My armrest over the years had become absolutely disgusting and uncomfortable, and thanks to many reviews and pictures here on Acurazine, I decided to place an order with Redline Goods (http://www.redlinegoods.com). Look how horrid this thing was:



I cleaned it often but somehow the gunk would always come back even worse than before

My biggest concern was having the new leather match the existing leather as close as possible. I contacted Redline and was sent samples of everything they offer:



Look at the CF stuff



After narrowing my choices down to three samples, I decided to go with Taupe, pictured in the middle. Sierra is shown on the far left and Cream is on the right.



I placed my order on 8/15 and received it today, 8/28. Not bad considering it's coming from Poland! Fresh out of the box





The quality is amazing! Not a single loose stitch.







Holy...



Once again; Sierra, Taupe, Cream. I honestly thought Cream would be the best match, but it looked WAY too light once I put the sample inside the vehicle.



Test fit!





Final product! I was a pussy and had a local shop tighten and secure everything for me









Installed! God, my seats look effing horrible.













Overall, I'm very pleased with the purchase! The leather and foam paddy is high quality and very comfortable. The ordering process was easy and Redline stayed in contact with me once the order was finalized and shipped.


Redline Goods Website: http://www.redlinegoods.com/
Order Leather Samples: http://www.redlinegoods.com/ordersamples.php
DIY Installation Guide:http://www.redlinegoods.com/TL0508arminst.pdf


Enjoy

 

Tyler, you need to shower more often...look at all that dirt.

 

I've never seen such a dirty armrest lol. Clean up those seats and the new armrest should look better.

 

I was going to welcome you back to the 3G area, but now you can get the hell out

That's about 2 years worth of grit and grime piled up. The car sat a lot while I finished college and while I kept the exterior clean, the interior was often neglected

I cleaned it with Lexol once or twice but the leather was very dry and course, which I think led it to pick up and trap dirt more than usual. I cleaned the seats once I installed the new armrest so I hope that helps

 

Well, I've had light colored leather on both of my BMWs and, since they were both used, I did some experimenting with cleaners. I'd used Lexol in the past, but I never managed to get a lot of the ground in stuff out with the Lexol cleaner. Decided to incur the additional expense for Leatherique. HOLY CRAP! That stuff works. I'd highly recommend it.

 

Looks great!

 

I've heard great things about Leatherique but am being stubborn and using up the rest of my Lexol before swapping

The dirt that's deep down was really hard to get out. It had been sitting for a while, probably from the previous owner too, and was almost like a grease/sludge stuck on there

 

Yeah, I hear you. Keep the Lexol for in between Leatherique treatments. That's what I'm doing. Leatherique about every 4-6 months, Lexol in between.

An additional problem I have on the current car is that, because it's a convertible, I get some exhaust particulates that settle into the creases and wrinkles, especially in the back seats (driving on the freeway with the top down...). I bought a soft brush that I use to work the cleaner in there and then wipe it out with a cloth. It does a nice job getting that stuff out.

 

Holy mother of god!! 2 years of grime build up? That looks like 30 years abandoned and left to rot in a barn lol. New one looks great, but what about your seats and steering wheel and stuff? ANy plans for those? I guess new seats covers aren't exactly cheap.

 

Tyler, it just occurred to me, why didn't you just wrap the armrest in wood-grain vinyl? Could have saved a few bucks.

 

Looks a lot better but I'm just curious after everything is all said and done how much did you pay including the shop labor to put it on for you?

 

^^^ he probably just did it himself. It's just the center console lid which is easy to remove and install. When I got mine from Dallas Steering Wheel you send them your lid, they recover it, send it back, and you screw it back on. 5 min job. Atleast I would hope no one on this site would pay for a console lid installation. :-p

 

he had a local shop "tighten and secure it" to get it just right...

 

Thats awesome, my console lid is starting to look and feel rough. It feels like a piece of plastic with no padding whatsoever when I rest my arm on it. Redline goods has some pretty reasonable prices as well.

 

Redline goods sells quality products. Got a bunch of stuff for my s2k from them. Looks good

 

Wow Tyler, that looks fantastic!

It makes your seats look bad......

 

I have an armrest cover from them and agree with this post. Crazy!! I wonder what it would take to get them to do full seat replacement covers!!! Id pay alot

 

I dis my armrest done on my cls and it's held up amazing well. Over three years of solid abuse. Best interior mod by far... Well that and the steering wheel

Took two hours or so to get it 100% centered with even tension but well worth it. And the extra padding makes it so worth it.

 

Oh ok that's right, with redline you don't send in your lid, they just send you the leather and padding and you do it yourself.

 

It was pretty damn bad wasn't it?

Having the seats redone would be amazing. However, the cost would probably be very hard to justify. I'm very interested, especially seeing the difference in person and in pictures, but it's not something that I'm planning on actively pursuing.

Eff you Tim!

The replacement cover itself with the extra padding was $80-ish and the shop charged me $20 to align and glue the new cover to the existing one.

I did all of the "labor" myself. I removed everything from the vehicle, disassembled it, and just brought the outer shell and new cover to the custom shop.

Help a brother out and send me some moola then

Without a doubt I'm interested. However, the cost would probably be insane. With my car being a decade old with nearly 150k miles, I can't see myself pouring too much more money into it. I do little things here and there to get me by

 

Should have ordered black and told Mitzi, "Whoops! Guess I'll have to do the whole interior!"

 

 

I know right! I want Ebony interior but I would have to swap the headliner and all of that crap

I've had the TL for 6 years and while I've enjoyed it, I'm starting to get over it. I'm looking at new cars but it'll be a year or two until I pull the trigger on one. Little stuff like this armrest cover is fun and not super expensive, but dumping money into a depreciating asset in addition to what I've already done over the years is hard to justify.

 

Looks much better Tyler! Yeah the parchment interior does not age well. I know that all too well

 

Thank you sir

Yeah, I'm not impressed with Parchment whatsoever. This is my first and last time getting light-colored interior

 

If I was MADD ballin. I would get a pure white suede interior..

And a new set of clothes every time I get in the car... Shoes too. Haha

 

White on white that's fuckin' Ross.

 

Maybe we should start a fund....Save the Seats (for Tyler).

 

Rick James style lol

 

Looking good! I chose the same color for my car- the match is decent. I have had my armrest for 4+ years now and it still looks great.

 

Just a tip on cleaning the seats...

1z Cockpit Premium is some incredible stuff!

 

Leatherique too!

 

Another +1 for Leatherique... you have to really spend time with it, but it'll get the leather very clean.

I've used it on my 1-series (red seats) and the other half's TL (parchment) - both times, the bucket of hot water came out looking like this:



A friend of mine does high-end detailing and wrote up a great guide to using Leatherique here if anyone needs tips on making the most of a $70 kit of cleaner

 

If anyone happens to order one in black or even in a grey/CF to go with the 2 tone Type-S interior, I'd love to see pics!

 

Once I run out of Lexol, I'm going to give Leatherique a shot. I've heard great things!

 

Keep the Lexol and use it as "step 3" of the three-step Leatherique process. You still have to finish the cleaning with a good conditioner, but Leatherique will do the harder work that Lexol doesn't as far as making the seats "sweat out" the dirt and grime.