Fitting an Aftermarket Armrest to 2016 GTi

[hjgtiger]

Just finished fitting an armrest to my Dec 2016 GTI DSG and very happy with the result. If I had ordered a factory build I would have specified and armrest but got a good deal on a pre-built car.
I obtained masses of info & help from a few other sites and from '2015_polo' on this forum.
The armrest I bought was (Ref1)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-sh ... 4be7653b34

The main advice came from (REf2)
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-do-yo ... ation.html
and (Ref3)
http://workshop-manuals.com/volkswagen/ ... h_armrest/

There are quite a few armrests from AliExpress but the supplier I chose had good reviews (assuming they were real) but was far from the cheapest. It arrived within 5 days via DHL and was well packaged.


The fitting is a little involved as detailed in Ref2 where it is necessary to remove a lot of trim & console bits to enable lifting the rear end of the centre console to get the main alloy mount in position. I bought a cheap set of 'plastic trim prying tools' from eBay which made the job a lot easier and avoids damage/scratches.

This pic shows why so much has to be removed/loosened - the casting is sitting on top of the console afetr cuphlder removed


Ref2 shows that after removing most of the trim bits 2 horizontal screws holding the console. Mine did not have those screws fitted - I assume that this was intentional as there were no metal 'tags' for the screws to screw into.


So this is the finished result

[Bigtam]

Looks very good and matches you interior nicely

[hjgtiger]

I think it would be difficult to tell it is not OEM if you just got into th car.

[2015_polo]

I think it would be difficult to tell it is not OEM if you just got into th car.

Looks brilliant mate nice one


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[derkie54]

Very good guide and the arm rest suits a DSG.
I find it gets in the way of changing gears with my manual and I'm considering taking it off .......... a lot of thing to take apart by the looks of it, I might wait for the better weather

[hjgtiger]

Very good guide and the arm rest suits a DSG.
I find it gets in the way of changing gears with my manual and I'm considering taking it off .......... a lot of thing to take apart by the looks of it, I might wait for the better weather

It's not as bad as it would appear. Don't forget that if you remove yours you'll need to fit a rear cupholder to cover the 'hole' left.