www.jec.org.uk

The driver's side A post on my 2001 XKR convertible were looking distinctly rough. The paint was scruffy and coming away and the alloy in the rubber seal was corroding and blowing out. Here is the top with the rubber seal looking untidy. And the paint is peeling
So I wondered about replacing it. Is it still available? Yes! Jaguar Classic Parts list it but ........... At £444.04 inc VAT! Per side!!!! So just under a grand to replace them both. Maybe not then. I wonder how many they sell at that price?
What about used ones then? Well they can be found but they are either expensive or in just as bad condition as the ones I'm replacing.
Could they be repaired?
Well the breakthrough was when I found a suitable rubber section that can be used to replace the blown out ones from these guys And here it is and all for a few pounds

The seal retainer is held to the a post by 5 screws hidden behind the door glass seal so I pulled the rubber seal out of the channel as below. The screws go into captive plastic nuts in the a post. These are called lokut nuts. Mine were brittle and had broken. They are available from Jaguar but again the price is ludicrously ambitious at £7 each!!! So that's £70 for 10 tiny pieces of plastic.
So I got some from eBay for pennies. Here's the old and new And here's the a post with the seal retainer removed

Apologies! I've just noticed that for some reason the site has posted all of my pictures upside down!

So here's the seal retainer in more detail. The rubber section pulls off like this The rubber covers an alloy inner that inevitably corrodes and expands like this

So once the rubber section has been pulled off the alloy seal retainer can be rubbed back and painted. Once rubbed down and the ends masked off it was primed using an etch primer.
Then it was rubbed back again and got a couple of coats of Dorchester Grey metallic before 3 coats of lacquer.
These were the materials used The lacquer was allowed a couple of days to harden off and then gently flatted off with 1500 grade wet and dry before polishing up with compound. Using this method, care and patience it's possible to get a good finish

So finally I used the rubber U-shaped strip to replace the blown out one. The only other thing I did was replicate the felt inner strip with tape as below. The rubber strip was then cut to length and it looks pretty good I think I've yet to put it back on the car but I'm pleased with it so far and it's cost me considerably less that £444!!!

Great to see such repairs taking place. I get pleasure from doing that sort of thing on my car.
Job well done.

Thanks Paul - yes these little jobs are very satisfying.
The trim is now back on the car and looking much better.

Looks like new.

Great job, well done. Perhaps we should have a separate section in forum to gather together in one place these sort of posts. Problems solved , ways round issues, saving money etc? Just a thought.

Anyone know where you can source the Dorchester Grey metallic paint ?

I got mine from Rainbow Paints which is a car paints specialist but equally it can be bought online via eBay.
Halfords will mix up paint for you as will many motor factors.

Regret to say that Halfords stopped the Holts bespoke paint mixing service about a year ago. A very great shame.

I`ve had to search to find a local supplier ever since. The Holts brew for my XJR was spot on. An alternative sourced via eBay was not!

All is not lost though. Many trade automotive paint factors now offer a matching service and will produce aerosol paint to special order. In Croydon for instance, L.E.Went on Selhurst Trading Estate offer an as you wait mixing service which includes an aerosol two pack product for a very reasonable £15 for a large can. A good match it is too.

Most of these trade suppliers have outlets on trading estates in many towns. With luck you will probably also find a burger van opposite the factors front door so you can revitalise while you wait for the paint to be brewed.

Mike K

Great thanks for the info