There was some leather stretching on the center armrest of my 06 Vantage and looked like it was coming off. I removed the armrest (instructions on another thread, but super easy) and went to work. Below is a picture of how it was and the process I followed.


Next pic is how it looks on the bottom side, leather is held by glue and staples.


next used a pic tool to remove one side of the staple careful not to pick the leather. The rest of the staples were removed with needle nose pliers.


then I measured the staple size. I bought 6mm staples because that was the smallest size available at HD and with the thickness of the leather they worked perfectly.


I then pulled the leather a bit at a time making sure that it was stretched enough on the top side, and stapled some sections, and then completed all the stapling. Notice the extra 1/8 to 1/4” material from the second picture.

this is the end result. I may do the other side later if needed. Also, if it continues to happen I will need to remove the full leather piece, replace the worn foam and re-glue it then restaple the whole thing.

 

That looks really good, just like new.

 

bravo! when can i bring my car over?

...BTW i've got a couple pairs of pants that need to be taken in a little and cuffs put in, hoping they can be done at the same time.

and if that's an FM tuner in the 12v socket in the cigarette tray to stream your cell phone through your car stereo and it's in the way when shifting, i found that i can put it in the 12v outlet in the trunk and it still works. only problem is if you have need to retune it to a different frequency it can be a PITA.

 

I did something similar, but I scraped the old glue/foam away as it had failed and was forming lumps under the leather...it’s really nasty stuff! In the end I used a fabric cement to fix the leather back and am happy with the look...but the foam underneath gave it a softer touch. I am probably going to redo it at some point with staples like you did, but insert some new foam underneath.

 

You are more than welcome! Not so sure about the pants tho. 😁

The BT tuner only gets in the way with a cable plugged in which I only use to charge very rarely. Plus the mic for the phone is on the unit so plugging it in the trunk plug won’t work. I am working on a CarPlay solution that I think will work. The only thing I have to figure out is how to control the nav cover to work without using the menu to close it while the car is running.

 

Very nicely done! I had the same problem in my 2007. I just happened across an upholstery shop near me that did it for $60. They don’t work on automotive upholstery, but relented when I brought it in to them 😂