NoSlo
SHO Owner
Before tossing a G2 steering wheel in the dumpster, I thought I would strip the leather off, scrape off all the adhesive and glue, shave it down to rawhide, iron it to shrink the stretched areas, and make some scans so you can peel off the old one and make a new cover.
half still with the impressions from wrapping around the spokes, half cleaned and flattened:
When I put it in my 8.5 x 14 flatbed scanner:
When I make a template based on this:
PDF file so you can print at correct size: sho-steering-wheel-template.pdf (739k) - be sure to print at 100%, not "shrink-to-fit".
The wheel has a core of foamy plastic, but between the leather and the wheel is another layer of 1mm rubber. Either you need to carefully preserve this while peeling, or remove it all, or spots might show through. The whole leather cover is glued to the wheel, with especially tacky glue on the spokes - use special leather glue for these parts.
It is possible to use two or three shorter pieces of leather if you wanted to add seams to construct the large piece. You'd have to carve a slot in the wheel like the other seams have to avoid bulging.
For installing, there's tutorials of the "baseball stitch" online. Use thick polyester thread for upholstery.
(you can also just sand down the wheel leather and repaint (with SEM presidio gray) after disassembly for a temporary fix)
half still with the impressions from wrapping around the spokes, half cleaned and flattened:
When I put it in my 8.5 x 14 flatbed scanner:
When I make a template based on this:
PDF file so you can print at correct size: sho-steering-wheel-template.pdf (739k) - be sure to print at 100%, not "shrink-to-fit".
The wheel has a core of foamy plastic, but between the leather and the wheel is another layer of 1mm rubber. Either you need to carefully preserve this while peeling, or remove it all, or spots might show through. The whole leather cover is glued to the wheel, with especially tacky glue on the spokes - use special leather glue for these parts.
It is possible to use two or three shorter pieces of leather if you wanted to add seams to construct the large piece. You'd have to carve a slot in the wheel like the other seams have to avoid bulging.
For installing, there's tutorials of the "baseball stitch" online. Use thick polyester thread for upholstery.
(you can also just sand down the wheel leather and repaint (with SEM presidio gray) after disassembly for a temporary fix)
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