Cleaning The Steering Wheel

[discostig]

So after 170 thousand kms my steering wheel is pretty dirty. I have some worn through patches on the leather as well (mainly right side of wheel) which are much more noticeable after cleaning the wheel, I think all my sweaty grime fills the gaps!

Ordinarily I use a leather cleaner solution and wipe it on/off which picks up a lot of blackness, but I am curious as to whether there's something better to use? Coming in to summer the wheel can get pretty sticky feeling when I'm driving around all day at work.

Edit - another option could be getting it re-covered with leather by a trim specialist, any prices others have paid for this?

Edited 29/07/12 02:51 AM by -SteveR-

[Lax]

Yeah at this point (170,000km) I would probably be looking to get it reupholstered with some new leather.

Another option is to do a quick search around the net and see if you can pick up a new steering wheel all together. Ive spotted a few on eBay to suit BF's around the $150 - $200 mark.

[discostig]

I do like the chunkier looking ones. Also saw a thread when I was searching where a Ghia wheel was fitted, has wood grain top and bottom which looked nice...but wouldn't really go with my povvo interior hehehe.

If a retrim was $100 or so It would certainly be worth it, but it could be a fiddly job and be more exxy?

Quick google reckons $$ froma bloke with a Soarer:

My wheel below was a very disappointing feature of my otherwise pristine interior so I planned to have the wheel leather re-trimmed to rejuvenate the look and feel. Ringing around various upholsterers in Sydney, I was quoted between $350 and $600 for a re-trim in my leather of choice.

Edited 29/07/12 07:03 AM by -SteveR-

[Lax]

Geez that seems like a bit much just for a re-trim. I'm not expert in this topic but I wouldn't be paying more than 250-300

[Ace]

if its a leather wheel just take the leather off. its a normal steering wheel underneath. otherwise what we used to do was colour match and paint them with leather paint. make sure you cover the dash and window and mask off the centre. just spray the wheel. if you want more detail pm me as im not gonna let all my secrets out.

you love posting pics put up a pic of the damage.

Edited 29/07/12 09:22 AM by Ace

[discostig]

Hahaha I'll go get one, it's dirty right now though so can't see the worn surface I think.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Steering wheel retrim's are notoriously expensive. Steve, go see Troy @ TC Trimming on Bushby street in Midland. I reckon your best option will be a good 2nd hand Fleabay wheel tho

[discostig]

Gotta do valve springs first anyway...oh and the mighty diff bush - again.

Anyway you made me go get pics so I cleaned it while I was there. Car is clean as a whistle right now, even polished out half a dozen scratch marks on the car that have been there for ages yesterday. But on to the pics.

Wheel before

Wheel after - hard to see the rubbing with the shine, sorry. I'll be able to feel it tomorrow when I drive to work though!

That's a hair near the seam not a crack

Shifter before and after - same issue

Close up of the right hand side of wheel before cleaning

Polyglaze is the product I used, no research on it just grabbed it from supercheap

[Ace]

if you want to you could remove the stitched cover on the wheel otherwise you can mask it all up and paint the dimpled part black and the other part grey. I mean the wheel is damaged and you want to fix it one way or another so you can either have a crack yourself or fork out I reckon at least 150-200 for someone else to try. if you remove the stitched cover you will most likely have to paint the wheel anyway.

[discostig]

Yeah I won't worry about removing the leather from it, would rather keep the factory wheel intact. Didn't know there was such a thing as leather paint, could be a goer. Thanks for the tip too Luke, though certainly have other priorities as you know appreciate the advice all the same.

As for general cleaning of the wheels, still interested in products people are using?