104 replies to this topic

[gaffer1986]

This is the first time I've done this, but I thought I'd share me efforts in case you want to do the same. I would say this requires a lot of patience.

 

What's needed:

 

Philips screw driver

Over or heat gun

Metal prying tool to remove old leather

Stitch picker

Gorilla glue

Sand paper - and needle files will help

Quality tailor scissors

Stanley knife

Dremel type tool with sander wheel

Aliphatic Resin

Awl

Blunt needle with 0.6 - 0.8mm thick thread in your desired colour

Patience

 

 

Take the plastic cowl thing off the back

 

20160614_175614 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

Remove stitches with a stitch picker

 

20160606_163406 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

Put the steering wheel in the oven at 70 degrees Celsius several times until all the leather has been removed

 

20160614_164419 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

But the way, I've never cleaned this oven 

 

 

Prise the leather off the steering wheel with a prying tool

 

20160606_164420 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

20160606_165018 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

20160606_165600 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

20160614_115601 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

Until all leather is removed

 

20160614_175710 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

Edited by gaffer1986, 15 July 2016 - 09:22 PM.

[gaffer1986]

After doing this you are likely to have damaged the foam, if you haven't, well done this saves you a job.

 

As you can see the damage that needs repairing

 

20160614_175651 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

20160614_175642 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

20160614_175632 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

To fix this you need the gorilla glue and a bit of water. The gorilla glue is easily applied with a toothpick and a small quirt of water will activate it. Fill in all the holes.

 

20160614_213753 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

20160614_213828 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

20160614_213717 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

20160614_214209 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

 

[gaffer1986]

Fill in all the wholes and sand the wheel to a smooth finish. Using a round and square needle file can help smooth out the finish.

 

Here was mine after being filled and smoothed

 

20160712_151609 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

 

['Buchos']

Always wondered how to do this.....carry on

[Wolfstone]

I think it looked better with the leather on.

[gaffer1986]

Separate all the leather pieces and leave under weight to flatten them out

 

20160713_205811 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

Put them on your material ready for cutting

 

20160703_150336 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

Draw around the leather, check twice that it's correct, then Stanley knife around the leather to act as a guide for your scissors then cut

 

20160713_211924 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

Then use a dremel like tool with a sanding wheel to skive (thin) the leather to match the original leather removed from the wheel, this is just around the edges of the leather for the back of the wheel where the leather overlaps to prevent a ridge.

 

20160714_213959 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

20160715_150843 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

20160715_150901 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

Edited by gaffer1986, 15 July 2016 - 09:25 PM.

[gaffer1986]

This is the part that needs skiving so the leather can overlap

 

20160606_165600 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

[fiveoclock]

If you get that Gorilla glue on the carpet your life wont be worth living

[gaffer1986]

If you get that Gorilla glue on the carpet your life wont be worth living

 

haha, I live alone so no one else to moan  Just used the dog training mats, spot the pug:

 

2016-07-15_10-30-06 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

[gaffer1986]

Now for the really tricky time consuming bit, use [color=rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;]Aliphatic Resin (aka yellow glue which is very similar to PVA) to glue the section to the steering wheel. Try glue a small bit at a time as this makes it much easier and avoids wrinkles.[/color]

 

20160715_210947 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

Skived part

 

20160715_211001 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

Old against new

 

2016-07-15_09-40-20 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

 

 

As you can see I cut the leather slightly long at the top and bottom, that way I can cut it later with a Stanley knife and fold it into the groves.

 

Bed time now, next will be the final part, stitching.

[CocoPops]

Fab thread! Really good how to. Not sure many would DIY it though? I'd probably glue my fingers together

[gaffer1986]

Fab thread! Really good how to. Not sure many would DIY it though? I'd probably glue my fingers together

 

haha, it's similar glue to the stuff you probably used at school so not like the Ever Build Mitre Fast I used last week on a bit of furniture and glued my thumb to a tissue when I went to wipe it off. Had a white tissue thumb for the rest of the day, I wonder what people thought I'd been up to 

 

Baby wipe is all you need with this stuff.

Edited by gaffer1986, 15 July 2016 - 09:48 PM.

[Nev]

 

haha, I live alone so no one else to moan 

 

 

I think that was fairly clear by the amount of spare time you have to do this seemingly needless and time consuming task. Was there a reason other than a bit of usage signs?

 

Interested to know how many hours you spend on this.  

Edited by Nev, 16 July 2016 - 12:06 AM.

[gaffer1986]

Ouch, I'm actually a very busy person, sometimes I leave my house at 07:30 and don't get home until 21:30. I don't watch TV so I've been doing it bit by bit for the last 6 weeks in the evenings before bed, I keep going days or weeks without doing any of it. But just so happens I've had a bit of time this week because me and my girlfriend are having a rough time and I enjoy a project so I've got on with it to keep my mind off things. I wouldn't say it's needless as I've always hated shiny worn steering wheels, one of the things I love about new cars is that the interior is so fresh so I would like to see if it's possible to breath some new car into this old car.

[Nev]

Okies, how long do you think it will take, looks like the trickiest bit will be getting new material to stretch and fit nicely to me.

 

If it goes wrong, you could always buy a second hand steering wheel for a few quid, I am sure there are loads about from crashed cars.

 

Edited by Nev, 16 July 2016 - 06:57 AM.

['Buchos']

Learning lots here, even a new word.... skive.... or at least the origin of that word.

[Frosty34]

That is one very good tutorial 

 

I get what your saying about the feel and look of a new steering wheel 

 

wish i had the patiants to do it!! I covered my door cards and nearly ended up throwing them through the window...... 

[gaffer1986]

Learning lots here, even a new word.... skive.... or at least the origin of that word.

That is one very good tutorial    I get what your saying about the feel and look of a new steering wheel    wish i had the patiants to do it!! I covered my door cards and nearly ended up throwing them through the window...... 

Thanks, I'll keep you updated. I'm a bit unusual because I quite like doing tricky fiddly things, it helps me relax.

[gaffer1986]

Okies, how long do you think it will take, looks like the trickiest bit will be getting new material to stretch and fit nicely to me.   If it goes wrong, you could always buy a second hand steering wheel for a few quid, I am sure there are loads about from crashed cars.  

Yeah, I'm not sure what the end result will look like, however I like what I've done so far, probably taken me 6 hours on total but it's hard to tally it up. I think once I've done it I could probably do the whole thing in two lots of 4 hours. Im ahead of you there, this is not my steering wheel, it's once I bought off myles a couple of months ago for £50.

[gaffer1986]

This is the glue I'm using, when gluing make sure the leather is in the right place, once you've glued it you can't re-glue very well because the leather will already be plasticised. Coat the glue using an artist brush or something similar to both the steering wheel and the leather to soften the fibers allowing them to mold into one another.

 

20160716_121009 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

20160716_120025 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

 

 

A toothpick is a good way of getting glue into tight areas

 

20160716_120743 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

The awl can be used to press the leather in the gap allow the glue to set

 

20160716_120812 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr