I have been looking to replace my center console arm rest for a while. Price at the dealer was way too much so I have been looking on ebay etc. I just recently noticed that someone on ebay was selling new leather covers for the arm rest. He was selling an ivory/tan leather that looked like a perfect match for my Ecru interior. For $50 I gave it a shot. When the replacement skin arrived I was surprised at how close it matched my interior.

First Pic is the before.

Second and third pics are the "new skin"

Fourth pic are the screws I removed under the console to remove the arm rest.
There are 12 screws to remove. 8 small and 4 larger screws at the bottom of the arm rest. Once these are removed the cover will come off with a little wiggling to free up the air vents.

Once removed I pulled out the staples holding the old skin on the arm rest.
The new skin was templated perfectly. There were marks on the back for where to cut. I only needed to cut out the hole for the rear air vents. I tried to use my pneumatic stapler to attach the new skin but it was too strong. Tried an arrow stapler but it was too weak. I ended up using a hot glue gun and some large paper clips to hold while the glue dried.

The work took 30 minutes, add 60 minutes for the glue to dry and to remount and it's a 90 minute project. Looks great and the color really matches. I am planning to "refinish" the seats next week.

 

Nice job, the color looks great.

 

Excellent work! I need to try this on my SC300.

 

Nice write up and job. Looks good.

 

How is the piping along the edge? Seems thinner and stitched. Color is a good match but looks baggy around the edges.

 

The piping is good and consistent. I intentionally left it a big baggy as I did not want the piping to be crooked. I think if I were to do it again it would look neater. A few people were in the car today and I asked them if it looked ok. They both though it was a factory replacement.

 

Nice write up. Make sure to do a write up on your seats as well when you get them "refinished".

 

Nice man, I'll keep this in mind later down the road, since we have the same color interior

Mines a little worn, but not bad enough for me to change it just yet :P

 

That looks really nice and I think it was a good choice.
Just as an alternative for those that want to try refinishing the factory cover first - I've found a pretty good alternative. Try the leather shop and refinisher at leatherique dot com. George sells a really high quality leather refinisher including color matching and a leather filler that can make almost anything look new.
In addition, he has a line of leather cleaners and softeners that can keep your leather soft and supple. I've used it for years in many cars and in a couple cases redid entire interiors to like-new condition.

 

Looking to resurrect this thread, I removed all 12 screw and I can’t for the life of me pry open the leather wrapped lid from the plastic substrate . I’ve read on this forum that I might need to remove the air vents in the rear of the center console and that will reveal some more screws. Can anyone confirm this before I damage anything . Thanks in advance!

matt

 

I want to do the same sometime soon only I want to also add some more padding which is my main center console issue.

 

BT3100 - Can you provide the new cover
supplier’s web address, etc. for our
Forum members?, because it seems
you got it from a very good source.
Thanks

 

Hi.
looked on ebay and couldn't find the exact seller but found a seller that i bought an arm rest off of for my 460.
I attached a photo

 

Did you get yours figured out? I did mine yesterday and took quite a few pictures along the way. It was a little tricky to figure it out but I finally got it off. Once you get all the screws off then it should just come right off. You're probably missing some screws you need to remove. I'll start a new thread in a little while to show what I went through.

 

If you are into OEM, Mylparts is showing $145, but it is strange because it says "this part does not fit your 2004 LS430", but obviously I had it typed in, so you would have to call or email them and get the scoop.