I want to clean the soft fabric in the roof and on the front pillars (Jaguar XK8 convertible).

What's a good way to do that? And what fabric is it?

 

Your owners manual recommends using alcohol which I found to work very well. Others have used any of a number of fabric cleaners with no reported issues.

If you clean the 'A' pillar fabric you are going to destroy the thin foam lining. It is easy to replace if you can find a correct color match.

 

Also, if your fabric has yellowis brownish stains, they probably will return in very short order...they are from the deteriorating foam lining. The only permanent solution to this issue is fabric replacement.

 

I peeled the fabric from my 'a' pillars, brushed the dry, crumbling foam off and sprayed both fabric and trim with contact cement. Worked like a champ.

For spot cleaning of the fabrics I spray brake clean on a clean rag, rubbing toward the center of the stain. No sense in potentially making the spot bigger. On the carpet and mats I spray directly onto them. I've never had any color or fabric reactions on any car I've used it on but be safe and test a small spot first.

 

I got some headliner material from Joann's Fabrics that is an almost identical match to the A-pillar fabric. I'm going to reupholster the A pillars because the prior driver was a smoker and there are some cigarette burns on the fabric. If the match isn't close enough, I'll just reupholster the strip at the top of the windscreen. Then everything will match.

 

For around 15-20 bucks you can get a yard of foam backed headliner material which is enough to recover the A pillars and the convertible header console. This will restore the OEM look and feel. IMHO a worthwhile investment.

 

I'll probably do exactly that once I finish my punch list of ****ling issues left over from the previous owner's hacks. Apparently it had a garage opener above the driver's visor that wore a hole in the header fabric. I can't see it with the visor up and I'm too tall to ever use the visor so it's low on the list.

 

White,

Are you saying the $15-20 per yard headliner is from JoAnn Fabrics too, or did you get yours elsewhere? I'm looking to replace mine and looked at the JoAnn stuff, wasn't sure it would work/match.

Thanks

Tom

 

I purchased a full headliner from topsandseats.com and they supplied a yard of material for the recovering of the trim that is the exact match to the Jaguar colors (they are only 2 headliner colors Jag uses, tan or grey). Call them and they probably can sell you just the material.

wlsheadliners.com MIGHT also be able to match the color if you give them the car info.

Rev. Sam said JoAnns has something close, but I do not know if it is an exact match.

This has nothing to do with just recovering the trim, but just for the record, if you buy a complete headliner kit, I think topsonline.com (an ebay seller) is a better deal, becasue the kit has pre-sewn-in fasteners and an OEM-like liner, unlike the one I bought at topsandseats.com.

 

Thanks, I'll give them a call.

 

Make sure you use a heavy duty spray adhesive that is specifically for headliners and coat both the foam and the backing.