W124 drivers armrest removal
 

I'd like to change the leather armrest cover on my 500E....anything sneaky I should know about...like hidden screws, clips, special tools or tricks to replace. Thanx much guys.

Jim,
Is your armrest the one with the hinged top for the factory phone? If it is ,I took mine apart pretty easily and had it re covered .Let me know and I'll go through the details
Steve

Steve
 

No, its the solid one with no storage...but they should have the same stalk into the seat...right?

On my 300TE, which has the same armrest, I simply removed the plastic armrest hinge cover and unbolted the 2 bolts holding the armrest to the seatback. I then brought the entire armrest to ReDan upholstery in Newington, and they installed the OE cover I brought them for cheap.

I've been told this is not a DIY job, as it's tough to get the cover on right.

I just rebuilt the armrest on my 92 400E by myself, actually, changing the leather cover on the armrest was a piece of cake, there was a hidden clip at the back of the armrest, releasing the clip, the whole leather cover just slipped off, putting on the leather cover was also easy, all could be done in 5 minutes with bare hands, unless your 500E uses different armrest.

See thread below:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/tech-help/29222-do-myself-rebuilding-center-armrest.html

Carman 850:

How did you fuse, or weld, the piping at the back? The original cover's piping is somehow glued, and that's what the upholsterer did with mine.

Michael,

The armrest on my 92 400E only has piping on left and right sides, at the back of the armrest, the upside and downside leather jointed by a hidden flat buckle on both edges, I accidentally found it.

Not sure about other W124s.

THANX ALL
 

The 500E's armrest must be different in terms of ease of removal....the back joint is cemented somehow and better left to a shop...or someone who has done it before. The piping is able to be re-glued by heating up a razor blade and melting the two loose ends, fusing them together.

Micheal, that's funny that you went/go to Redan...Ken Kelly is a family friend of Sherry's Dad and he did much work on his 3 old Vettes and a couple of my cars previous...although, after removing and a thorough proper cleaning and conditioning...I won't need a new one...it looks just fine save the few cracks where they all wear....I'm just going to Colortek to have them restore the tan leather at those points.

Of course, I broke the dry-rotted plastic that covers the 2 nuts...fell apart actually soon after I looked at it...

Ken's a good guy-his shop also fitted all of the upholstery for my TE's 3rd seat (had to re-cover a tan seat) and did a beautiful job.

And instead of paying Colortek, have you tried simply applying some shoe polish? I regularly do just that to my driver's seat bolster, as it's always had a couple of wear lines/creases; polish lasts months, costs nada, takes seconds, and moisturizes the leather and will decrease the chances of the "cracks" extending.

Just my 2% of a buck, based on polishing military boots for 10 years and never having one crack through!

Great idea, Mike
 

however....my interior is tan (as you know)...trying to match tan shoe polish would be tough...black...is no problem...I just visited both CarTeam and Colortek today and for about $45 they'll fix it up like new instead of me shelling out $160 plus $40 to install new OEM.