Refurbishing an OEM leather steering wheel

[rider]

 

I have a spare 3 spoke leather steering wheel that I bought a couple of years ago and having finally got around to removing it from the column I decided to refurbish it. I have done leather treatment on 1960's seats before so it's not something entirely new to me. The steering wheel hadn't been loved for a while and had a few minor dings and scrapes then needed looking at.

 

Initial prep was an alcohol clean and light sanding, followed by repairs of the small dings with leather filler.

 

 

In total, three coats of black colour restorer was applied to the steering wheel; 2 sections at a time.

 

Then came the hardest part, applying the sealant - to get the gloss to a level I was happy with. I prefer more matt than gloss so I started off with a matt sealant layer. I didn't think that was going to look right so I did satin coats for the next two layers. then it was looking too shiny for my tastes so I finished off with two coats of 50:50 satin:matt mix. I cannot really recall what the new steering wheel looked like 2 decades ago but i think this is close, maybe still a little too shiny so I may not be finished, there might be another coat coming to the wheel soon.

 

 

I've used vinyl cleaner on the horn push and overall, i'm very happy with the transformation from starting point to the finished wheel. I was intending to put it up for sale but the number of hours I've spent on it would likely price it out of the market today. The leather wheels are discontinued, though you can still buy the rubber compound wheels which is actually the wheel fitted to my car. So, I'm considering if I should change out my cars wheel for this leather one. If anyoen has any new wheel pics that i can judge the gloss factor against that'd be useful to know whether to go further with the matt look or leave it as is.

[rider]

Mating the wheel with the cetre horn boss, its a good colour match so I think the wheel is done.

 

[Hammer]

Top work mate, looks really good and original.

[Josh42]

Nice work mate, nice to see a proper restoration on the go

 

 

 

[Andrew K]

Very nice work final result is looking spot on.

[Crossy]

Looks spot on that, nicely done mate!

 

In the process of creating a couple of these with fresh materials! One with paddles for the Tiptronic system, and one for sale as a test run, hope it looks half as good as that

[rider]

Thanks guys. If anyone has a ropy wheel or seat covers that they would like to tackle its something that doesn't require too much skill. Just an eye for detail.

 

Tools used were sanding papers 240 and 300 grit used wet and dry to sand out scuffs and excess filler which had been applied using one of those throw away very flexible drinks stirrers. The initial coat of colour was applied with a cotton bud to get into all the nooks and tight places and edges safely then subsequent coats were applied using a dense sponge. The sealant is much thinner than the leather colourant so it cannot be effectively applied with a sponge (that just creates lots of bubbles which you really dont want), initial layer application was with a cotton bud and then the subsequent 4 layers were simply wiped on with a lint free cloth. All 8 layers were thin and its just a case of taking time to allow the layers to dry. I was doing a maximum of 2 coats a day and the job ran over 7 days in total, probably about 10 hours labour.

 

The leather seats I refurbished on a friends 1960's car still look really good 2 years on so if your leather wheel or seat coverings annoy you and you can approach it confidently, then I'd suggest you give it a go.

[Mr2kyle]

This maybe worth being a sticky?