Leather armrest/center console cover
12-23-2002, 09:01 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Portland, OR
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Leather armrest/center console cover
Okay, I did this about two years ago, but I thought I'd write it up now.
The center console was sticky, shiny vinyl - near perfect condition, but the tactile quality left something to be desired. I went to a local auto upholstery shop and bought a scrap of black leather big enough to do the job, and then some, for all of five bucks!
I removed the hinge, carefully peeled off the vinyl while leaving the thin layer of foam padding underneath, and test-fit the leather. I trimmed it to about a half-inch excess all around, and stuck it on with ordinary Elmer's white glue! The leather was pliable enough to pull easily over the corners. It was held in place with numerous binder clips while the glue dried.
I replaced the hinge at this time, too.
The finished result looks a lot better, and is a FAR better place to put your forearm/elbow on long drives. Or short drives. Or just sitting in the garage making vroom-vroom noises while tossing the shifter around. <img src="graemlins/a_smil17.gif" border="0" alt="[blabla]" />
The leather faded a good amount, though. I put some Kiwi (for shoes) leather dye on it, and that helped a lot. It's not as bad as it looks in the picture.
There was enough leather left over to cover the inside, too.
That's tool-drawer liner sourced from Harbor Freight in there, keeping the stuff inside from sliding around.
The center console was sticky, shiny vinyl - near perfect condition, but the tactile quality left something to be desired. I went to a local auto upholstery shop and bought a scrap of black leather big enough to do the job, and then some, for all of five bucks!
I removed the hinge, carefully peeled off the vinyl while leaving the thin layer of foam padding underneath, and test-fit the leather. I trimmed it to about a half-inch excess all around, and stuck it on with ordinary Elmer's white glue! The leather was pliable enough to pull easily over the corners. It was held in place with numerous binder clips while the glue dried.
I replaced the hinge at this time, too.
The finished result looks a lot better, and is a FAR better place to put your forearm/elbow on long drives. Or short drives. Or just sitting in the garage making vroom-vroom noises while tossing the shifter around. <img src="graemlins/a_smil17.gif" border="0" alt="[blabla]" />
The leather faded a good amount, though. I put some Kiwi (for shoes) leather dye on it, and that helped a lot. It's not as bad as it looks in the picture.
There was enough leather left over to cover the inside, too.
That's tool-drawer liner sourced from Harbor Freight in there, keeping the stuff inside from sliding around.
