Standard CTS center console armrest

Hey guys. I was just wanting to post about my switch to a standard CTS armrest in my V. This is the first mod I did as my used V's armrest was already broken. Got to investigating it and there is a guy in Iowa with a site(Black CTS-V (http://www.blackcts-v.com) ) who had done just this. I decided that is what I wanted to do also since he was claiming the standard CTS one is stronger. Also, it has an extra storage compartment and comes up higher which I figured were both improvements, particularly if you have drinks in the cup holders. I didn't buy a new armrest as he did, but a whole center console from e-bay as that was cheaper. The deal I found on e-bay was a gray one, so I painted the plastic bits and had a local upholstry shop match the CTS-V's original pleather and stitching. It looks pretty stock now unless you know the car. I will post pictures later probably.

Hey guys. I was just wanting to post about my switch to a standard CTS armrest in my V. This is the first mod I did as my used V's armrest was already broken. Got to investigating it and there is a guy in Iowa with a site(Black CTS-V (http://www.blackcts-v.com) ) who had done just this. I decided that is what I wanted to do also since he was claiming the standard CTS one is stronger. Also, it has an extra storage compartment and comes up higher which I figured were both improvements, particularly if you have drinks in the cup holders. I didn't buy a new armrest as he did, but a whole center console from e-bay as that was cheaper. The deal I found on e-bay was a gray one, so I painted the plastic bits and had a local upholstry shop match the CTS-V's original pleather and stitching. It looks pretty stock now unless you know the car. I will post pictures later probably.


Please do post pics. This is something I really wanted to do. The V's arm rest is really cheesy.

I'll try to get pictures taken this weekend. It wasn't too hard and using ebay saved me money even after I payed the upholtery peeps and got the stuffs to paint the plastic bits.

The plastic pieces I painted look a lot darker under the camera's flash compared to the other stuff than they do in person under normal lighting. If you find a black console to get reupholstered though I doubt you would have that issue. Mine was grey and the black paint is just a bit darker and I guess a lot darker under a camera flash. You can see though that the grey stitched custome upholstery matches quite well even under a flash.

Looking good!!!!

Nice job! I'm honestly suprised Cadillac didn't put this arm rest in the V stock.

Yeah. I can kinda understanding putting a slimmer and lower armrest without a cavity to leave more room for your elbow while shifting aggressively. The fact the V's armrest is far less durable is what I don't understand. It is really sad just how horribly designed that armrest is if you take it appart. It has a big strong aluminum arm, but a thin plastic plate with four little screw points and and no stiffeners between the screw points hold your elbow up. When I first took it appart I kinda had this, "What were they thinking?" thought in my head! I go my V used and two of the screw points had already been broken off the plate. If that had screwed the aluminum arm to the plastic part that holds the padding and upholstry it would hold my whole body weight!! My only guess is they figured peeps wouldn't break it until it was out of warranty and it would be a good replacement part money maker??

Mine broke & was replaced under warrenty. Odd thing with mine was that the plastic under side was creacked pretty bad when it broke as well as the pivot point. Normal everyday use too.