Completed replacing one seat cover on my fathers 94 XJS. The seat was getting ratty looking. The covers I bought were the vinyl type & I was surprised they look and feel like leather. Exact color match for the Doeskin interior color. Its a ton of work. Took 6 hours to remove the seat, remove the frame, remove the old leather covers & install the new ones. The bottom seat is in 3 sections. There's lots of clips & its a big project. Overall I'm really happy with the results. $310 including shipping for both seats. Ill replace the other once later this year. I including some photos showing the seat when I removed it & while we were working on it & when its completed. The wrinkles will come out with time.

 

Nicely done!

Did you replace the foam cushioning or use the existing?

Cheers,

Allan

 

I used the existing foam. Most of the foam was in great shape except for one of the lower bolsters that had a split in it-the one nearest the drivers door. I bought some foam at the hardware store & cut a long, thin piece and inserted it in & it worked fine. The other note if your going to do this yourself is the headrest can only be removed by taking the colored plastic backing plate off the back of the seat. Then you can access the hex bolt that holds the headrest in. There's a bunch of hog clips that have to be removed inside the seats... These things are thick wire and were tough to bend.

 

Great looking job, and I know what you mean by time consuming. I did the back seat on one of my other cars and took me 2 days.

 

I quoted the wrong price for the covers. they were actually $410 with shipping.

 

Impressive! Any special tools involved?

 

This! This is awesome and most definitely in the works for a future project. Any "how to" instructionals available online for this?

 

No special tools required. Removing the seat was simple-4 bolts
& the 2 electrical connectors.. Its just time consuming. I will do the passenger seat later this year. The metal c-clips inside the seat were tough to bend & remove. I wish there were some step by step instructions included. This was the first time i replaced covers on any car. There is very little info on the internet/YouTube for xjs seat cover replacement. When i ordered the covers, they wanted a photo of my seats. There were some different seat patterns on the 1990-1996 models and they wanted to send the correct ones. I believe these are made to order-so it took 2 weeks to get them.

 

@racer

Great job. I've done it myself also and I think I fared about as well as you. I had pretty banged up bleeding fingers by the end of it I can tell you.

I cheated and used tie grips instead of the hog ties as tie grips are easier for me to work with. 2 years on my seats still look great.

I used a heat gun VERY GENTLY on the side bolsters to remove the creases

 

You are a brave man! Looks great .I saw some videos of what it would take to change the covers, and of to the upholstery shop I went.

BTW, does anyone know who makes vynil covers for the rear seats with the 95-96 pattern? My two fronts are leather, but I won't be paying for leather on the Terrier seat on the back