Over the years , the armrest has become pretty marked up.

Thought I would simply dab it with a black marker.

Was curious if anyone has tried this and if there might be some type better than others.

I have black markers around the house, but I think they are way too dark... then again its probably still better than the current 'white' marks I look at every day.

Is there a suggested make/model for a marker one could use?

 

Well majority of the members have had these replaced under warranty for free as long as they were under 4yr/60k i believe so try that first even if youre out of warranty cause some folks got covered regardless, else i suggest getting the 08+ G door pulls that apparently have the harder plastic that does not scratch as easily.

As for the ghetto way, i applied some permanent black marker on a few nicks i have and it has held up pretty well for a while now but of course you can tell its there but better than white.

 

I was actually thinking of pulling mine off and giving them an airbrush job.. Or maybe Ill try the warranty deal like Kool mentioned.

 

Like they said above, the warranty should cover it if you are under the 4 year/60K. Also if you are out of warranty I don't think the pieces are too expensive. Black magic marker or a paint marker might make it look decent for a while too. Good luck.

 

Warranty is best of course (they replace it with a solid material (no paint to peel). Barring that, I remember reading where someone had removed them and successfully stripped and repainted them with a better paint that didn't chip/peel. G/L

 

It never even occured to me that a cosmetic wear and tear items would be covered under warranty. Had I cluded in, I would have mentioned it to date, but I didnt... and the dealer likely never noticed or offered.

I am past the 4 yr mark now, but I will mention it on the next maintenance service call - if they change it great- if not, out comes the marker.

 

+1 for anyone that might have warranty still on their car, I got mine replaced and the material on the revised armrest seems to made from a different material which might make it more durable (at least it seems that way to me).

 

Well ur right, wear and tear items are not covered,, however in this case it was the product which was flawed and thus they were internally told to replace them with the updated harder plastic which wont scratch as easily.

 

is this also true for light colored ones?

 

^ ya unfortunately in the 07s they tried to add "soft" feeling panels and such to the car to give it a more plush/luxury feel but the weak quality of this coating caused it to scratch of easily and thousands of complaints led to infiniti going back to harder plastic that does not have this coating.

And yes it applied to all light and dark interiors form what iv seen, but the darkers ones just show more obviously and thus have the most complaints

 

It sucks that you never ask the dealer about it!! I just recently got that replaced under warranty, plus steering wheel, cluster and radiator hose! No hassle at all! It took me a year but I was just lazy asking! Or never really payed attention! Anyone out there with an 08 it's your time to get your parts replaced!! Go to the dealer!!

 

My dealer wouldn't replace the door handle trim, but they did replace the steering wheel. So I just cleaned the trim with alcohol and sprayed a nice coat of plastidip, looks completely stock and it is holding up much better than the stock coating did. No new scratches so far.. *knocks on wood*

 

I've finally decided to get my door handles and steering wheel scratches addressed albeit a bit too late. My warranty is now expired as I have 67,700 on the odometer. I sent an inquiry through Infiniti's website this morning so we'll see what happens with that. The closest dealership is in Jacksonville, 60 miles from where I live. I do not have a relationship with them as I've never brought my car in for service. The scratches on the door handles are very unsightly and I'm sure it hurts the resale value. The scratches make the car look so much older than it is IMO.

 

Just so you know, you could probably buy a new one online for near the cost of the gas for a round trip to your dealer. Lots of folks are having good results from a DIY repaint too.

 

Yes, I will definitely consider the DIY repaint if I can't make any headway with the dealership. Since my warranty is expired, and so many folks with current warranties have been shafted, I don't expect to get much help. It is clearly a defective coating and should have been recalled. Now that I think of it, recalls are probably enacted for safety issues only, not cosmetic stuff.