Ford Explorer Premium Padded Replacement armrest Console Cover with Staples - Medium Prairie Tan (1997-05)

I paid for the package with the extra foam and it doesn't fit right! So disappointed. If the fabric was bigger it would have been a five star though. I have to keep it on, even though it doesn't fit, until I find another one to purchase. The materials are nice and the instructions are well written.

I purchased the Premium console repair kit for my 1999 Ford Explorer XLT. My order arrived 8 days after ordering on Amazon by USPS standard shipping and came as advertised with the precut imitation leather fabric in medium graphite gray color, one sheet of half inch thick foam padding, a sleeve of 6mm staples, and an instruction sheet. Before purchasing I watched the YouTube video which provided a very helpful visual of how the repair and installation is performed. The video was also a good supplement to the written instruction sheet. I selected the Premium kit because of the extent of damage to my armrest and because I wanted additional padding for comfort.Overall this is an excellent cost effective alternative to purchasing a complete replacement from the parts store. The color of the fabric provided in the kit was a dead-on match to the vehicle interior which for me was the most important aspect of the purchase. I have uploaded photos of the armrest before and after the repair. The quality of the fabric also appears to be at least as thick as the material that I replaced; so I am hopeful that it will be at least if not more durable. I followed the instruction sheet and video explicitly and am very happy with the finished result. I am a person of average skill level and an amateur at fixing things. I am also somewhat of a perfectionist; so I had to convince myself that this would be simple enough for me to complete in a reasonable amount of time while delivering an excellent result; otherwise I would be content to pay for a full replacement part.I have only a couple of criticisms and would definitely rank them as minor. The complete installation for me as a first timer was reasonably simple but it took me close to an hour which is significantly longer than the video. The majority of this time was spent getting the material stapled down to the plastic underside of the armrest. The fabric is precut to provide enough material to cover the armrest but it is not cut to an exact precise fit; therefore the biggest challenge in the process was stapling down the slack material to minimize any wrinkles from showing on the top of the armrest. The YouTube video shows exactly what to do but for me the biggest challenge I ran into was getting the staples to penetrate the plastic and hold the fabric in order to fold and stretch the fabric for the next staple. Several times the some of staples came undone. I eventually overcame this by anchoring a few longer staples that better penetrated the plastic underside. Then I used plenty of the provided 6mm staples around the longer anchor staples to secure the rest of the fabric before reassembly and installation. My before and after photos are now attached so that you can see the color match and quality of the replaced cover.Conclusion: The armrest repair and installation using the Premium kit provided a simple and high quality comfortable replacement for my damaged armrest; and I would say that my purchase was a good value. Members of my family have told me how great the finished armrest looks. I would definitely buy this product again and would recommend it to the average skilled do-it-yourselfer who wants to save some money.

I have a 2000 Ford Explorer that was gifted to me by a family member a few years ago. It is an older vehicle and has some wear and tear, one of which was the armrest console. The original leather was split, stiff, and showing overall crackage. I had been looking for the best way to replace it while taking into consideration, cost, durability, fit, ease of installation, and color match.This is a very niche item in my opinion and after looking around I settled on this one because it was the least expensive, but based on other reviews seemed to fit very well. The cost is great, considering the fact that others I had looked at were around 20-80 dollars depending on the website and sellers I was looking at. I also talked to the mechanic that does all of the repairs on my vehicle and he quoted me at $80 dollars to replace the arm rest cover with a vinyl cover much like this one, but he told me it would take him at least a day to have my vehicle ready for me. I decided that this looked like a good product with good reviews, and a fairly easy installation that even I could do, so I purchased it.The instructions that came with the armrest cover and foam were easy to read and even recommended a YouTube video, so I watched it and was able to install it pretty easily. It is not a 100% color match to the tan interior of my vehicle, but it is close enough that I can't really tell unless I'm really paying attention. It was something that I knew would not match 100% but did not bother me. Even if the color discrepancy had been more visible, I still would not have minded.The foam was a must for me since the foam on my arm rest was missing a piece. Having to install the foam piece meant that I did not get as smooth of a fit as others who I saw, but I am completely satisfied with how it turned out because it only has a few tiny visible folds on the two front sides that are not very visible.

Perfect fit

This is a nice product and looks real nice when done. That being said unless your foam is destroyed I would not recommend buying the kit with the foam. There doesn't seam to be enough fabric to stretch which in turn doesn't leave enough space to staple. And with all that extra foam it was real difficult smoothing out the front as much as I tried I still was left with some little wrinkles although not real noticeable. The extra softness is nice but don't look as good as not using the foam. And I also had a hard time getting the staples to work, but I think that was do to the fact that the age of the plastic on the console lid itself. "It was hard and brittle." It wasn't as simple as described for me but with a little patience it can turn out quite nice. I would recommend this to a friend.

Item was as described and arrived quickly. The instruction sheet was pretty blurred and pictures couldn't be seen clearly. But I used the recommended video or one on YouTube and I got it installed fine. Stapling it in place was a little difficult as you need to keep the material stretched while exerting steady force on the stapler. I ended up using almost all the supplied staples. In the end, with a bit of work, it came out good.