Door Armrest Repair?

[opamp]

I'm sure this has been pondered by those of you on here before, so I'd love to hear what everyone has to say about the following:

1. Repairing cracked door armrests (even the replacements I'm finding second hand have signs of cracking)--I'm not optimistic, but I'm curious to hear thoughts.
2. Painting the chrome trim in the door armrests (mine have zero chrome left and are just the vinyl strip)--I'm going to go with a rattle can chrome spray and see how bad it looks for now...

Photos to come.

[opamp]

Here are some images of what I'm talking about.

Cracked armrest (chrome trim removed)--anyone ever repaired these?:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CXY8u ... A2d37hBfeo

Trim (that should be chrome, but it's just all worn off)--I'm going to just try spray painting it chrome:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bnMXr ... xUWhBYoKTe

[DRUMMOND]

Hi Opamp

you can cover it in Vinyl or our fiat vendors sell new ones. (Arm rest and the separate chrome trim) I am sure if you paint it, the cracks will still show. if you go that route you can also get new chrome trim from Autozone which will fit inside where the old chrome trim fits. (not an exact fit)

[RRoller123]

I dyed mine (from Tan to Black) and you are right, eventually the dye cracks a little. I touch it up every Spring. I used to pull the armrest off and spray another dye coat, but found that I could spray some of the dye in a small can until there was a little puddle, then dab and brush the dye on with a Q-Tip, and it blended right in, don't need to pull the armrest off. It seems to only crack at the point where the arm takes a bend where it narrows down.

The chrome strips that I got from AR are very good for the money, the top square clip holds that end in fine (front of the car), but I had to put a tiny SS screw in the far end (towards the rear of the car) to hold that end down. The adhesive would slowly lift over time. The small screw solved that issue and it is not visible in normal use.

[opamp]

Thanks SO much--I love both of these suggestions--I also love the colours of the arm rests that you posted: that tartan pattern is awesome. Thanks to both of you for the responses--really appreciate, I'll update once we figure out what we are going to do...

[joelittel]

Drummond, sorry if you mentioned this in your others posts, do you have a pattern for your armrest covers?

[spidernut]

I've had some success filling the cracks with siliconized painter's caulking available from any hardware store. It can be pushed into the cracks, the excess wiped off. When it is dry it can be lightly sanded and painted with vinyl paint. It works well on light cracking. If the arm rest has heavy cracking, you'd be better off to cover it.

The 81 Anniversary Edition Spiders had these installed. I have set but haven't decided if I'll use them on my project car or sell them on Evilbay.

http://www.midwest-bayless.com/p-6005-a ... -nos.aspx

[DRUMMOND]

Hi Joelittel

To make the pattern from the original armrests. I just split it into 3.5 segments, top, bottom, side, inside. Photos attached show the basic outlay.

[profcucchi]

While I realize this is an older thread, that's exactly the info I need, and those armrest covers are awesome!