Next thing on the list, armrest cover lock snapped..

[Mr Footlong]

That is exactly what I thought Chunk, the texture of the leather was more in keeping with what I have seen in the likes of a C6/C7......

I ordered one of those armrests from Ebay this morning, but I am not known for my patience, or worrying about money spent. Curiosity got the better of me so I had a go with my trim tools. With a bit of brute force, I could see that it looked liked this particular one had been toughened up with dabs of epoxy, but more brute force and a can do attitude later, both bonds broke and the unit stayed intact and largely unharmed.

For future reference, pics below. The red circles in the first pic indicate the lower and upper epoxy bond points at the front and the second pic shows a clip point in the blue circle, identically placed on the other side too of course. The clip/spring were easy as pie to remove intact.

Madam has beast today I will most likely do the same/pop the new clip etc in tomorrow.

[chunky79]

Sweet, hope the old one comes apart without damaging the leather.

[Mr Footlong]

Already done, the old one was actually bonded together better/stronger than the new one. The leather was undamaged, clip and spring are in and a dab of superglue put in between the plastic epoxy joints, not that it needed it.

Put back in car and feels new and firm, i stuck the new front grommets in to the old lid too.

[Mr Footlong]

The China special turned up yesterday. While i basically paid £123 for a plastidipped hinged handle and a spring clip, no regrets, as the quality of both armrest cover and the handle were absolutely not remotely good enough to be putting in to my car. Functional, yes, but would have looked/felt pants compared to repairing the OE one.