Fix for tears in door leather?

[IlliniST]

So, I'm a big fella and my left leg presses against the armrest while driving. APPARENTLY, the Magpul case on my iPhone has been digging into the armrest leather and, well, you can see the result.

 

Any thoughts on my options? From what I can see you can't just buy the armrest, you need to purchase the entire panel (~$300). I've tossed around the idea of an aluminum angle trim to both cover the tears as well as prevent it in the future - I would do the same to the other side just for balance. However, I don't have the skills or the creativity to know what type of trim, what's available, etc. So I'm asking for guidance.

 

2014 High Country if it matters.

 

Thanks,

JP

[nadrojcote]

for the time being you could try cleaning it up and using brown leather dye to hide the rips.

[nards444]

is that material on the door actually leather? Its quite possibly its pleather on the door. If it is im sure most vinyl shops could fix it.

[IlliniST]

Thanks for the replies.

 

I don't think it's real leather, that I'm pretty certain of. However, since I am sure my leg will continue to rub, I'm looking for ideas to toughen up that area. I don't think I can say I'll never have anything in my left pocket, so I need to take preventative steps.

[Silverado Steve]

Brown shoe polish with a Q-tip

[Half_ton]

Talk to your dealer. I nicked the dash with a razor blade when I was doing som wiring and my dealer fixed it for free (they're bad ass, Young chevrolet/Cadillac in Owosso,Michigan). They have a guy that comes in to repair thier stuff and I can't even tell where it was cut. Talk to your dealer about fixing it over shelling out the car for replacement.

[The Zip]

 

From what I can see you can't just buy the armrest, you need to purchase the entire panel (~$300). I've tossed around the idea of an aluminum angle trim to both cover the tears as well as prevent it in the future - I would do the same to the other side just for balance.

 

I agree with you here, a replacement seat or repair will end up the same way. You need some type of a protective cover, a matt black aluminum would work but I don't think you will be able to find something like that. To stop the damage, you need to affix a tough plastic, foam, or rubber to that area of the armrest to give you some time to research if there is a plastic armrest option. Maybe the base model has one you that you can look at. In the meantime go to the hardware and/or autoparts store, pick-up some heavyweight dual sided tape and look at the foam, rubber, or plastic options.