Comments on: Worn Leather Steering Wheel | How to Repair Leather Steering Wheel

By: Mike-TIG

Mike-TIG — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 02:37:07 +0000

Mark,
As far as dyes for this repair I recommend you check out Viper Products for a water based dye or if your looking for an aerosol like what I’ve got in the article, you might also check this place out, TCPGlobal ,they have a great selection on all kinds of restoration paints and products. You may have to do a bit of searching but they have interior paints by SEM. You will also find the clear coat there too, a satin or low gloss would be probably the best for this.
The flakes you see can be wet sanded off and probably smooth out enough that super glue won’t need to be used. Try sanding it as smooth as possible first then use your super glue as a last resort.
Let me know how things go or if you need anything else…

Talk to ya soon,
Mike Warren – The Interior Guy

By: Mark R

Mark R — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:52:01 +0000

Mike,

I have a 1998 Mercedes E320 beige interior. I did not see any dyes for this interior steering wheel. Any sites you can recommend? Also My steering wheel is wearing by coming off in very small falkes. Would the super glue material be the best for this type of wear. Last, the clear coat that you use for the last step, is that the ones I see in a aerosol form? Thank you for your help.

By: Mike-TIG

Mike-TIG — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:23:07 +0000

Peter,
I couldn’t really find a “supplier” for SEM in Australia, but I did find a company that sells Leatherique leather products in Australia, = http://www.ppc.au.com/contact.htm = . They use a little different process then what I talked about in my article but they do have a great product and should do you very well with what ever your trying to accomplish. Let me know if this works out for you.

Talk to ya soon,
Mike – The Interior Guy

By: Aussie Pete

Aussie Pete — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:50:45 +0000

Mike

Im in australia and am having trouble locating dyes etc to do this process

do you know of any companys that will ship to australia or somewhere here I can get SEM leather procuct from

Peter

By: Mike-TIG

Mike-TIG — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:07:56 +0000

Gareth,
Great to hear from you…As far as removing the shine from the steering wheel this should be a pretty easy task. The build up of oils from your hands has been the culprit and what needs to be done is to remove those oils without removing the oils from the leather. What I would start with is a pan of warm water with a squirt of Dawn dish soap, a Scotch Brite Pad and a clean Micro Fiber Towel. Take this solution and scrub the wheel paying attention not to scrub too hard but hard enough to break though the grime. Wipe with the micro fiber towel as you go, and one other thing you might want to do is lay a towel in the seat before you start, this will catch the drippings from the wheel.
Once done your wheel should be dulled out along with nice and clean enough to add a little conditioner to replenish some of the tannery oils lost from the cleaning process. My recommendation for a conditioner is Lexol, this will replenish the oils without leaving it shinny or greasy feeling.
Well Gareth I hope this works for you, if not let me know and we’ll get a little more aggressive with the process. Try this first though and let me know how things turn out

Talk to ya soon,
Mike “TIG”

By: Gareth Howell

Gareth Howell — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:53:11 +0000

I have a BMW M3 with a very highly polished leather steering wheel. I would like to try to get the leather back to the as new look without the shine. There is nothing wrong with the leather so is there some treatment I can use to remove the gloss shine?.

Thanks

By: Mike-TIG

Mike-TIG — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:12:38 +0000

As far a shoe polish…well if you want your hands to be tan as well then I would steer clear of using the shoe polish. The acid’s in your hands is what has removed the dye to begin with and will do the same thing with the shoe polish almost immediately. The leather has to be sealed with a leather dye to be able to repair it properly.
The color your getting when you scratch the wheel with your finger nail is raw leather…the black is dirt and oils that have penetrated the top layer of leather…to remove the black color you can take some acetone on a rag and get rid of it pretty easily, then the repairs can be done.
You can get the dye online and have it shipped right to you, living abroad is no problem. There are company’s abroad as well with dyes as comparable to the dyes that I use. I’m sure also that Viper Product’s would have no problem shipping to you.
Let me know if you need some info on where to get the dyes if you have problems with the links I provided in the post…

Talk to ya,
Mike “TIG”

By: Kjetil

Kjetil — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:59:53 +0000

Hi,
I wonder if this would work on a typical Jeep (2001 grand cherokee limited) steering wheel with tan interior too? I mean, I would have to match the colour much more accuratly and all… I wonder if brown shoe polish would do the job aswell.

My steering wheel is light brown/tan, but black on the most worn surfaces. I have noticed that if I scrape my nail on the black surfaces, it becomes slightly b rown again. So I’m thinking the sandig process might work to get to some “clean” leather. But since I live abroad, I dont have access to these dyes you mention, and also, I would needed brown anyways. Which is hard to match.

So what do you think, would light sanding, then brown shoe polish maybe work?

By: William

William — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:46:57 +0000

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the info. I am looking for this kind of info as my steering wheel is in bad condition. I’ll try this at home and will give you feedback. Using the super glue seems neat.

=============================
Wheelywheel

By: Vincent

Vincent — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:13:29 +0000

Mike,
I used the products and technique you described.
This was a fantastic solution. We’re all amazed at how well the wheel restored. The gel glue worked perfectly as did all the other products. I’d like to give you the thanks and credit you deserve.
Amazing.

Vincent