One of my little bug bears has always been the top of the centre console. It's become very worn since I got the car, especially where I rest my arm so i got a replacement for £35 from ebay and fitted it today.
The original:
The replacement:
And after fitting, which was easy enough and best done from the back seat. Remove the rear cover around the vents which just pulls off, unplug the cable if you wish to give you more room. Use a flat blade screwdriver in the centre of the spring to unclip it, remove the pins on each side by pushing from the middle then pulling at each end. The old cover then just lifts out, the new one goes in, replace spring and pins, push spring back into place and replace vents and you're done.
New cover in place:
Car was also at the main dealer yesterday for the airbag recall and they performed a free health check. All green except one minor issue, one of the centre exhaust clamps has a fairly substantial crack in it. I declined their offer of replacing it for £130 as the car is in for MOT on Tuesday and I'll get them to replace it then. Again I'm not expecting anything untoward, especially after the health check by BMW so expect a clean, new 12 months ticket. Should it pass it means that the only 'non service/maintenance' issue has been the exhaust clamp. Given the car is a few months shy of 9 years old and has just under 52k miles that's excellent value.
Oh I forgot to add, a new battery for the remote and a new metal cover as well have been bought. The battery was £5 for two from eBay as well, the metal cover around £14 but it's a sturdy bit of kit and keeps the key nice and clean as well as preventing me pressing the boot open by accident.