Installing Honda's Optional Armrest

[cynosurecivic]

This DIY article is a step by step how to on installing the Honda optional arm rest in your 7th gen. Civic.

All the included hardware. The armrest cost me about $60US at the dealership. They wanted $110 to install it, and I said forget that.

You will need a 10mm and 17mm socket, needle nose pliers and a sharp utility knife.


Start by reaching underneath the drivers seat and you will feel where the plastic clips are. Pull it toward you till it unhooks as shown in the picture.


Lift the back of the seat cover up to expose the insides. You will see a grey cover that needs to be removed by lifting it up over the black U-shaped bars.


Once the above is removed, you will see 2 clips attached to the same U-shaped bars. These need to be unhooked.


Once unhooked, you can push/pull the seat cover and hooks between the seat back and seat bottom.


Lift the front of the seat cover up and you will notice a spring attached to it. This needs to be removed from the rear and is quite easy.


Lift the side of the seat cover up to expose an indentation of where the armrest bracket will go. This needs to be cut out as shown below.


Use a sharp utility knife to cut the foam out.


Once this is done, pull the the seat cover back down so it is nice and tight, like it was before you started. This part is tricky. You will need to cut an X in the fabric enough so that the bracket will fit in so you can screw it in. Don't go too far with the cuts cause you don't want them to show once the armrest is on.


Slide the bracket in and line up the screw holes on the bracket with the screw holes on the seat side. Insert the screws and tighten. There is no wrong way to put the bracket on, as long as the thread end is pointing outward, which is fairly obvious.


Unzip the armrest and peel down the outside of it. (The side pointing towards the passenger seat.) Make sure the other side is nice and tight. Slide the two white bushings onto each side of the armrest. Slide the armrest onto the bracket. While pushing the armrest onto the bracket, add the brass washer, then the lock washer then the bolt. Tighten the bolt. Test the armrest functionality. If all is fine, pull the cover over the armrest and zip it up. (Not as easy as it sounds. I used needle nose pliers to do it.)


Another pic