Hi, I have an 89 XJS with about 22,000 miles. Seats and leather are in good shape but front seats feel mushy to sit in.

Not sure if that’s how they were new or just due to aging. I’d like to keep the original leather and restuff them if possible.

I’ve searched the boards and see a bunch of threads on reupholstering but that’s not what I’m looking for.

Any suggestion for guidance would be appreciated. Thank you

 

Is the stuffing bad, or is it the diaphragm?

 

good question. I don’t know. Anyway to tell without taking them apart?

 

I believe you can remove the seat and take a look at the underside. If you see failing rubber….which will be obvious…..then the diaphragm has failed.

The question is can it be replaced without destroying the current leather seat upholstery.

Places like Paul’s Jaguar in Florida seem to have OEM replacement hides. I would seriously consider redoing the seats properly, and completely. 1989 makes these seats almost 35 years old.

 

The seats are quite straightforward to fix. New diaphragms and foams are available, and the leather cover just pulls off the frame and foam like a glove, once the fixings underneath are undone. Aldridge Trimming in the UK can supply everything.

 

I recovered my seats and have to say I'm pretty happy (fingers crossed) with the results... From memory,,, hog ring type fasteners, and lots of them, all around under there.

I began to try and work with new hog rings and pliers but switched to zip ties all around. Lots of them, punching a super small holes in the leather and stringing the ties individually, leaving them undone, til I was sure things were "right", then zipping them all secure at the end... I would imagine, again from memory although this wasn't the case with my old abused seats,,, that once 1, 2, 4, or 6 hog rings started to fail, over time, the rest might kinda start tearing through leather like a cascade, until a UN-taught seat is left. Maybe?

Like others have said try removing the seat and see what's going on under there. I believe there is a large rubber sheet underneath as well, hard to remember...that might cause problems. Seat isn't too hard to remove, thank goodness.

 

It's a piece of cake for any trim shop. I had mine done recently and cost maybe $75 a seat. The original seat leather etc is untouched, they just fix the foam etc underneath. Mine is cushy and like new now!

 

Cool!

 

I did my own facelift seats.

Replaced the foam, which was forgiving and easy. I also added some heavy duty fiberglass landscaping/weed mesh to help prolong the foams life, as the metal frame can start to cut into it overtime.

Replacing the leather was straightforward, but somewhat time consuming. I found using hog rings were quite foolproof….and failproof. I can’t understand how they could ever fail? Installing them with a good set of hogring pliers was easy and also forgiving.

Lastly, I also upgraded the heating element, so my seats are much toastier than before. I was also able to replace a failed lumbar pump/bladder as well!

Between removing the seat, replacing the leather, and reinstalling the seat, I’d give yourself an entire day.

 

Thanks everyone. Great advice