Hi dudes-
Need your advice. I bought my 05 XK8 convertible about a week ago and its in great condition except the interior headliner. Clearly the previous driver drop top down without the boot cover, considering how dirty i is. The biggest issue is that the foam is breaking down and causing huge orange sports in the back pillars and its saggy there as well. I think need to replace it.

I called up two local shops here in town, one recommended by my Jag indy mechanic and another that has good reviews on Yelp. The first quoted me a standard cost of $600 (200 labor, 400 parts). The second place I called I was quoted $2600 total, to replace the headliner as well as the upper top canvas. The owner mentioned that given the cars age that the upper portion likely has shrunk and the new interior headliner would not fit, or stretch to the size of the used top. Doesn't matter that the top of mine is in great shape. Frankly that sounds fishy to me since I've read many posts here with various folks replacing their headliners but no motion of the shrinking issue. Wondering what you guy's thoughts are and if you've heard or experience this issue.

Thanks as always!

 

I'd have to agree... never heard of such a "shrinking" issue. Lots of forum members have replaced their headliners with no issues, and lots of times those were on older models too. So I call BS on that one. The $600 quote is more in-line with prices I've seen on other threads. So that's what I would do.

Depending on how handy you are, member philhef has a thread on here on how to replace it yourself for about $50, if I remember.

Best of luck!

 

If the top is in good condition there is absolutely no reason whatsoever that you cannot just replace the headliner alone. The shrinking story is total BS on this car.

$600 is not a bad price for the job, which is mostly labor. Actually aftermarket headliners run around $200, so $400 is a good deal for the amount of labor involved. Your quote appears reversed on parts vs. labor, but the total is reasonable.

 

Yeah I must've reversed the parts vs labor prices in my notes. Nonetheless seemed like a reasonable price. Agreed with the responses so far, BS.

 

I've got the stained headliner on my '99 as well. The top is starting to show some wear (getting fuzzy in places) and I think there's about a year left on it. For now I'm just not looking up when I'm in the car (mostly top down weather anyway right now) and I'll replace both when the top fails.