I might be doing something wrong, have totally missed something somewhere or maybe I am having a special momment, either way I cant get a grasp on whats going on here.

I have some bracers and a necklace that increase weapon and armor improvement by a percentage.

Bracers of Minor Smithing 12%
Dwarven Bracers of Major Smithing 17%
Necklace of Eminent Smithing 20%

When I equip these they dont seem to work as intended.
The Bracers of Minor Smithing and Necklace dont do anything and the Dwarven Bracers lower the armor values.

example:

If I take a Steel Plate Armor to a workbench without any of the above equiped it has a starting armor value of 74 and improving takes it up to 83.
I get the same numbers 74 -> 83 if I equip either the necklace or bracers of MS.
If I equip the Dwarven Bracers the numbers go down 59 -> 66.
Taking off my Scaled Bracers(superior) also makes the numbers go down 59 -> 66.

I get the same effect with other armor types and items.


A Steel Mace taken to the grindstone has the same damage numbers 18 -> 23 no matter what I have equiped.

My smithing is a level 34 and I have the steel and dwarven perks
I have a full set of Scaled Armor all superior and my light armor is level 52 with Agile Defender(1/5) and Custom Fit perks.

It seems like the bonuses from the light armor are somehow increasing the armor values by about 25%, is this normal?

You're losing the Custom Fit effect when you take your armor off. It shows up on all armor, not just the stuff you're wearing.