So one of my complaints about the RL when I bought it, was the cheap, super thin vinyl that they used on the center console arm rest was bubbled up and looked like dookie. I took mine to a local reupholstery shop and had them recovered in real leather and it looks and feels WAY better. I have the tan/parchment interior and the match is as good as it gets, same thing with the texture, matches the seats really well. Asides from looking WAY better, it feels better, softer and not as cheap as the vinyl.

If anyone wants a set done like mine, I have a 2nd set of armrests that I can have recovered for you and sent out for $150 shipped (plus $45 core). Then you just send me your old set back, that way you dont have any down time.

If you live in a big city (like Dallas) there's probably places locally that will do it for about the same price. But this way you have them shipped right to you, swap em out, send me your old ones and your done.

I wish I had taken some before photos, but I've heard a lot of people complain about them so I figured I'd offer these up. If yours look like crap, you'll know what I mean.

 

Nice!! I may be interested in the future. Mine are worn but not bad yet.

 

I had mine replaced under warranty, but it's still really thin. Are these extra padded? Can you do them in black? How hard is it to remove and install them?

 

looks really good if i had an rl i would jump on this

 

they can do them in any color, they have a perfect match for the beige/parchment and also for the factory medium grey, but deep black would look good on the grey interior. they're not actually padded more but they feel that way because the real leather is MUCH more thick than the super cheap thin vinyl Acura used (really disappointed in the OEM quality). but these new armrests are great! feel so much better.

to uninstall, lol just 3 screws. look under your armrest and you'll see 3 round screw covers, peel those off then remove the 3 screws. there's also 2 screws under the black tab where the release lever is at the very front, not sure if those come off or not. either way, to uninstall then reinstall should take a whole 5 minutes

 

Tell your shop to stand by as this should be a popular upgrade (recondition). I thought of this myself but just never took the time to shop the local upholstrery shops. The one shop I had experience with, that replaced my seat bottom, did just a fair job. This was even after I supplied the OEM seat bottom ready to install. Your guy looks pretty good. Maybe we could have a thin layer of foam on the top serface as a custom upgrade! I need factory black also and am interested!

 

i do have a set of 09 black center arm rests here if anyone is interested. they're in like new condition. i also have the rear ac vent and rear ac vent trim for that 09 (same as 05-2010)

 

Do you still have these for sale or have the connection to have them redone?

 

Just bought an rl...and it's arm rest ripped afyer i had it detailed...it was so thin it was invetiable....i cant pm as i am new...but interest in a pair of beige ones...

 

That was more than a year ago, you might be better off trying a PM.

My car must have had this done at some point. I bought it with 160k miles and the console arm rest looks like new, and feels very padded and soft. I assumed they were all this way. In fact I wonder if the driver seat was redone too, it's just in too good of condition to have been sat in for 160k miles. I've thought about getting someone to swap the leather on the driver and passenger seats though, just so they wear evenly. Has anyone done that? If so, how much did you pay to have it done? I'm assuming it's not really something I'd want to try doing myself.