I can't get the upper armrest bolt to fasten properly to the door panel. It seems to bite a little, but after a few minutes on the road the bolt wobbles loose until finally falling out. I'm guessing the hole in the door panel is too wide now due to wear/stress over the years. Does anyone have a fix for this? I'm guessing a wider bolt is needed.

Thanks

 

I have a similar issue with the passenger armrest. I think the best remedy is to just go to the junkyard, drill out the rivets on a bracket and bring it home to replace the bad one...

 

sounds like the nutcage is toast. junkyard time.

 

On my cars, the plate that the screw... Er.. Screws into is just sheet metal. I would take a pair of needle nose vice grips and get one jaw behind it and then smash the hole back flat. That should close up the hole and make it small enough that your screw should fit again. I own a MIG welder, so if the before mentioned idea didnt work, I would drop a few sparks in the hole. That would do it, I think. Hope this helps!

 

Yeah I didn't think there was a nut on the door panel, at least for the upper bolt. Instead its a slit in the sheet metal. I guess this could be a difference with GTAs. I'll use the needlenose method and see about getting the gap closed smaller. If that don't work I'll try a slightly fatter bolt. If that don't work I'm going to bust out my blind rivet gun and set a threaded anchor in the door panel.

 

I too was going to suggest the pliers and flattening the hole, or a larger screw - they are well hidden up in the armrest, no one would ever know exactly what type of screw was in there. Another option would be a small piece of aluminum or metal riveted over (or under) the bracket and then drill a new hole in that for the OEM screw to bite into.