My center armrest was beginning to look a bit shop worn:
I decided to recover it in leather. There are at least two companies that make leather armrest covers for the 986 and 996 - Redline Goods (Poland) and JF Customs (UK.) I decided to use Redline Goods because they were having a 4th of July sale and the cost with shipping was around $35. The cover arrived in about two weeks and was good quality. I used JF Customs when I recovered the armrest on my Mercedes C230 and their quality is similar.
Removing the armrest to work on it is easy. Open the cover and remove the 8 T10 torx fasteners. The armrest cover will then slide forward and detach from the center console.
Here's the underside of the top. Note that some of the OEM material is folded and glued to the underside of the top.
I determined that wrapping the new cover over the folded OEM material might interfere with reinstallation of the cover due to excess fabric. I removed the folded-over materail with a utility knife.
Because my cover has contrasting stitching, lining up the cover correctly was a crucial requirement. I made marks down the center line of the armrest and the underside of the cover to use as reference points when I glued the cover on to the armrest.
I used contact cement on both the cover and the armrest and slowly pressed the two pieces together. (If you haven't used contact cement, there are many videos on YouTube that show how the recommended methods.)
I don't think my alignment of the stitching is perfect but given the position of the armrest in the car, it will probably not be noticeable.
Here's a photo of the underside. I had to trim excess material to avoid having it interfere with the alignment of the cover when I reinstalled it.
Overall, I'm pleased with the final product. It is not a huge improvement, but it didn't cost much money or require much time.
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