kleancut

Most of us are familiar with the sticky, melting, cracking arm rest, dash boards, etc issue our generation is having. Of course this could be troll worthy from our Lexus enthusiast forum here, but Im all about functionality and affordability. Of course, trying to keep tackiness down to a very minimal. Lets go through all the attempts of solutions I went through before getting to my final last resort solution.

1) Getting a hold of Lexus corporate. After a 2 week open case, I was denied.
2) Going to four different upholstery shops. Everyone agreeing to the same thing. In order to complete this project, they would need an OEM mold. And no one wanted to wrap it with leather because the results would eventually fail and never getting a tight perfect fit.
3) Buying the part at the dealer. Of course the dealer doesn't just sell the arm rest only, needing to buy the whole door panel. $2000-$3000
4) Buying used on ebay or junk yard. After browsing for this on ebay for 6 months, I was never able to locate just the arm rest, only door panels. And a couple of times, the arm rest was missing from the door panel!! But I did stumble upon the door panel a couple times but it was rare, and when I did, it always ranged in the $1k price range. Why would I spend $1k on a used item that would potentially do the same thing again.

I was annoyed and tired of being super careful and fragile with the arm rest area with daily driving and movement. Thats when it hit me.

Line X they thing! (or Rhino Lining). I stop by a Line X shop and he said he'd do it for 40.00.

Instruction: Remove arm rest (simple job maybe 20 min max). scrap off whatever is ready to come off, but be careful not to remove foam as you can see I did in the pics. and thats it.

To sum things up. Im decently happy with the job. Is it odd to have Line X on a Lexus interior. Sure.. but, this is one beast arm rest =) that Ill never have to worry about again.

roadfrog

As a temporary fix, I'd be satisfied, but it wouldn't stay that way for long. I'd want it to look factory fresh and original.

joedaddy1

iTrader: (1)

wow.. your original handle looks reallyyyy bad.. my door armrest was doing the same thing..

the solution isn't my cup of tea.. looks way "worked on".. is there a smoother finish option?

kleancut

Id love for an true OEM fix! but how?

I'm guessing an obese person was the previous owner because the central arm rest foam also seems to be heavily used. And another clue was I found old heart attack meds under the seat. lol..
As for smoother finish. Maybe you could take a grinder to it but the texture isn't bad at all. Almost a very tough rubber.

RandyV

Not bad at all - certainly an improvement!

roadfrog

Replace it. Lots of them on Ebay and perhaps your local wrecking yard has one. That's what I'd do.

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

Unfortunately, you live in NC where decent upholstery shops basically don't exist. Florida, Texas, California and Arizona have them by the boatload.

Kennyr44

I could live with that fix. Older cars get character. In a new house scraped wood floors, rough edge granite, un smooth wall texture. Holes in jeans. Its all good. Being a perfectionist is bad for your mental health. People age, cars age. Now its not a negative but a conversation piece.

kleancut

As mentioned in the original post. I looked for several months, and after nailing a couple down they were only being sold as a door panel around 900-1k.
I've not only browsed local wrecking yards but nation wide!

kleancut

I like this guy! =)

FatherTo1

Agreed, Kenny's response is great. Keep the peeling and sticky door panels, the distressed look is all the rage. Case in point:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ds-of-dollars/

1WILLY1

iTrader: (9)

I don't know what that stuff is but its better then before , id say as a temporary fix its good enough

But if you can get the arm rest wrapped with "line x" you could just as easily get it wrapped in leather or vinyl again

That's what I would try to do if it ever got that bad

And to be honest Lexus should be ashamed of themselves for using vinyl anywhere in any interior

JLAWS

That fix wouldn't work for me. Maybe it would for a pick up truck. There are always door panels available on Ebay. Here is one for $295 shipped which is decent imo. Most of the time you can talk to the seller and relist for a lower price to buy it. http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-2007-200...NZb5Ne&vxp=mtr.

DarKnight

iTrader: (3)

For that price you can get both front armrests wrapped in vinyl. If you buy a used one you're most likely going to have the same issue again down the road.

SW17LS

Yeah...on a 30 year old work truck this would work, on a car as nice as the LS460, ugh.