OEM armrest unboxing/review

[Flow]

Originally Posted by husker741

Installed mine this weekend. Thank God you posted this because I was so pissed when 3 of those little stopper things went through the hole. So I just replaced all the rubber things with these Pop Toggles and then it was easy to finish.

Other than that, the install was pretty straight forward with the template and everyone's tips/instructions. I tried to take my time because I felt so bad drilling into my car haha. I just wanted to make sure not to screw it up. I don't like doing any mods that require drilling.

The armrest makes the entire interior look so much cleaner and just nicer. Now you don't have stuff showing that is in the console. It matches perfectly and it sits perfectly for my arm to rest. After over a year and a half of having this part, I'm now very happy I installed it. Thanks for getting this @jpit!

Same thing here. Installed this weekend. I had one stopper go through, then another when I was trying to fix the first. I ended up leaving mine undone, and it still seems very secure. We'll see if it eats at me to leave it imperfect, but glad to hear another good experience with the pop-toggles.

I totally agree, it cleans up the interior... it completes it and should have come with it from the factory.

Oh, and for everyone else, once I got the printed template home and checked it against a ruler, I found it was off, so, I just ended up eyeballing everything.

I started by removing the top, to more or less use the actual frame as the template (it just makes it easier to work with). Then I marked for the 3 guide pegs, drilled a small hole, re-checked, drilled a slightly larger hole (usually adjusting the positioning). By the 4th iteration of size, they were about perfectly centered, and then it was just a matter of getting them large enough by working the drill around the edges of the hole (I only had a 1/4" bit), and with an exacto knife. Then, I seated the guide pegs in the guide holes, and used the frame itself as the guide to drill the other starter holes (with a tiny drill bit to reduce chance of marring the frame). This worked just fine, though it took about two hours, with all of the remeasuring, adjusting, etc. I think my only mistake was with the last couple of holes, I got overconfident, and was less precise on sizing, so that I lost two of the stoppers through the holes.

[FR-S Hot Lava]

Originally Posted by Flow

Same thing here. Installed this weekend. I had one stopper go through, then another when I was trying to fix the first. I ended up leaving mine undone, and it still seems very secure. We'll see if it eats at me to leave it imperfect, but glad to hear another good experience with the pop-toggles.

I totally agree, it cleans up the interior... it completes it and should have come with it from the factory.

Oh, and for everyone else, once I got the printed template home and checked it against a ruler, I found it was off, so, I just ended up eyeballing everything.

I started by removing the top, to more or less use the actual frame as the template (it just makes it easier to work with). Then I marked for the 3 guide pegs, drilled a small hole, re-checked, drilled a slightly larger hole (usually adjusting the positioning). By the 4th iteration of size, they were about perfectly centered, and then it was just a matter of getting them large enough by working the drill around the edges of the hole (I only had a 1/4" bit), and with an exacto knife. Then, I seated the guide pegs in the guide holes, and used the frame itself as the guide to drill the other starter holes (with a tiny drill bit to reduce chance of marring the frame). This worked just fine, though it took about two hours, with all of the remeasuring, adjusting, etc. I think my only mistake was with the last couple of holes, I got overconfident, and was less precise on sizing, so that I lost two of the stoppers through the holes.

I lost a stopper also......but if you just lift the bottom of the side panel of the console they will fall out onto ground.....at least that is what happened with mine. Hope this works for you

[kodyo]

Just installed mine, here are my 2 cents:

1) The printed template sucks. I lined it up where I thought everything should go and drilled the 3 alignment holes and they were WAAAAY off from where I thought the arm rest would sit. So I had to use the drill like a router and cut back in towards the center of the console to get the arm rest back on center.

2) This left slightly visible rough edges (while arm rest was installed) due to how far off I was with the alignment holes. To fix this, I bought 3/8" rubber grommets and put it in the 3 alignment holes. I also cut one grommet in half and put half in each of the hinge screw clearance holes they have you drill (2 total). In hindsight, these screw clearance holes are likely not even needed.

3) If I were to do this again, I would debate removing 1, 2, or all of the alignment pins as they are kind of redundant. If you tape the lower hinge in place (after removing the top arm rest), you can probably accurately drill all of the attachment screws and use those to align.

Overall I'm happy with the outcome, although if anyone were to remove the arm rest it would look like complete shit after my hack job to get the thing back on center.

Edit, here are some pictures. You can see my fix with rubber grommets in the second picture.

I also didn't use an 8mm drill and instead opted for a 5/16" bit and the rubber screw inserts fit perfectly and none of them fell through. If you do lose one, home depot did have some that matched in approximate size, but not sure on thread size size.

[Fett4Real]

The template worked just fine for me...think it may have been a printer issue? Sizing and such? Did you follow the cutting of the template instructions to the t?

[kodyo]

Yeah. Measured with a metric ruler and everything was the right size. Cut the template per instructions. I think the issue is that the center console is a pretty curved surface and the paper template can be easily stretches out of aligned during positioning. Even 0.1" would cause a misaligemt issue. I really don't think the template is necessary. If I were to do it again I'd cut off the alignment pins and just use the bottom half as a template for the attachment holes (which I did after the aligned holes were cut anyways).

Either way, you end up with holes in the center console, so it's not like prettier holes really means much. This is a no-going-back type of mod.

[Flow]

Originally Posted by FR-S Hot Lava

I lost a stopper also......but if you just lift the bottom of the side panel of the console they will fall out onto ground.....at least that is what happened with mine. Hope this works for you

Yep. Just pulled a little on the edge, and they dropped right out. Tks much.

[RickyBobby]

Originally Posted by Dpforlife

I ordered the 2014 option armrest, being installed as we speak.Attachment 71118Attachment 71119

Hi,
I'm new to this forum. Purchased a used, 5K miles, 2013 Firestorm Scion FR-S in January. One of the first things I noticed was no center arm rest. I don't miss it for short trips but almost a must for me on long trips.

I like the Toyota (PT478-18130) armrest slightly better than the Nigel one because it slides and you have full access to the cup holders, and it's a bit cheaper, $225.60 + $17.76 standard shipping to TN for the Nigel, ouch. I do though like the appearance of the Nigel arm rest.

The cheapest I have found the Toyota (PT478-18130) armrest is from this Toyota dealer. $156.80 + $15.44 shipping to TN.
http://toyotaparts.bochtoyotasouth.c...ota/pt47818130

The downside to this armrest is that the side rails are attached with 10 aluminum pop rivets. There is a dealer installation video on Youtube. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9fcrJEz9YE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9fcrJEz9YE[/ame]

I emailed the dealer to confirm this and he told me that they still use the pop rivets.

So you would also need a pop rivet tool, and since you don't have a dealer Port Drill Fixture you have to be extra careful to drill the holes in the correct spots or the arm rest will not slide properly.

I don't like the idea of securing this with pop rivets instead of screws. If I purchase this I would probably get the dealer to install it.

[Dpforlife]

Originally Posted by Xerious

What did it cost you to install?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

The dealership installed it for $90.00

[RickyBobby]

Dpforlife,
Did your Toyota (PT478-18130) arm rest come with a template and/or installation instructions?

RB

[Dpforlife]

Originally Posted by RickyBobby

Dpforlife,

Did your Toyota (PT478-18130) arm rest come with a template and/or installation instructions?



RB

Yes it did came with both, I just wasn't comfortable drilling into my console

[86SPEED]

We have the GT86 ones back in stock - with he revision on the crease

[RickyBobby]

Originally Posted by fteightysix

We have the GT86 ones back in stock - with he revision on the crease

Ok, I broke open my piggy bank and purchased one from you. I do like its appearance and screws instead of pop rivets.

Your price is $10. more than NigelJDMParts but the free shipping makes it a few bucks cheaper. http://www.nigel-jdmparts.com/toyota-86-front-arm-rest

[kodyo]

I bought mine from fteightysix as well. Great customer service and they even sent me pictures of multiples when they still had the creases. Super fast shipping too.

[Efferalgan]

Originally Posted by fteightysix

We have the GT86 ones back in stock - with he revision on the crease

Can you post pictures of the revision on the crease pls?