http://www.amazon.com/Heads-Up-HU850.../dp/B000CO7PPW

I'll pick a pic of my headliner once the snow melts off my Jag. It makes it much less noticeably and most importantly keeps the headliner from sagging on a rear passenger. The risk of such embarrassment is the main reason I decided to try to fix it.

 

Use a long thin piece of flexible wood (pine) and wedge/bow it between either side of the upper door trims and across the sagging headliner. I had forgotten I had it.
You could go crazy and dye it walnut.

 

JaguarXJR02, I been doing my homework on upholstery shops and you got a killer deal!
Now I don't feel so alone on prices, I have been getting most quotes in the $400-600 range - it is not helping that the LWB jags need 3 yards of material!

In the end I found a place that will install a suede headliner for $350 and cover the roof, sunroof and perimeter of the sunroof-controller (but not the small-patch on the eyeglass holder or the visors)

 

This is an easy do-it-yourself, probably a day to remove/re-cover/install. A few tools and a good matching material plus some spray glue.

The first step is to remove the sun visor clips and sun visors, unclipping the connection for their lights. (phillips screwdriver to unscrew.)

Next the rear roof lining/rear sun blind clips, and the centre lighting, release the sunglasses storage and look up for the black plastic clip, half a turn and it drops down, unclip the wiring for this also. Connecting back up is easy as they're 1-way-clips.

Make sure all the screws and plastic finishers are stored safe.

Next is to unbolt the grab handles so you can remove the a/b/c pillars. A thin flat screwdriver to release the bolt covers at the ends of the grab handles, then unbolt the handles from the body (a small torx drive required here)

Next is to undo the upper part of the B pillar, it's held by a nut behind the seatbelt slider. The slider cover just pops off. I think the nut is 16/17mm, so a spanner or socket required here. Once this is free, you can carefully unclip the upper parts of the A and C pillars.
Two choices at this point, glue in situe, or bend the roof card like Olga Korbut! Once one side is free of the A/B/C pillars, it can be dropped down, and the other side pulled so the card is ready to get bent, and taken out of a rear door.
A small paint scrapper can be used to remove the foam underneath the material. This gives a cleaner surface to bond the new material on.

Start at the rear of the card and glue the new material down at 12" intervals, it's easier to keep the tension in the material and get it right without wrinkles or pulls. Don't kneel on the card while you do with or you can be left with an imprint.

The slightly tricky bit is around the front, take time to push the material into the recesses around the sun visors, make sure the spray glue is hi temp automotive grade, 3M or similar. A good thing is to let it get almost dry and spray both roof card and material.

I covered mine in storm grey Alcantara, A,C pillars, sunvisors and map light thing. B pillars are black nappa leather. All those are far tougher to do!

 

Sean -
Where did you get your material for recovering the roof? When you take the panel out a rear door, does it bend enough to crease it? How about with a VDP - does the extra door width help get the panel out?

 

Please try checking these threads.

Hope they help....

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...ight=headliner

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...ging+headliner

 

Surprising how many people can afford a Jag and still have that much free time, lol... Interesting that people with $65k+ cars would lose a day for $300...

I must admit that I do enjoy doing smaller-scale work on it

 

It may have been $65K new, but used they are at or under $10K, sometimes well under. They are a fun toy for someone retired, with more time than $$. Not to mention the intellectual challenge of untangling their curious maladies.

 

Couple of things with mine, I restore Jaguars for a living - if I want something doing right, and I mean perfect, I do it myself, I have the tools experience and patience. It's therapy for me! I can't wait to put all of the new trim into the car, it'll look/smell great! (using lots of leather too)

@ Boomer - I got the Alcantara off ebay, I was lucky to find the exact colour I was after so bought a lot of it! It's not cheap though, used on Ferrari Porsche Aston Martin etc. Genuine Italian Alcantara is stamped in gold on the back, you want the unbacked stuff, it's easier to use. I'd read Jim C's links and get it done, the satisfaction of seeing the finished thing every day will make it worth the effort, it's an easy one. Just go easy, take pictures of it coming to bits and you'll be fine. A trim shop is the last resort!

 

Hey all..

I recently had my headliner replaced, and I can't reccommend strongly enough to take it to a car interior shop, or a headliner - specific shop. There are a suprisingly few companies that produce actual headliner material. Color matching is the obvious issue. I chose to upgrade to a suede material which gave the interior an extremely luscious apperance and feel. The issue there - is that I had to now change the sunvisors, and console as well. There were limited colors available, but with changing everything, all you notice is the edging and the patches on the sunglass holder and mirror flaps.
There is a cement these shops use that far exceeds the typical spray glue, and I believe experience really pays off with a job like this.
Is it a DIY? I guess it could be. You will pay $300 - $350 to have a shop do this work. I payed $500 with the increase in material cost, and the added work with having to do everything possible.
I don't make a ton, and it was well worth the cost.

 

I was planning to leave the sunglass-holder-patch and visors in the original material off-white fabric (which matches the rubber sunroof molding) and the rest of the ceiling and sunroof as well as the perimeter of the sunroof-control-panel was going to be done in light-gray suede



Anticipating an appearance somewhat like:

Only with the sunroof console having more contrast with the trim in suede and the wood facade (VDP)

 

I am going to have to do this -- it was my understanding that you can not get the headliner out of SWB car - only LWB.

Has anyone done this without taking the window out ?


Alcantara is Ultrasuede (the original name) made by Toray of Japan. It can have various backing material applied for different uses - or not backed at all. While it was the first widespread microfiber -- all microfiber is not Ultrasuede.

Ultrasuede -- is fully washable ,,,,,,quite expensive to manufacture. The original and still the best.

 

vdpnyc,

Thats the same color I used in my xjr.

Its silver with black leather, so the original liner and all the trim was a light grey.

It matched beautifully - and again, I chose to do everything - the visors and the console... I personally don't care for the 2-tone look.

The suede is gorgeous. I highly recommend it.