Hey, I just recently bought a used 2003 Ford Escape XLS and i'm liking it so far but I have two things I want to fix.

First off, the center console is a bit creaky (plastic rubbing on plastic) when i'm leaning on the arm rest. I was wondering if there was some miracle fix for this. In the near future i'm going to try tightening up the bolts and screws to see if that helps and i was also going to try putting small foam strips between where the panels meet to reduce the rubbing. Just wondering if anybody else has fixed this in the past and has any ideas to share.

Also, I'm looking at spicing up the interior a bit. I've been looking at vinyl dash kits but i'm not sure if that's the way to go. Mostly i'm just not sure if the looks cheap and obviously fake. My interior is mostly gray-scale colours with no natural tones so i don't think a wood grain would look nice. If i went with a dash kit, I'm thinking a black carbon fiber would look best, but i'm not sure.

Lastly, and probably the hardest to fix, quite a lot of the car looks and feels kind of plasticy. Is there any way to cover up a few more areas that a dash kit wouldn't? Maybe with some sort of faux-leather something or other. I'm just not sure. Any ideas are welcome.

 

I'm no interior decorator by any means !! But two things I have learned to consider and the first is if you place something smooth and very light on the dash make sure it won't reflect up to the windshield and constantly beam back into your eyes and give you eye fatigue.
The other is , depending on where you reside, a very dark color gets awfully hot if the sun beams on it and then it dries out and cracks.
So other than that , I guess you should use whatever makes you happy.