[aktif8]

First of all, this is extremely easy. I was a bit worried about being the guinea pig, but with instructions, this will take you about 20 minutes, and that's being extremely careful.

Parts needed: Sliding armrest. That's it! There's no need to purchase the sliding cover, the mounting pieces, or the lock. I purchased everything on the parts diagram to be safe, but ended up using none of it. The armrest includes the sliding cover, and the other bits are all reused from your stock armrest. I purchased mine from ECS, as they had the best price I could find, around $200.



First, pop off the rear hvac trim panel. You can do this with a trim removal tool, but it's totally unnecessary. Just get your fingers underneath the panel, and pop it off. There's no reason to unplug it, just stick it off to the side.



once the panel is removed, you'll see a spring and 2 pins. The pins slide right out, but might not give at first. just push gently on the outside plastic, right by where they're mounted, and use your pliers to grasp the pin from the inside, and pop it out (x2)

Once the pins are removed, you can unmount the spring on each side, by using a screwdriver or your pliers to pry it out from the plastic mounting points. Be careful at this point, as there is the possibility it will fly off.

Once you have the sides unclipped, you can easily pull the center part out from the center mounting point as well.



Next, open the armrest lid fully. At this point, it's not secured to anything, so just by wiggling it (just a little bit ) you'll be able to remove it.

Next, grab your new armrest, hold it vertically, and wiggle it the same way back into the slot. The serrated channel slides on top of the 2 gears you'll see in the opening; if you're having difficulty, just make sure the channel is aligned before you try to force it in.



Next, close the new armrest lid. and place the spring back into position. After some trial and error, this is the easiest method to get everything back together:

#1 place spring back into position, and reattach only the side mounting points. leave the center mounting point "out" (and, frankly, you'd never be able to attach it at this point anywya.)

#2 grab the pins you removed previously, and slide them back in, through the outer mounting hole, the armrest, the spring, and the inner mounting hole.



#3 open the armrest fully, and at this point it's trivially easy to pop the center mounting bar of the spring back into place, per the above picture.






slide the armrest forward, then marvel at how much difference an inch makes to your driving comfort (especially if you're as massively, imposingly tall as I am. Yeah 5'7".)

Finally, grumble about decontenting on a $65k car, then realize that you spent a relatively trivial fraction of what you spent on the car on something that will dramatically improve your comfort, and suck it up.

[G30 B58]

I feel your pain, I'm 5'6" and my right elbow is right at the edge of the armrest.

This mod has been on my list since I sat in my brothers M4.

Maybe I'll just steal / swap his?

[613Bimmer]

Thanks for the awesome DIY!

[Gabreigns]

This was a great DIY. Thank you for this. I did this a few weeks ago. What a difference it makes to driving. Sad that they don't offer it here in the US.

[afranke]

What was the part number of the sliding armrest, 51169285151? How did you specify color when ordering?

[pentagon]

Originally Posted by afranke

What was the part number of the sliding armrest, 51169285151? How did you specify color when ordering?

Every colour have a different part #, just realoem for the full list.

[afranke]

Originally Posted by pentagon

Every colour have a different part #, just realoem for the full list.

Hm, I must not know how to read this correctly: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=51_8537

I have "Leather Dakota/black/akzent-rot" in my car, but I don't see how the LCL3=Yes code relates to a part number...

[Fenton19]

What car do you have?
This is the page I went off of for the f30:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=51_8537
I just purchased one in red off of tuner motorsports.

Ecs has the black sliding armrest
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...e/51169285151/

[instalher]

this is a great addition, Now If I could find red seatbelts that would be sooooo awesome.

[evdok]

List price £284

[Gabreigns]

Originally Posted by evdok

List price £284

Nah. I was lucky enough to get 2 for less than a fourth that price used. And one new for about a hundred on eBay. They pop up all over Europe on their local websites and eBay.

[pentagon]

According to realoem , it appears that BMW makes vinyl version on the sliding armrest with part number 51169235437. Probably cheaper than the real leather ones

[Jbrock22]

Originally Posted by aktif8

First of all, this is extremely easy. I was a bit worried about being the guinea pig, but with instructions, this will take you about 20 minutes, and that's being extremely careful.

Parts needed: Sliding armrest. That's it! There's no need to purchase the sliding cover, the mounting pieces, or the lock. I purchased everything on the parts diagram to be safe, but ended up using none of it. The armrest includes the sliding cover, and the other bits are all reused from your stock armrest. I purchased mine from ECS, as they had the best price I could find, around $200.



First, pop off the rear hvac trim panel. You can do this with a trim removal tool, but it's totally unnecessary. Just get your fingers underneath the panel, and pop it off. There's no reason to unplug it, just stick it off to the side.



once the panel is removed, you'll see a spring and 2 pins. The pins slide right out, but might not give at first. just push gently on the outside plastic, right by where they're mounted, and use your pliers to grasp the pin from the inside, and pop it out (x2)

Once the pins are removed, you can unmount the spring on each side, by using a screwdriver or your pliers to pry it out from the plastic mounting points. Be careful at this point, as there is the possibility it will fly off.

Once you have the sides unclipped, you can easily pull the center part out from the center mounting point as well.



Next, open the armrest lid fully. At this point, it's not secured to anything, so just by wiggling it (just a little bit ) you'll be able to remove it.

Next, grab your new armrest, hold it vertically, and wiggle it the same way back into the slot. The serrated channel slides on top of the 2 gears you'll see in the opening; if you're having difficulty, just make sure the channel is aligned before you try to force it in.



Next, close the new armrest lid. and place the spring back into position. After some trial and error, this is the easiest method to get everything back together:

#1 place spring back into position, and reattach only the side mounting points. leave the center mounting point "out" (and, frankly, you'd never be able to attach it at this point anywya.)

#2 grab the pins you removed previously, and slide them back in, through the outer mounting hole, the armrest, the spring, and the inner mounting hole.



#3 open the armrest fully, and at this point it's trivially easy to pop the center mounting bar of the spring back into place, per the above picture.






slide the armrest forward, then marvel at how much difference an inch makes to your driving comfort (especially if you're as massively, imposingly tall as I am. Yeah 5'7".)

Finally, grumble about decontenting on a $65k car, then realize that you spent a relatively trivial fraction of what you spent on the car on something that will dramatically improve your comfort, and suck it up.

Did you use your existing coral red cover and attach it to the sliding hardware? If so how do you separate the leather cover from the existing hardware? Thnx

[Dang3r]

Those fullquotes sux dude

Aside from the very good DIY I would highly recommend to the not too experienced drivers to take a photo shot of the exact installation of the spring before you remove the pins. It makes the reinstallation much more easier

[wdeerfield]

Originally Posted by Jbrock22

Did you use your existing coral red cover and attach it to the sliding hardware? If so how do you separate the leather cover from the existing hardware? Thnx

i never understand people that need to quote the original post. it makes viewing on a mobile horrible. unquote the photos jbrock22. just responding to the OP's thread will notify him. no need to quote.

[Dang3r]

Originally Posted by wdeerfield

i never understand people that need to quote the original post. it makes viewing on a mobile horrible. unquote the photos jbrock22. just responding to the OP's thread will notify him. no need to quote.

+1

[afranke]

So I took a look at this as an experiment and tried to remove the old armrest, but I cannot for the life of me get the pins out. They are super long, and when I pull one to the inside it hits the other before I can angle it out. Did yours just come right out?

[Gabreigns]

Originally Posted by afranke

So I took a look at this as an experiment and tried to remove the old armrest, but I cannot for the life of me get the pins out. They are super long, and when I pull one to the inside it hits the other before I can angle it out. Did yours just come right out?

Check out this video. It is very similar.

[afranke]

Originally Posted by Gabreigns

Check out this video. It is very similar.

Perfect, thanks. I tried pushing that way, but was afraid to put on too much pressure.

[Kailec]

Originally Posted by Fenton19

What car do you have?
This is the page I went off of for the f30:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=51_8537
I just purchased one in red off of tuner motorsports.

Ecs has the black sliding armrest
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...e/51169285151/

I'm a bit confused as to how I read this as well. I have:

LEDER DAKOTA/SCHWARZ EXKLUSIVNAHT (LCLZ)

But on that site if I look up LCLZ it shows under VENETOBEIGE, which leads me to believe that the colour would be a beige colour while my car is black inside.

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by wdeerfield

i never understand people that need to quote the original post.

I quote the specific post I'm answering, unless there's no subsequent post to it. But there's no need to quote the entire post, just the part being responded to, and since we've already seen the pictures no reason to show them either. Of course if you're responding to more than one post then you need to quote both. For instance,

on that site if I look up LCLZ it shows under VENETOBEIGE, which leads me to believe that the colour would be a beige colour while my car is black inside

Venetian beige, to be exact. Schwarz is black.

[Kailec]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

Venetian beige, to be exact. Schwarz is black.

Understood, but when I look at bmwvin.com I see LCLZ listed near the top. The only time I see that coding it's under the venetian beige. You're right, I do have black interior. Based on that should I be going with 51169285151? When I look at ECS with that number the diagram doesn't really look like it's a sliding one?