To those searching for info on replacing their leather seat covers, you're going to run into a HUGE source of info on this forum; that's because the complete solution has never really surfaced until now.
Many have opted for dying or "painting" the leather to bring it back life, but it's not a great fix. Even though it looks "better" it still looks like an old piece of leather with a paint job. To the eye, it's not fooling anyone. It's like a face-lift celebrities get; you KNOW they had something done because they don't look quite right; just a tad off of being completely human. Kind of a human-alien hybrid.
I know this firsthand about dying leather (not face-lifts) because I went this route; it's a cheap fix and you get what you pay for. But when I put in the first seat completed with those robust new leathers just waiting to be sat upon (and gazed upon, can't seem to keep my eyes off them when driving...but at least I'm not texting :-)
Point being, a Jag owner is a proud person and we want that engineered beauty to shine through and new leathers are indeed a fountain of youth. I was happy with the driver's seat (Dyed) but the passenger's seat was a mess. I live in a So. California desert and being a convertible, the hot sun destroyed the seat.
You see, I WAS happy with the driver's seat UNTIL I put in the new passenger's seat, instantly, the driver's seat became the red-headed stepchild. Funny how when we raise the bar, we need to raise it again. So, onto the fix....
Over and over Vic at topsonline dot com has been raved about from forum members and there's a good reason why, the leathers look and fit exactly like factory. SUPER high quality workmanship and materials. When it came to the install, the installer on their website had more bad yelp reviews than positive. Comments like missing parts, scratched leather and motors not working peppered the reviews. Not exactly comforting, so this DIY'er decided to take on the challenge.
So, here's the gold. First off, thanks to cyber3d for the great seat replacement video located here (it helped a lot):
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...lstery-155563/
The problem is it's only for the seat not the back and nobody has really tackled this issue with a great answer, that's because without the "secret" it's AWFUL and you WILL be hating life. The first seat back brought on two days of agony; even with two people. The molded back has a grove in it to keep the leather secured, the problem is it doesn't stay put, even after manipulating the original seat clips to try to make it stay. It just keeps backing out. Throw away the clips; they're useless. After learning the secret, the second back only took FIVE MINUTES to secure the entire thing!
So, here's how I learned the secret; after strategically speaking with the local repair shop, I finally got it out of him that he "sometimes" uses super glue. AHA! Eureka. But here's what I used. Gorilla super glue GEL. SUPER strong and it stays put and Gorilla products are awesome. When you apply it, don't put a "dot" every inch like the package says, apply a small bead on the top edge slightly to the inside. That way, you'll get even pulling pressure on the leather. Dots only make it tacked. PLUS I want it holding up.
To insert the leather into the groove, sit on the seat back edge to compress the seat cushion and use pliers, on the black rubber part, to pull the leather up, then you can flip over the black rubber seating strip and push it into the groove. I also used a wide blade screwdriver to further push the rubber down into the groove. Don't sit in the center of the seat back as it can break. I tested it and heard a little cracking noise; so I know it can break. That's all there is to it and it's a one person job.
Don't worry about folds in the leather from the sewing seams, which are minimal, just sitting on the seats and the heat of the day will get them nice and tight.
So happy day. All the aggravation, swearing, sweating, sore fingertips and split fingernails disappeared. Only smiles prevailed.
Also, I'm going to drop another product name on you, Smart and Final's heavy duty cleaner degreaser. It's awesome. This will get those plastic parts looking brand new. It also does a great job cleaning white plastic lawn furniture. AND it's cheap; about $8 for a gallon. Can't beat it. Use a black plastic brush to get into the nooks and crannies of the plastic. You won't believe what a great job it does.
So, there it is DIY'ers. Don't fear, it's not bad at all. Plus, when you pull that seat out, time to get out the carpet cleaner and make it all look new.
I hope this helps. I wish I knew the solution first, but discovering it was a sweet victory. Cheers...

 

excellent info - hope to replace my seat covers this spring

 

Thanks Steve
I bought the covers over a year ago wondering what to do and finally just went for it and glad I did. You'll be so much happier with new covers than painting.

 

Can you post a few pictures of your seat backs?......Thanks.....Mike

 

The first is the before shot, the four are after shots.

 

Here's the pics...

 

As you can see from the last shot, compare the switch plate to the leather, perfect color match. Also to the center console as well.

 

I did just the driver's seat back a few weeks ago but had to have a professional do it because of the groove issue. It came out great with no wrinkles. I did the leather console cover myself a year ago because it had cigarette burns. I also replaced the plain ugly shift knob with one that matched the dash and has a growler emblem on it.

I'm extremely happy with Tops On Line and would recommend them to everyone. The color match is perfect.

 

Getting the rib into the groove looks impossible, but all you need is a heat gun to soften it and a wooden wedge to seat it.

 

I did the wooden wedge, but it doesn't work. Pull the wedges out and the leather backs out. And the heat gun is an iffy one at that. You can easily damage the leather. Why go though all that anyway, I did and it's a pain and it still doesn't work. It's SUPER easy to do it the way I explained above. If you sit on the seat back, on the edge, it compresses the foam, just get a pair of pliers to pull on the black rubber and it's not hard to twist it over and insert it. The super glue gel was the trick. It only took a few minutes and done. Keep in mind, leather shrinks and any creases, which don't look bad anyway, will be gone...especially where I live, summers get over 117 degrees.

 

i have just done the rear seat back as the sun had reeked havoc on the vinyl, yes vinyl, only the center panels were leather.

we took the whole back piece apart at the stitching very carefully and used the pieces as patterns, you have two sets of everything all be it mirror images, except the center piece, these duplicate pieces must be compared to each other and an average shape determined then they must be cut to that average so that both sides are the same, the center can be folded in half vertically to average the shape.

in our case we retained the center panels which were leather but due to the stitch holes in the leather some license must be used, reducing the size of the finished panels very slightly, this does not affect the finished product as the original molded foam has probably shrunk somewhat and some 1/2" foam will be required to puff up the finished seat back anyway.

hardest part of the job was doing the stitch thru on either side of the stitching, trying to keep two parallel lines of stitching at the same distance from the seam is a bitch if you only have one needle on your machine.

not as difficult as one might think, just take your time when undoing the original, especially the velcro holding the upholstery in the groove in the foam.

 

The topsonline seatbacks for the early models with headrest inclusive have leather sides, not vinyl. At least mine did. The seat bottoms have vinyl sides, so the heat gun should not get near them. The factory seatback sides were also vinyl.

 

Wow, that's a s lot of work. Mine is a 97 and the foam, both seats and backs, were in perfect shape. Now, that might be because I'm in So. Cal. and there's very little humidity. Dunno, but the original seats lasted 17 years, I doubt I'll have this vehicle that long. Redoing the center console seems like it'd be a much more difficult job as I haven't seen anyone putting out any replacements on that piece.
I wouldn't use a heat gun on any of it. From the videos I've seen, the heat gun is used for puffing up the cellulose in the skin to get the fine lines out. Plus, it can make the sheen uneven.
An 'overall' shrink can easily be done by just letting the sun do it's thing naturally and evenly. People forget that leather shrinks. Add a little moisture and it really shrinks. Case in point; OJ's leather glove (I'm surprised the lawyers didn't know this). The Indians used to use it as torture. Wrap victims in leather strips, wet the leather, put them in the sun and it'd break their bones.
People who wear cowboy boots know this trick, it they're too loose: put your boots on, leather not suede, stand in a tub of water, let the water soak in, wear the boots the rest of the day while they dry and a custom fit.
Also, for the vinyl parts, maybe a good UV protectant would help to make it last?