Who has put leather wrap on their steering wheels ? I talked to a guy at a local trim shop and he said it was to labor intesive for him to mess with it. I'm thinking about covering the wheel in my T-bird myself and I was thinking about baseball s***ch, anyone done this, Do you shrink the leather after you have it sewn on to tighten it up(wet the leather), or just stretch it tight when sewing it up?? my wheel is 17" diameter. 54" cir***frence. Where do I get the leather? how thick? Nylon thread? Does anyone make a kit for this? would this be the right s***ch to use? The baseball s***ch is a decorative s***ch to join two a****ed edges. Insert the needle between the edges, bring it out 1/8" from one edge, insert between the edges again, and bring it out in the other edge. Work closely together for a secure seam. Richard
oh yeah, one more question, will the leather pull tight over the finger ridges on the back of the wheel or would those need to be ground off ?
Stude - Go to: info@wheelskins.com. They have all sorts of kits - in all sorts of colors - for about $30. I've had one on my "daily" for a couple years and am plenty happy with it. You order a diameter to match your wheel and installation (lacing) takes about 30 minutes, at most. No problem with "lumps" on the back of the wheel, these things pull down nice and tight.
Thats the right s***ch. You want the leather a little short, so you can stretch it. I use wax thread for all my leather projects.
Wheelskins aren't that slick looking IMHO. There is a place in Florida called Agla, (aglausa.com) they do a kick*** job recovering wheels, if you want it to be perfect, that's where I'd go.
Thanks for the responses, The AGLA looks like a great place to have it professionally done but I was thinking more about doing it myself. I checked out the wheelskins site and it looked ok ,but I think i'm going to try to make my own, I like the idea of a tighter looking s***ch than they have prepunched. Thanks for the tip about the waxed thread Dustin, this may my next weekend project.
This is a little more old school (like 1920's). I did this using 2mm leather cord (the sort you use for necklaces etc). It is whipped on like you would for a tennis racket or a bowie knife. The steel wheel rim was powdercoated black and the s/s spokes were polished first.
That wrap-around cord does give it a really good look, wouldn't mind trying that out one day myself. Just need to get hold of a steering wheel first.
I went on a tour at http://johnsoncontrols.com/ in Michigan a few years ago and got a demonstration by the woman who does the prototype patterns for most all the car companies wheels. She makes a first design cut, guessed at with the help of years of experience, makes a pattern off it and then fits it on the wheel. Then she marks it where each s***ch hole needs to be and takes it off and marks the pattern in the same places. Then she punches each hole for the s***ching. It's not just fold it on and whip out a needle and go at it. Each s***ch is aligned and repeatable per the pattern. Then she s***ches it on and checks the fit for puckers, too much or too little material in areas, especially around the spokes, and makes changes on a new and improved pattern copy, then she cuts out a new leather cover from that pattern and goes through it again until it's a perfect fit and the pattern can be duplicated and used for production items. She will sometimes move a s***ch hole half the diameter of the hole punch just to correct a pucker around a spoke. It was an amazing demonstration. She's a pro and never gets the first one to look "perfect" to her, so you should figure on doing it at least twice and buy enough of the leather to s**** one as a "learner". I think Tandy Leather is in Texas? or you could maybe get enough off a wrecked newer car seat to at least make the trial run item. as far as fit, you want to stretch it on somewhat but not enough th stress it into ripping as it dries out in the elements. Leather is usually sorta like T shirt jersey, it's stretchier in one direction than the other, so you need to pull on the piece you are considering to get the length from the stretchy direction. Get enough leather to do the whole interior and dash maybe?
"I checked out the wheelskins site and it looked ok" Stude- You're right about the Wheelskins covers. They're OK, but certainly not as nice as something you might do yourself. Definately the easy way out, and designed to work on several different wheels - but not for any specific one. The wheel on my "daily" was pretty worn and the top was roached-out from lots of exposure to the sun, so the Wheelskins thing was a good, cheap fix. The width of the piece isn't quite right though - a bit too wide - so it "bunches" just a bit at the seam. Not bad enough to be a real bother, but somewhat less than perfect, for sure. Probably not satisfactory for a high-buck or handbuilt ride. I sure like Blackjack's "wrapping" idea. That really has a traditional look. FWIW - If anyone wants to do that sort of thing, another source for the "wrap" might be a pool cue repair place. They have a big selection of cord - in tons of colors - that is purpose-made to be handled.
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