Thread: Fitting a new Steering-wheel Cover to a D1

(Earlier this morning, I "lost" about two hours effort in putting together a fairly detailed commentary re: below, including hyperlinks to photos etc. When this gets finished it'll unfortunately be the abridged version as there's a football final on shortly - Go Swannies!.)





The Tiller on Casey was looking a bit tardy so, as it's the missus daily-drive, I sought advice from hereabouts on acquiring and fitting a new Leather Steering-wheel Cover.

The current 'wheel is the vehicles second ...having previously been replaced 6 odd years ago with a second-hand one via ATV at Strathfield (hat-tip Frank ;-)

The first one had also deteriorated due to Sun-damage, Sweat, Dirty-hands and whatnot, so on that basis I can well imagine most D1 owners will be doing (...or have done) something similar.



The"recommended" SW Cover was a "Wheelskins" product ...so an order was placed with them (in The USA) - $70 odd including freight.

I then [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eErvuUeD7k"]watched this Video [/ame]in preparation for the job however, my daily-drive ..."Libbie" employs a different "factory" method of threading / whipping to that suggested both in the Vid and, as it turned out, via the accompanying details in the product "box".

An email toWheelskins confirmed the alternate threading method was referred to as a "Baseball-whip" ...and that I'd need an extra roll of twine.

They (graciously) offered to mail me one - "gratis" ...and it duly arrived the day after the cover.



So, ...one (coolish) morning this week, I set about re-covering Casey's Steering-wheel.

Some tricks / traps that will assist the budding wheel-cover fitter: -

If intending to employ this method, make sure you order an EXTRA ball of twine / needle ...as there's not enough in the basic kit.

Unroll and stretch the twine before starting (as per the video) ...and frequently during the fitting process.

With this method, the weave has a greater tendency to "loosen" as you go. I used (firstly) a set of Vice-grip Pliers (plus suitable "protection") ...and eventually reverted to 8 inch Cable-ties.

It proved easier to"finish-off / restart" the whipping via a double-loop and knotting at each spoke to prevent the twine unravelling.

Given that the external circumference of the wheel is larger than that where the stitching takes place the stitching is going to scrunch-up ...and the front-side slightly moreso than the back - consequently, I found the need to use a standard needle (twice) to "create" extra holes when the stiching got too far out of alignment.

In the cool of the morning and even later as the job progressed, I found it necessary to warm up the Leather (with a hair-drier or similar) to make it malleable and bring the seams together neatly.



These photos identify most of the issues encountered and IMHO the end-result was well worth the extra effort.

That looks like pretty thick heavy leather with a smooth finish yes? I did similar on my D2, but only cost $26- for a very comfortable soft leather cover with 10m of polyester thread. I've played for a while with a few different methods of stitching as I couldn't get it to not bunch at one side of the top span. Working from the centre bottom and then up both sides you end up having to work across the top, and any excess ends up on the finishing side. I've been driving around for 6+ months with a sail needle sticking out of the side until I can work it out. It seems that the D2 is a slightly smaller wheel (about .5" diameter) so the cover I got is a bit large.

Have a look on you tube for Mr Steering Wheels, he has some good vids and there's a few others have some good tutorials with options of stitches. Also get some Poly thread or even some braided line. It's much more durable than twine. Try some different stitches and you should get a better result.