Steering wheel refurbishment

[KevW]

After gradually renovating the interior of my Excel over the past year the state of the steering wheel began to stand out like a sore thumb. The finish of the centre crash pad had partly broken down leaving some parts shinier than others, the paint on the metal spokes looked faded and the leather rim was worn.

After seeing a new Personal steering wheel sell for over £100 on e-bay recently I decided to try a re-furb. I first tackled the easy bits by re-spraying the metal spokes with some satin black spray paint and then the crash pad with some Halfords flexible vinyl paint. I then had to re-colour the leather rim. Although I had used a Woolies kit to re-spray the magnolia interior leather in my car I wanted to avoid having to buy a whole bottle of black dye just for the steering wheel and then having to use the spray gun to apply it. The Woolies stuff also needs careful application of a sealing paste after colouring - too much elbow grease and the newly applied colour rubs off which made me think that it might not be durable enough for a steering wheel rim.

I'd seen the adverts.for http://www.furnitureclinic.co.uk in the likes of Practical Classics magazine and decided to try their Leather Recolouring Balm. This is a paste which is applied with a cloth and comes in a jar for £12.99. It's sold to be used on three piece suites so is designed not to rub off onto clothes once it has been applied (unlike shoe polish) making me think it would be ideal for a steering wheel rim. I cleaned and prepared the rim by attacking the leather with one of those green nylon scouring sponges used for cleaning pans and dishes (or so my wife tells me...). This left the rim looking a proper mess but I was going for kill or cure. I then applied the balm with a clean cloth and was immediately surprized with the effect. I gave it several generous applications, allowing about half an hour between coats - it was around 22c outside at the time. I left it overnight and then buffed with a clean cloth to leave a nice uniform satin black sheen.

The finished steering wheel now looks great and after four weeks is showing no signs of the colour coming off the rim. I've never ended up with black hands after a drive. I have also successfully re-coloured the black instrument binnacle using the balm although I didn't feel the need to scour that first as it was initially in far better condition than the steering wheel. I reckon that if my car had a totally black interior rather than part magnolia I may well have been able to use it on the seats and door cards etc. rather than mucking about with spray guns and the Woolies liquid dye.

[Ozzy_UK]

Ummm £100? i got my brand new (in lotus packaging) personal steering wheel for less than £15 inc postage!

keep checking Ebay would be my advise!

Oz.

[Wingnut]

£15 I feel hard done by now. Mine cost £20

When did you see one for £100 Kev?

I have a decent but not perfect wheel spare which I think would be an ideal candidate for this refurb if anyone is interested.

[Redlotus]

Looks like there is one on ebay now currently at £16.00. I paid nearly that for the pad!

[KevW]

What an amazing variation in price ! Just goes to show you shouldn't get carried away with e-bay auctions. Last month the new wheel I saw went for £112 + p&p.

[amarshall]

I'm not going to mention the bargain I got at Donington again - suffice to say that rummaging in boxes of bits always pays off (as does selling your old bits on e-bay and other places).

Two tubs of goo ordered - one black, one navy. I think that mixing them should produce about the right colour for Raven leather (not a pure black).

[KevW]

Angus I think I do dimly recall you mentioning your bargain wheel once or twice

I'll look foward to seeing the results of your Raven Black experiment at Raby Castle.