Steering Wheel restoration

[GLHS#238]

It there any way to restore the rim of the steering wheel?

[ShelbyGLHS592]

I assume you are talking about the leather on a GLHS steering wheel. What condition is it in now?

[GLHS#238]

Both really. My stock one is starting to show some age. I am looking at a 87 lancer steering wheel, but it is cracked? Ideas

[ShelbyGLHS592]

I don't have any ideas for the Lancer wheel.

How does the leather look on your GLHS wheel? Is it cracked or gouged? Mine was just faded. I washed it with saddle soap. I hit a few bad spots with some 1500 grit sandpaper. I washed it again with saddle soap. I let it sit a day or so to dry. I then redyed the leather with black shoe DYE (not polish). I let it sit a day to dry. I dyed it again and let it sit 2 days to dry. I buffed it with a soft cloth and then coated it with natural shoe polish. I let it sit another day and then buffed it with a soft cloth.

[GLHS#238]

That's what I was looking for!! I don't know about the 87' though!

[SuperDave]

I did the same thing Kevin did with one of my leather wheels. It came out looking like new again!

The Lancer wheel is made of foam, and those crack and lose chunks over time. The best thing you can do for those is cover them with a leather. You can choose the cheap auto parts store lace-on type or you can go with Amreican Stitches. They do great work!

Good luck to you!

[89VNT4ME]

Kinda off topic, but is saddle soap the soap to use if you're cleaning leather?

[ShelbyGLHS592]

Saddles are made out of leather.

[LANCER#319]

When it is time to clean your leather I recommend the products from this site. It works wonders and keeps the leather soft and supple. All of the research pointed to leatherique and I tried it. What an unbelievable difference. You can literally feel and see the difference. If you ever thought it was impossible to deep clean leather, you would be wrong. This stuff sheds out the deepest of grime and makes everything look like new. If you have never used this product before, the first application will be the most interesting. You will be disgusted by what comes out of your leather. You may never want to touch another leather steering wheel in your life because it is so nasty. After that it is all good. I know it is pricey, but for the age of our cars and the poor leather maintenance they experience; this is the only thing I found that will revive the leather. The stuff at the parts stores just didn't cut it with my car.

http://www.leatherique.com/products.htm

[LANCER#319]

I know the leatherique was off topic so here is a post on topic.

The lancer steering wheel can be restored by these guys:

http://www.tuffwheelrestoration.com/

This link was posted a while back in this forum. It has just been so long that the thread is not accessible. I kept it as a favorite so that I can restore my Lancer wheel when it is ready. They can duplicate the graining and baseball stitch pattern that the lancer wheel has.

Thanks
Paul M. Noble

[cwilliiams]

I had been thinking about my Spirit R/T wheel for the last couple of years. It is grey and I thought I would try some dye. I found some grey dye and prepped the wheel with acetone to clean any oils off. The dye just looked like hell, looked baby blue against the other grey on the wheel, so I took the acetone and took it off. I had to really work it to get it off. I noticed it looked a lot better after the acetone. It at least evened out texture and color. I then put on some leather treatment, let that sit and then gave it a coat of paste wax to give it a little finish. Looks pretty good - a big improvement.
A new Spirit R/T wheel is $450 - it is worth a shot.

Charlie

[87GLHS#22]

Quote:

Originally posted by LANCER#319 I know the leatherique was off topic so here is a post on topic. The lancer steering wheel can be restored by these guys: http://www.tuffwheelrestoration.com/ This link was posted a while back in this forum. It has just been so long that the thread is not accessible. I kept it as a favorite so that I can restore my Lancer wheel when it is ready. They can duplicate the graining and baseball stitch pattern that the lancer wheel has. Thanks Paul M. Noble

Holy cow! $275 for re-leather??? I'll stick with what I've got -- no cover.

[kadams4458]

It's possible. I've recovered a few wheels with leather in the past, and have always had good results. Some of them were already leather-wrapped, and some were not.

I've also restored two non-leather steering wheels. One was a molded rubber job from a '93 LeBaron , and the other was a plastic piece from a 60's Chevrolet truck.

Every wheel always looked better than new when I was done. I guess I'm just talented at wheel work. With a little practise and patience, I think just about anyone could handle wrapping a wheel in leather. It's not terribly difficult, and the materials really aren't very expensive, either. The last wheel I re-covered ended up costing around fifty bucks, and that included all new needles, thread, adhesive, etc.