Drivers door arm rest - comfort solutions??

Pugliese

Pugliese

A2OC Donor
At the end of next week we are driving to southern Italy, approx 1300 miles which we drive non stop and takes around 22 hours. So comfort is a priority.

I have found on longer journeys that the armrest on the drivers door becomes uncomfortable after a while and realised that all my previous cars had padded arm rests. Has anyone come up with any smart way of adding padding?
 
The arm rest itself is of plastic (I don't know which one, I think PP or PE as ABS would be too hard).
It's joined onto the fibre-reinforced resin of the doorcard with melted-through plastic "volcanoes". Don't know the real name, but it's like a straw that goes through a hole and then gets melted to form a volcano-stylee ring. It's not glued, it's fixed. Make sense?

Anyways. You can take the armrrest off if you want and replace the covering, adding 2-3mm of EPDM underneath. That would probably help quite a lot.
Problem is that you have the spacing around the armrest which makes things tight, so adding is going to be difficult to look good without modding the cutout for the armrest.

Bret
 
Thanks Bret - that makes sense and hadn't thought of doing that. I was thinking along the lines of my last car that was an Alfa and had full leather and they had attached a rather smart black leather stitched cushion on top of the hard armrest. The problem being trying to source such a thing so I am looking for a smart (easy) alternative
 
... magnets in the armrest itself and then a thin leather-covered cushion with magnets in the inside. EPDM would be better than foam IMO as it's more resistant.

Bret
 
Do you have a centre arm rest as well? I know some people have experimented with fitting after-market models of these to varying degrees of success.
 
dan_b said:
Do you have a centre arm rest as well? I know some people have experimented with fitting after-market models of these to varying degrees of success.
Click to expand...
No I don't, have thought about it but the cost has put me off. Bizzarely at the weekend I came up with a temporay solution. Taking 4 adults, two bikes and luggage the car was full, so my son put his newly acquired Macbook Pro box in the gap between the drivers seat and handbrake. Turned out to be a rather convenient arm rest!
 
Pugliese said:
No I don't, have thought about it but the cost has put me off. Bizzarely at the weekend I came up with a temporay solution. Taking 4 adults, two bikes and luggage the car was full, so my son put his newly acquired Macbook Pro box in the gap between the drivers seat and handbrake. Turned out to be a rather convenient arm rest!
Click to expand...

Excellent! Maybe that'll turn out to be the best use of the new iPad when that comes out. Call it the iRest!
 
I have sometimes suffered from the right arm going 'dead' after a long drive whilst using the armrest too. Must admit hadn't thought aboput padding it but if I use the a2 for our drive to Austria next year it is something to consider. Be interested to see what you decide upon.
 
Just a thought,I have no idea how it might work or look, but whatabout clipping some of the dense pipe lagging over the arm rest.

It's available in different thickness's, and for different size pipes. It's easy to trim
is cheap and usually comes in grey!
 
Tescos have little cylindrical beanbags for a couple pounds that should the trick. I didn't buy one when I saw it though and the local one doesn't do automotive stuff so I can'tcomment on how effective they are :eek:
What I did do though is use a fleece; I hooked the hood over the headrest and put the sleeve on the rest. There was enough there to take the hardness away from the elbow.
 
Indeed. I just use a small pillow tucked between me and the door. Works like a charm and can be removed anytime :D
 
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