DIY leather arm rests

I saw on a forum where the guy used hot glue to to replace the weld points, would that work or fail in time?

 

Not sure hot glue would suffice? I figured welding both pieces back together it will not fail ever...

 

I used screws, 3M 90, over a year installed, no problem

 

just the 3M 90 or with also contact cement? Still in the process of looking for the padding to place in (I like to rest my arm on that area a lot, damn padding wore out FAST, plus the fabric looks VERY dirty now).

 

true, hopefully I can get this done after the holidays. Wanting to put in a little padding plus suede (also putting suede on the center console top).

 

Any pictures?? What kind of carbon fiber did you use??

 

doing this mod today with some real tree camo. I also got some padding from JoAnnes that is suppose to iron on and hold really well (Asked some old timers that said they re-did their old cars with the same padding and it worked wonderful!). ill let you know what type of padding it is and show some pics when im done. Planning on welding the melt points back together with my soldering gun and screwing them together as well. I dont ever want to have to deal with re-doing it. Thanks for all the info on this! hope it works well for me!!!!

 

NICE, will be waiting for results and x2 on doing it right the FIRST time around.

 

Hey guys and gals of TW. Figured I would give you guys a little DIY in addition to all the others on here on how to do the arm rest mod. Took all the advice from everyone on here and made it my own. This is my first write-up, let me know if you need anything else or if I wrote too much! Here it goes!

First, I followed Raid's advice on removing the door panels. Simply unscrewed the screw under the door handle and the one below the other handle on the door. I also popped the push pin out by pushing in the center of it and then pulling it out.





Remove the small triangular panel towards the front of the door against the window by pulling it away from the door. It should come off fairly easy!!



After the panel was unfastened, I started to pry it off of the door. I recommend starting at the bottom and working your way up on both sides. Once you have successfully pried all the panel away from the door, simply lift upwards. Do not pull the panel away because you need to unclip the electrical controls for the windows and door locks. Unplug them, and there you go! the door panel is FREE!



I set my door panel on a towel so it didn't get scratched.

Unscrew this small screw that is holding the arm rest to the door panel.



Next i used a 7/32 drill bit to put holes through the center on the plastic melt-points that are securing the arm rest to the door panel. Do not drill any deeper then 3/16, if you drill too deep, you'll end up with a hole in the panel. TAKE YOUR TIME! (I did this so that the #10 - 1/2" sheet metal screws can be countersinked in so they will not split the plastic.)



I then cut the the melt-points off of the arm rest with a razor blade. I did this so I wouldn't have to pry the arm rest away from the rest of the panel (I didn't want to break it!).



Once the arm rest was removed, I peeled off the existing material and used that piece to measure and make my pieces that I will use.

I bought some 1/8" thick padding from Joannes fabrics that iron's onto other materials. (spoke with some older people there that actually re-did their upholstery in their cars back in the day and said this stuff works amazing and holds up well!).



I cut out both arm rests on the padding and then used those as a template to cut out the real tree camo I got from Joannes. I cut it slightly bigger so it would tuck into the frame of the panel well. I then ironed the padding to my fabric.



Make sure you clean the arm rest plastic to get all of the existing adhesive off. I used gasoline



Spray the plastic arm rest with the 3M 90 spray adhesive and let it set for a little until it becomes tacky. Start on one side of the arm rest and slowly apply the fabric and work out all of the folds.



Once it is adhered to the arm rest, I used contact cement to glue the outer edges so it will hold and I wont ever have to worry about the fabric coming off.



Place the arm rest back on the panel and screw it back together using #10 - 1/2" sheet metal screws and small #10 washers. Do not over tighten them because it will strip the plastic.



Re-install the door panel and make sure to plug in all the electrical wires.

Once your done with that, your all done! Sit back with a beer and enjoy your handy work!

 

Looks good bengland! How did the soldering the meltpoints back work? what did you use to do it?

 

I kept the pieces that i cut off and then used my soldering gun to melt them back down and adhered them back together. forgot to get pictures of that, but after i did that i screwed them down too! works great IMO, after it was secured back to the panel, I applied a decent amount of force on the arm rest and it didnt move at all.

 

NICEEE!!!! how is the padding? do you know it's there or feel it (I ask because of the OE foam padding that did NOTHING, didn't even know it was there until I took the door panel off).

 

I notice it's there but, considering its only about 1/8" thick, it's nothing significant. Definitely looks better and feels better then just the fabric through IMO.

 

imo anything is better than the OE feel lol

 

Haha I'd have to agree!

 

how did you do the center console???

 

The center console lid comes off. There's a black plastic liner inside it that's held in by a few screws. Take that off, then you can take the vinyl cover off. It's fairly thick, so if you're looking to re-do it in leather or something, I would suggest adding a couple of layers of foam underneath.

I redid mine in leather, and added 2 layers of craft foam under it. It's not nearly as soft as the vinyl one, but it looks a hell of a lot better and matches my leather seats.

 

does anybody have a picture of the door pannel with the plastic piece removed? just so i can get a better idea of how to do this mod. it would really help. thank you!

 

Hope that helps man.

 

Thank You!!!
now i know exactly what i need to do, now i just need some mu-lah $