How to: Recover your Center Console (10 Steps)

[94pcofscheise]

Recover console lid

Yep- I pretty much resigned myself to using spray adhesive that I already had on my workbench. Interesting thought about the short screws though- may give it a go with small flat heads. I agree about the "dude" and his $75 charge- he had 3 newer model 911's in his shop to replace the rag tops on, and must have been either, insulted when I wanted a scrap of vinyl for a 12-year old Exploder, or upset because I laughed at him.

 

[steve johnson]

very nice write up..... Mine before was brownish grey from all the dirt and i just scrubbed and scrubbed and it came out very well.

I used a magic erase marker on my console when it was all dirty plus i used it on all the vinyl inside the car, that erase marker works great

 

[Neil1750825]

Worked beautifully

I just went to a local boat and automotive upholstery guy and he sold me a 3' x 3' piece of black pleather for five bucks. I wrapped it just like normal and it took me about 2 hours to get it just perfect. I didn't use any spray glue or staples or any of that garbage. I just got a small pan head #8 by 9/16" needle point screws. Worked great with no piloting and no cracking. Make sure to start wrapping the vinyl/leather/whatever you use from the front of the cover and work your way to the back of the cover. Other than that, just make sure its really really tight and it works great. I have a gray console/interior and i chose to do it in black. I think it looks great. I have some pics of the final product but I'm not that great with computers and don't know how to paste them into this thread. If anyone knows an easy way, reply and I'll post them too.

 

[coldfox]

I checked out the ebay site, it's too bad they don't ship to Canada.

 

[KristyX28]

I bought the kit off ebay. I was happy with the color match of the fabric but i'm a bit concerned about wear. Hope it last awhile anyway; the only problem i had was that I started with too big of a staple and cracked the plastic pretty good I ended up having to go buy a new staple gun that could handle to smaller staples I had to buy.

 

[dustinjorge]

Just wanted to say thanks for this write-up. I went ahead and picked up some marine grade black vinyl at the local fabric store (Hancock) as well as some 1/4" x T-50 staples. Did the deed today, was pretty straight forward after reading through the op. The staples were a pain until I realized I just wasn't putting enough pressure on the gun itself and it was bouncing, when I pressed very firmly into the plastic the staples went in pretty good. The plastic didn't crack except when I made the mistake of stapling close to the edge (which happened in an area that got covered up by the bottom piece and can't be seen when the thing is put together, luckily).

Not bad for <$20 and a couple hours, looks great! Getting ready to order black cloth/vinyl corbeau moab buckets ( http://www.corbeau.com/products/reclining_seats/moab/ ) and this little mod will really help tie it all together, thanks again.

 

[jad2411]

Here's my pic on the 97 sport I had

took the armrest to an upholstery shop and got a scrap piece, paid less that 5 bux IIRC

didn't do the cuts on the curved front part so you can see I got a bit of a kink

 

[esromj]

Old thread but I just recovered my console lid yesterday with the pre-cut vinyl from Ebay. $17.44, including shipping.

It was not as easy to do as in their instructional video -- it seemed like the vinyl they sent me was a little smaller and the cuts were close to the edge of the lid. It worked pretty well, though. The color is a few shades lighter than my original console lid.

If I had to do it again, I would probably get a piece of vinyl from a fabric store and try to trace and cut it myself.

 

[Tergazzi]

Hate to resurrect an old thread, but I need to do this to my center arm rest. I need to find more padding though too. Mine has worn through the vinyl and the padding. I found the kits on eBay and Amazon but the ones that have the padding is just a super thin piece to add to the current pad. I need a thick pad or else it will have a divot where the old pad is worn down.

 

[Lee's Automotive]

@Rick All these pictures are the same