drakescherer

Hey all, back at it with the DIY's

This time we will be taking on the door armrests, keep in mind they are made out of the same material as the center console: dreaded paper thin vinyl.
Example:



To get access to the armrests alone, we need to remove the door panel, don't worry it is actually surprisingly easy.
First remove the cover from inside the latch using a small flathead screwdriver and you'll be left with these 3 screws with colored inserts:


Remove the screws and make note of which hole they came from, the larger silver one goes in the pink then the smaller grey ones go into the yellow.

After youve removed those, go to the bottom portion of the door where the pocket is and youll find another latch, remove the latch with the small flathead screwdriver.



It's got a pink insert too, and fits the same screw from the top portion. Remove it and then we will be onto the next step: Insert a flathead screwdriver or trim tool in between the door and the trim panel at the bottom of the door and gently pry. There is a slot for your screwdriver to go into. Pry gently, it should not take much force to get the clips started, once you get the first few you can do the rest by hand.

Once you have the clips all undone, roll down the window (makes it easier) and then lift the entire door panel out of its slot on the windowsill. Balance it with your foot while you undo the single electrical connector in the door.

Once undone, you should be able to turn the door so the armrest is towards the top and then balance it on your feet, I did not have to mess with the door latching cables, but I didn't let the door hang from them either.

There are 6 screws and a clip holding the armrest on:



You'll notice on mine, one of the clips was broken, not sure why.

Unscrew the 6 screws, theyre all the same length, then undo the clip and slide out the armrest. Tada.

Once you have just the armrest, its time to replace it. This is my first time doing any kind of upholstery, so I will tell you how I did it, and you can figure out if you like it or not.

This was the armrest after being removed from the car:


As you can see, vinyl ripped and torn, bubbling like mad. Pull it all off, it literally just peels from the fabric/foam substrate below.
Do not remove the old stitching, there's no reason to, you won't be able to see it anyways. BE CAREFUL, when youre pulling near the edges, the foam and fabric are just held on with some crappy adhesive and will come off quite easily, some of mine tried to peel but I just glued it back on with a small amount of hot glue, the reason being is that this stuff is where I used contact cement later on. You should be left with this:




I ordered this:
Real Leather Armrest Front Door Panel Covers BLACK to fit 07-12 Acura RDX | eBay
Cost me $50 Canadian.

Admittedly, the parts came a bit small which contributed to the final look of it not being quite the best. I'll be leaving feedback accordingly, cheap guys.

Once I removed all the old vinyl I lined up the new leather as best i could and clamped it so I could work with it. I used LePage Heavy Duty Contact Cement, applied 2 layers of it on both the underside of the leather and the fabric. I ONLY used it, where the leather goes underneath the actual plastic, not where the armrest and padding is. Once I had the initial cementing done on one side i was able to remove the clamp altogether and strictly manipulate only the leather, pulling and stretching as hard as i could to make it all fit. I am not the best at explaining what i did in this part, but if you have questions just ask.

Once you replace the leather on the armrests, just reinstall. It will be a tight fit with real leather because the real leather is a few mm thick vs paper thin vinyl that was originally installed.



This is my first reupholstery job I have ever completed so it does not look perfect. But it looks a hell of a lot better.

pjhalifax

Thanks for posting this. The leather on my driver's side armrest tore recently and I've been trying to figure out what to do. Your fix looks great to me...I'll give that a try.

drakescherer

happy to help man, share pictures when you're done if you can. I might be trying to improve the way I glued my leather down, it doesn't look bad it could just be...better

SinCity

THANK YOU for posting this. I need to swap mine out and was wondering what everyone else was doing. Already replaced the center one.