I've not been posting much recently, but wanted to share my two most recent X100 jobs: replacing the headlining in my own car (a 2003 XK8 4.2 with black leather interior) and also the one in my dad's car (a 2001 XK8 with light coloured interior).
My car's headlining was originally grey in colour and I'd previously bought the correct cloth from Woolies Trim, but unfortunately, I had a bit of a nightmare with it because the adhesive soaked through the cloth and looked awful. I've been busy with other things so it's stayed like that until I was ready to have a second go and I was eyeing it with regret in the intervening time. The grey cloth certainly wasn't coming off without a huge struggle so I decided that I'd got nothing to lose by simply sticking another cloth over the top.
A friend asked me to re-cover his Rover 75's headlining with black Alcantara / faux suede so I stuck another 1.5 metres on the order to allow enough to go my Jag. I didn't take any pictures if the process with the Jag headlining, so here's the before and after shots for the Rover:
It took about an hour to get it out of the car, half an hour to remove the old lining material and decomposed foam - the actual re-covering process took about half an hour.
At this stage, it needs the various holes cut in it and also a good brush so that the pile is all looking uniform. The jag one looked more or less the same - and took about an hour to get back into the car. I'm pleased with the result - the black really matches the interior, and I don't even mind the grey sun visors, light surrounds and retaining button. I'd already replaced the A-post trims with the original grey cloth and at the moment have left those as they are. I may well also re-cover these with black in the fullness of time.
So that was my XK8 (and my friend's Rover), but my father's XK8 and coincidentally my own Rover also needed new headlinings so the following weekend I set about putting that right, with the help of my father. Yet again, I forgot to record the process with the Jaguar lining so here's a timelapse of my Rover one being re-covered:
https://youtu.be/U0Qu0P18AVg?si=1HPG9IfTxkl6Bgdj
The process for the XK8 only differed because we also re-trimmed the A-posts with the same cloth. Neither dad nor I were too bothered about matching the new cloth to the old one and a beige brushed nylon one from Woolies seemed like a good choice. In the end, it was slightly green which really suited the two BRG cars.
And then for the time lapse for re-fitting the headlining into my father's car I used a slightly higher frame rate:
https://youtu.be/WiHXzAJMldY?si=iQn0mGGtRHkECWNa
By the time we had finished, it was starting to rain so dad put his car in the garage, but I got one shot of the new headlining in place:
A very satisfying series of jobs and I'd urge anyone to try and replace their own headlining - it's really easy and will transform the look of your car for less than £100.
Mike.