Upholstered armrest...

jdumont · **Posted:** Mon Nov 17, 2008 1:22 pm

The dog likes to stand with his back feet on the back seat and his front on the armrest but he always slips off with i stop quick or turn quick. Got tired of that so I upholstered it with some foam and black vinyl. All in all i think it came out pretty good. Used 3M super headliner spray glue which worked great as far as the glue is concerned. Getting as little creases as possible was the annoying part....

Also, had to take the latch out totally...but who cares.

Check it...

jeepmedic46 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 17, 2008 1:26 pm

Looks good

KCKJ · **Posted:** Mon Nov 17, 2008 3:06 pm

looks nice!
I was thinking of doing the same thing but for a different reason. I was hoping it would give it some lift so i wouldn't have to lean over to rest my arm/elbow on it. Do you notice the armrest being any taller?
(sidenote: im hooked on rockstar punched)

jdumont · **Posted:** Mon Nov 17, 2008 4:09 pm

Thanks guys... yea, its a little taller. I used a type of poly foam from wally world for $7 as the padding. It was about 2-3" thick but looks like its actually a bunch of 1/8" or so layers pressed together so getting your desired thickness was easy. Just peel them apart. I think i used about 1/2" of it but I guess you could make it as think as you wanted.

mrkake · **Posted:** Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:30 pm

I have a similar idea but I want to raise the height of the armrest and move it forward (make it longer so it hangs over the cup holders) so that I don't have to lean to rest my arm on it. I found a place that makes custom leather covered ones which have Velcro on the bottom. When you want it to be forward, you just pull it up and reposition it. If you want it off, no problem there either. The downside is that they wanted $300 to make me one that would match the leather and size of Liberty's console :shock:

. I have some ideas and the wife is a professional seamstress so it will be interesting to see what we come up with.

jdumont · **Posted:** Tue Nov 18, 2008 8:27 pm

I think if you could get her to use some neoprene and incorporate an elastic waistband of some sort you could just wrap it around the existing armrest and it would still be removable. The elastic would keep it somewhat tight...

Xodius · **Posted:** Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:53 pm

Looks good! Your leather looks like mine with all the creasses, lol. It is a shame they didn't make it a little better. The arm rest does look great. I have been debating doing the same thing to mine but maybe in Neoprene. I am a Neoprene Virgin so I do not know much about it other than you have to be careful when you use it over leather.

jeepmedic46 · **Posted:** Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:00 pm

I like that idea, My twins insist on getting in thru the front seat and they step all over the center console to get to thier car seats.

mrkake · **Posted:** Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:40 pm

jdumont wrote:

I think if you could get her to use some neoprene and incorporate an elastic waistband of some sort you could just wrap it around the existing armrest and it would still be removable. The elastic would keep it somewhat tight...

Excellent idea! I think that if she put some straps on it with Velcro ends on them, I could still cinch them down pretty snug.

Quote:

I am a Neoprene Virgin so I do not know much about it other than you have to be careful when you use it over leather.

Neoprene can be handled basically like fabric. You do need a heavy duty machine and needles to sew it and an over lock stitch is preferable (yea I just went there

. My mom was a professional tailor and my sister and wife are both professional seamstresses. I could help but learn about sewing!). You can also get fabric backed neoprene that is safe over leather (so they claim anyway). It also comes in different thicknesses. Obviously the thicker it is, the more durable and tear resistant it is. Okay, that's almost everything I know about it.

Cacher123 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:10 pm

Go to your local auto upholsterer. Don't go to the brand new shiny place with all the speed goodies in the window. Find the little hole in the wall with the nearsighted, bent over old guy in the back room sitting in the haze of cigarette smoke with the gnarled up hands all stained from upholstery glue..... (uh, a little too descriptive?)

Seriously, find one of these old time guys and give him your console lid. He'll do whatever you want for it and probl. charge you under $50 (at most) cause he'll use a scrap of something he has lying around which is to small for anything else. Go in, chat him up, maybe bring him a brewski or 2 and you'll be amazed at the results!

I had a guy near me do one up for a Camaro some years ago and the thing was taller, cushier and used butter soft leather. Looked better than factory crap.

I had the same guy do a custom motorcycle seat cover in 3 different colors/types of vinyl (looked/felt like leather) including padding cut to my specs and he did the whole deal for around $200 when an aftermarket cover alone was about that much.

rangerd77 · **Joined:** Sat May 03, 2008 10:48 am **Posts:** 512

IMO, wouldnt that be the same aspect as it not being covered? meaning that it is still a little slick. i wouldve carpet of=r maybe even astro turf. j/k about the astro turf, but how about some carpet. maybe the carpet would be a little too thick, but you could always staple it to the armrest itself. j/k man it looks pretty good actually, wanna do my dash?

jdumont · **Posted:** Sat Nov 22, 2008 9:53 pm

Haha thanks, its much better and he doesnt slide around anymore so it did the trick. Like I said earlier tho, Neoprene would have been the way to go if I did it again.

NOOOOO I wouldnt do this again even for money, with this material anyways. Very thick and difficult to work with.

JD

Upholstered armrest...

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