NickTee

Alright, I'm back with another DIY, this time involving an annoying creak I had in the center console lid. It would creak if I put my arm on the side or if it didn't have any weight on it and it drove me crazy. At first I thought it was in the movement mechanism or how it was sitting on the console itself, but I eliminated that possibility and found that it continued to creak. I finally got sick of it and ended up figuring out that there are only four screws that secure it. If you have a creak or squeak from here, now is your time to fix it.

Step one: Go in the back seat and open up the console. You'll have to get creative because you need to lay down on the floor and unscrew the screws. Once you're in position, pull the lid of the console back as far as you can get it to go. You'll notice that there is a metal bracket across the bottom of the lid that has four screws in it. Remove these four screws and the lid will come almost all the way off. To remove it the rest of the way, there are two guides that are on a set of tracks. These push in and allow it to release. Now you have the lid in your hand. Hooray.


Step two: Determine the area of your squeaking. There is nothing more futile than simply guessing how to fix the squeak. It took me over an hour of foam and tape placement before I found the right way to eliminate it. More on that later. Grab the lid and squeeze it until you find out where the creaks and squeaks come from. Mine was down the center line. Now that you know where it is, mark it with painter's tape or make a mental note.

Step three: Disassembling the lid. It's actually quite simple, there are only eight screws that hold it together. Six are visible, two are under a rubber flap at the front of it. Unscrew the six visible screws, peel the rubber piece back, and remove the final two screws. Now that you have those removed, it's a matter of simply pulling it off. Grab the back of the plastic section and pull up, which will release the two rear clips. There are also two front clips, but they will come out when you release the rear ones. Now you have the two parts and you can see how the whole lid operates.



Step four: this is the difficult part, remedying the creaking. As I said before, it took me an entire hour and multiple pieces of 1/8" foam before I located the location that fix it. It will consist of you placing foam, screwing the halves together and testing the effectiveness of your foam placement. I found that my issue was the area right down the middle of the lid, where the latching mechanism is. I took a piece of 1.5" wide by 1/8" thick foam that stretched almost the entire length of the lid and taped it down, then assembled. Don't be afraid to get firm when testing for creaks. Your arm is heavy and you will be resting that weight on it constantly. Being delicate may end up with a fix that didn't actually fix the issue.


Now just put it back together and see how it drives without the creaking.

Blueshark

I would like to thank you for this very informative DIY, i t was so clear that i had to go and do it today. Yes, the arm rest does squeak sometimes, but while dissembling the unit, i sure understand why the design causes squeaking, lot of plastic ridges.

I did the area that you mentionned, but also did the sides with a long strip of foam and now the squeaks is OVER.

While doing the diy, i notice that the the latch button cover is removable, i will tackle that problem soon since most of lexus owners complaints of accidently hitting the elbow and open the arm rest cover.

Again, thanks