While browsing AliExpress, I stumbled on something that made me go “I need this!” — a fitted armrest cover for my BMW G05 X5.
The X5’s armrest
The G05 X5 is a wide car, so the cabin is spacious and there’s a generous gap between the driver and passenger seats.
That space doubles as a storage box and an armrest, so my elbow rests on it constantly while driving.
The sweaty-elbow problem
It’s leather, and in the warmer months my elbow gets unpleasantly sticky on it.
The seats don’t bother me since clothes cover them, but in short sleeves my bare skin sits directly on the armrest — and that sticky feeling was getting old.
My towel workaround
My fix was to keep a towel draped over the armrest.
But an unsecured towel slides off onto the rear footwell in no time…
With kids in the car, the towel’s life expectancy drops to minutes. 😂
The armrest cover I found on AliExpress
Then I came across this:
BMW X5 (G05) Armrest Box Cover — check it on AliExpress
It looked like exactly the right shape.
It was priced around ¥2,700–3,000 (approx. $18–20), so I hesitated a bit — but during an AliExpress sale the discounts stacked up to about ¥2,000 (~$13), and I pulled the trigger.
The listing said “for left-hand drive,” but the armrest looks perfectly symmetrical, so I bought it without worrying too much.
For what it’s worth, I searched domestic (Japanese) shops too and couldn’t find any G05-specific armrest cover.
Fitting it
Delivery took about two weeks, arriving in the usual AliExpress packaging.
AliExpress sometimes delivers in about a week, so this one was on the slower side.
For dirt-cheap prices with international shipping included, I’m happy to wait.
I unboxed it and fitted it to the G05’s armrest right away.
The G05’s armrest lid opens as a left/right split pair, and sure enough the cover came as two matching pieces.
That’s what vehicle-specific parts are for.
Here’s how it looks installed:
Despite the “left-hand drive” note in the listing, it fits my right-hand-drive car perfectly.
It also has storage pockets on both sides — ideal for a phone.
The item in the red circle above is the AI Box I use to run Android (YouTube etc.) on the factory display — I wrote about it in this article (in Japanese).
It used to occupy a cup holder, so gaining a proper pocket for it is a nice bonus.
It feels really good!
And resting my elbow on it feels genuinely great.
I’m very satisfied with this one!
For a roughly ¥2,000 (~$13) part, I can easily recommend it.
The X5 doesn’t get driven that often these days, but when it does go out it’s usually for long trips — so now I have one more thing to look forward to on the next drive.
It’s a good time to be alive when you can casually shop from anywhere in the world (though in my case it’s almost always China…).
*This article is also available in Japanese.*