Hello,

Working on getting my 95 XJS interior together, I have two new leather seats, leather seat backs, door panels and center console all in new leather panels and professionally installed in my car . To mitigate some of the cost I am recovering the small trim pieces (total of 6) in the front: the 2 small end pieces with vents at the front of the center console in the footwells right by the a/c box,the 2 pieces in the front footwells close to the doors and the two pieces that cover the driver and passenger side fuses. I have found some identical color vynil and have stripped the old fabric from all the pieces, except the 2 fuse cover or knee bolster pieces. It seems those are made of a hard foam and will come completely apart if I try to remove the old fabric.

Question is: can I just clean and sand the old fabric and glue the new fabric on top with headliner spray, or will the new fabric fall apart?

BTW, reason these pieces have to be recovered is because all the new leather is barley and the original interior is cream.

Many thanks

 

Im a little confused.

You are talking about the fuse covers, yes? If memory serves those are made out of a metal plate...i guess its covered in foam though.
You can't just use a heat gun to remove it ?

I'll admit i've never tried but I have never ever heard of "sanding fabric".

If you apply new vinyl over the old vinyl it will probably be too thick to re-attach

 

It may be easier to use some vinyl paint on those bits. It would also preserve the original grain.

Can't immediately think of a glue I would trust for sticking the vinyl over the panels, but I would think that keying the surface would be a good idea. Maybe a high temp contact adhesive such as the 3m variety. or a pu glue.
May wind up too thick though as suggested above.

 

Thanks for your replies!!

On the facelift the trim parts by the knees, meaning the part that has the a/c temp sensor on the passenger side and corresponding piece on the driver side, are made of a hard moulded foam, so the original fabric around them was hardened and moulded around it, it's not a matter of just peeling of the fabric of like with the other trim. I might have to take a picture of it .

 

I would suggest using a vinyl paint or dye. World Uphostery in California and Leatheriques advertise such dyes and should be able to help you out. I know the knee bolsters you're talking about. You may also consider buying used bolsters from a breaker and "experiment" with recovering them. I do think they can be recovered and think it pretty much a situation of method and materials.

Good Luck,
Roger

 

I know exactly the type of panels you are talking about, the S3 sedans use them below the dash.
They are formed as one, the vinyl is laid in a mound and the urethane rubber is then injected in behind it. No way known you'll ever separate the two, so you will be re covering over the old material.
Make sure you thoroughly clean all parts where adhesive will go and use a good adhesive. I question whether this will work long term as this type of panel tends to warp with age as the vinyl shrinks, deforming the urethane substrate. More shrinking vinyl on top will only make it worse.

 

Thanks for your reply. That helps quite a bit. Ill sand the original fabric and use headliner glue to install the new fabric .

 

Clean existing vinyl spray with upholstery adhesive apply new vinyl put it back on. Have covered boat panels this way never had one come apart and they get a lot of sun and water.

 

Great. I ll roughen up the vinyl with some sanding paper as well, so I think it will stick .

 

I did the center console. I just sanded the original material and used contact cement to put the new vinyl on top. Turned out perfectly.