In defense of armrest cupholders

I 'm the process of losing those in favor of the 97 style in the red car. If a slip of paper is all they're good for, hey at least they have a use for some reason.
 
I hang my garage door opener from it.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
They also prevent the armrest from sagging in the middle. I added them to my '97, plus I added a custom support below.
Click to expand...

I don’t buy that, the cupholders is held onto the armrest with a weak little magnet for one, for two I’ve never seen a 97 armrest any more bowed than a 94-96 one
 
On the 97, the left side of the armrest, and subsequently the weight of your arm, rest on two rubber knobs, one at the forward end, the other at the back. Both of them, oddly, support the armrest from below the foam part, not the solid plastic. So those little knobs literally push themselves into the foam.

The old style cupholder on the other hand sits on the plastic of the compartment below and supports the armrest plastic piece above. I'd say that makes a difference. It closes the gap between the compartment and the armrest.

That said...I'm sure there are other factors that play into armrest disintegration. Heat, usage, adhesive degradation, user weight,...

But in combination with my custom support, the old cupholders provide a perfectly solid armrest that doesn't bend down at all.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
On the 97, the left side of the armrest, and subsequently the weight of your arm, rest on two rubber knobs, one at the forward end, the other at the back. Both of them, oddly, support the armrest from below the foam part, not the solid plastic. So those little knobs literally push themselves into the foam.

The old style cupholder on the other hand sits on the plastic of the compartment below and supports the armrest plastic piece above. I'd say that makes a difference. It closes the gap between the compartment and the armrest.

That said...I'm sure there are other factors that play into armrest disintegration. Heat, usage, adhesive degradation, user weight,...

But in combination with my custom support, the old cupholders provide a perfectly solid armrest that doesn't bend down at all.
Click to expand...

94-96s rest on the same two rubber nubs, only difference is the L shaped trim plate that covers the screws was deleted by the beancounters making them appear more prominent on later consoles. The original console lid from my car was bowed in the middle in spite of the cupholders and the lid I currently have now is actually from a 97 I pulled the whole console out of last year, one of the best I’ve found. I don’t think there’s any real rhyme or reason to it. They’re usually worse in smoker cars is all I would definitively say.

The foam is what collapses, if you have a junk bowed lid kicking around peel off the vinyl and foam and I bet you the plastic core is still flat. That inner core + the plastic bottom plate that screws onto combined are more sturdy than the cupholders
 
Last edited:
The armrest cup holders work fine for a 12oz can, that's about it. After the manual transmission swap I found they are actually better located, and I was using them almost exclusively. The center console cup holders were in the way when shifting.

It was neat having 4 cup holders for a while though.
 
Kenz said:
The armrest cup holders work fine for a 12oz can, that's about it. After the manual transmission swap I found they are actually better located, and I was using them almost exclusively. The center console cup holders were in the way when shifting.

It was neat having 4 cup holders for a while though.
Click to expand...

I only ever really use the cupholders on long interstate trips, where I’m not really shifting that much anyway. In that mode I want to be comfortable and resting my elbow on the hard plastic creases of the console below the soft touch lid couldn’t be more uncomfortable.

I mostly use the 97 cupholders day to day to place my phone in, I love them for that.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
I only ever really use the cupholders on long interstate trips, where I’m not really shifting that much anyway.
Click to expand...

I do miss having the center console cup holders, especially for a longer drive like you pointed out. If I drove my Cougar more I would have possibly never done the handbrake swap.

My unnecessarily large Samsung Note just barely fits in the cubby under the radio. It either goes there, or gets wedged in the back of the passenger seat back/cushion
 
Kenz said:
With the foot parking brake gone more room for my left foot when not clutching.

Also... Armrest cup holder working great with 12oz can, and oversized phone fitting in radio cubby :smile:

View attachment 8125
Click to expand...

The thing I hate about using those cup holders, as the picture fully illustrates, is that I will still want to rest my elbow on the center area. But it's not there anymore and what is there, that thin edge, is really uncomfortable. I wish they had changed the design so that the outer frame of the flip door would remain but a smaller inner door could swing up for the 2 cans or cups. That would leave just enough of the rounded edge and top for my elbow to rest on. I still have that part of my '95 console but I switched to the '97 center section for the more normal cupholders. Of course those ones are right up against the shifter so it's a bit annoying if you have a couple tall cups in there but still much easier to tolerate on long trips.
 
rampagingsloth said:
The thing I hate about using those cup holders, as the picture fully illustrates, is that I will still want to rest my elbow on the center area. But it's not there anymore and what is there, that thin edge, is really uncomfortable. I wish they had changed the design so that the outer frame of the flip door would remain but a smaller inner door could swing up for the 2 cans or cups. That would leave just enough of the rounded edge and top for my elbow to rest on. I still have that part of my '95 console but I switched to the '97 center section for the more normal cupholders. Of course those ones are right up against the shifter so it's a bit annoying if you have a couple tall cups in there but still much easier to tolerate on long trips.
Click to expand...

The other thing is having gone from foot brake to SC handbrake and back to foot brake is the leverage is night and day more effective with the footbrake. I used to leave the car in first on inclines in addition to the handbrake but now it’s just set it and forget it.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
I don’t buy that, the cupholders is held onto the armrest with a weak little magnet for one, for two I’ve never seen a 97 armrest any more bowed than a 94-96 one
Click to expand...
<chuckle>

Yep, I was going to say the same thing. That is why they moved the cup holder to the center console in later years....

... or because corporate really got cheap and saved a few dollars each car by not paying for that magnet.
 
Ok, well, I still maintain that the cupholder offers some additional support. My custom support below the cupholder really makes the main difference though; my armrest doesn't bend at all.


Regarding the actual use as cupholders...my main problem with that is the part that folds down. That requires that there's empty space below the cupholder inside the compartment. Well, my compartment is full. Two pairs of glasses, a charger, a code reader, a small bottle of emergency mouthwash,... There's no space for anything to fold down. This is really my primary glovebox.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
The other thing is having gone from foot brake to SC handbrake and back to foot brake is the leverage is night and day more effective with the footbrake. I used to leave the car in first on inclines in addition to the handbrake but now it’s just set it and forget it.
Click to expand...

This is my reasoning for recently redoing the rear brakes with all new parts. Figured I might as well use the bigger cobra rotors while I'm at it.

I don't understand why, but there was a huge improvement with the parking brake strength when I replaced just the rear calipers on my previous MN12 Tbird. With the new calipers it could actually slow down the car and hold it no problem on a hill.

The parking brake on my Cougar has always been weak, even when it had the foot brake. Hopefully all the new parts and more aggressive brake pads make an improvement.
 
Kenz said:
This is my reasoning for recently redoing the rear brakes with all new parts. Figured I might as well use the bigger cobra rotors while I'm at it.

I don't understand why, but there was a huge improvement with the parking brake strength when I replaced just the rear calipers on my previous MN12 Tbird. With the new calipers it could actually slow down the car and hold it no problem on a hill.

The parking brake on my Cougar has always been weak, even when it had the foot brake. Hopefully all the new parts and more aggressive brake pads make an improvement.
Click to expand...

I’ve got cobras and everything in back too, it holds great with the footbrake but I just never felt I could get the leverage with the handbrake.

In fairness I am a weakling with no upper body strength 😆
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Back
Top