HotWhipT/A

iTrader: (31)

I gotta say, this was an extremely challenging undertaking. It was honestly one of the hardest things I've done to date on my car. Fortunately I am very skilled and after much thinking, patients and just slowly getting at it, I was able to get it done. Taking the wheel off and disabling the air bag was much easier than I thought. Also, you have to know how to set up the needle and thread as well as start and finish your stitching, but I already knew all that. I was originally going to go with a baseball stitch, but that was going to be a nightmare so instead I studied their 3 YouTube videos along with their stitching pattern. It looks great with the darker color thread. I wasn't too fond of it with high contrasting thread of pictures I had seen. I had to put the thing down for a few days because I had doubts I could do it. I thought for the life of me they sent the smaller wrap to be used without the padding. It was the tight curves of the wheel I thought was impossible to do. Just pinching it with my fingers, it looked like I didn't have nearly enough material like I was a centimeter short or something. Well after just buckling down and trying it with the thread, to my surprise tucked in almost perfectly. Don't get me wrong, it was still very tough, but I made it work. I probably spent a good 8 hours on the whole project over a period of 2 weeks. If I had to do it again, I would be much quicker, but I'd charge more than the cost of the wrap to do it for someone!


The thicker wheel feels amazing and it being a nice soft leather, it feels like some of the high end exotic cars I occasionally get to work on and drive. I love it!

HDR vs non HDR shots










How it was done before....Gloss black controls and the black vinyl paint was way too glossy. Wheel and airbag were originally dark grey.









With the OEM leather taken off

BOBS99SS

iTrader: (2)

I think it looks good,i cant ever put a button back on a shirt lol so i will pass on this mod lol

Brennen's01SS

iTrader: (1)

Man that really looks good, definitly classes the interior up. I've been debating on pulling the trigger. Maybe I'll send redline my wheel

ramairetransam

iTrader: (18)

wow that looks great , that may have to be something i get done as i have no sticking skills or idea.

LOHRTBT

iTrader: (12)

Looks really nice man!

Super-Bat

iTrader: (38)

I'm conflicted. It looks nice for sure. I kinda wish it were black material. It looks too light of a grey.

Definitely props for doing it yourself. I'd never have the patience to knock it out.

Btw- what'd you paint your headlight/hvac ***** with?

HotWhipT/A

iTrader: (31)

This is their black. It looks great, but not as dark as I would like. Since my car is a 99' and had the dark grey interior, the wheel and airbag was done with a vinyl dye, along with the ***** too. I want to see about trying to redo the dyed parts with a more matte finish dye. It's too glossy for my taste and it looks cheap in comparison to my new wrap.

The Alchemist

iTrader: (19)

Looks great. Good to hear that you were able to do it with just some time and effort.

trans damm

iTrader: (5)

Looks great. I didn't know the factory stitching comes off. I'm going to be doing the real alacantra wheel soon on my 30th.

The Alchemist

iTrader: (19)

I'm leaning that way as well as I have an alcantara shifter.

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

So you have to stitch the steering wheel all the way around?

Raleigh TA

iTrader: (13)

I completed mine a few months ago. I had a spare steering wheel so I really took my time. Honestly, I wish I had a professional do my installation, it was very time consuming, and I was worried the whole time that it would come out looking like ****...and it really doesn't pass my close inspection. I looked into sending my wheel to Poland and getting it shipped back and decided to save the $120, not sure that was a good choice. Maybe a local upholstry shop would install for less, but honestly, they would be undercharging based on time. I know I had at least 12 hours in. I love the feel of the wheel, but I wish I had been able to do a better installation job.

The Alchemist

iTrader: (19)

I have a feeling that it's one of those things that it takes you 5-10 times of doing it to get it perfect, and each time you do it, it takes less and less time. I'm sure a 'pro' could do it in an hour or so.

Raleigh TA

iTrader: (13)

Perhaps, if you have really strong hands. You have to squeeze the leather pretty hard and consistently to get it to compress the padding enough to close the gap, then thread it, and hold that from pulling apart, all without putting excessive pressure on the stitches to avoid tearing it. My hands cramped-up several times. I'd just work about an hour at a time and set it aside. Tough part was working the larger segments before the glue started setting-up. This project really isn't just for anybody.

beyonddisturbed

iTrader: (5)

phew. i think i would send mine in or have it done at a shop. but that is really well done sir. I dig it

HotWhipT/A

iTrader: (31)

I'm sure you are right as far as getting better with practice, but they said a pro could do it in about 2-3 hours tops.

Luckily I work with my hands all day and they are big and strong. I can vouch that you do need that and everything you said is true. I was really surprised the threads didn't rip on me because I was pulling pretty good. Not only all that was a problem, but the glue I used is extremely fast acting so that was a challenge by it self. 3/4 of the leather around the wheel is glued. The other little bit closest to the stitching is not so I had to have it glued right or else the stitching wouldn't be centered properly. I found out you could stitch about an inch worth and pull it tight, maintain some pressure while threading some more and keep at it. After you have at least 2 inches done, the first little bit would hold tight with out any pressure. So the first and last inch of threading was the hardest. Their was 4 separate sections to be stitched on this wheel. The 3 small sections were more difficult due to size. The big top section was just as hard only for the fact that my thread was insanely long because I thought it had to be done in one shot. So I was pulling tight a really long thread. Well that didn't work since I got a little over half way and knew I wasn't going to make it. I had to tie it off and restart a new thread. That was something new for me to figure out. Turned out fine after all.


Thank you. I was thinking the same thing as I was right in the middle of it. Paying someone to do it started to look like a bargain. If you're not really versatile and multi-talented, you may want to pay them to do it. I'm confident I can do it again though. Do I want to? Not really. If I had the money would I pay someone a second time around? Yes

Yes

RedlineGoods.com

iTrader: (3)

And here's my opinion guys:

First of all, thank you, HotWhipT/A, for th spictures and the description. Yes, to some extent you are right, rewrapping steering wheel with padding isn't a project for anybody. It requires lots of patience, precision, anticipating what will have to be done next and some force as well.

But we are all car enthusiatsts, aren't we? ;-) And we anjoy working on our rides ourselves, dont'we?

Ok, now seriously - we have been searching fo authoruised installers os our goods on US treeritory. We are now talking with a few of them and as soon as we have the cooperation conditions agreed, we'll surely announse it here :-)

Or, if you know any upholstery shop or maybe have some friends working in leather, please let us know - maybe they would be interested in working on our customers' steering wheels and making some money on it :-)

And finally - let me take this opportunity to offer you a GroupBuy on Firebird steering wheels - if we can get at least 10 people interested in ordering our custom steering wheel covers, I'll give you 25% discount :-)

What do you think?

Take care
Jack
RedlineGoods Team

trans damm

iTrader: (5)

I'm in for the group buy. I'm considering sending it to you to install though.

RedlineGoods.com

iTrader: (3)

We have one Fbird steering wheel laying around here so in case anyone was interested in having the wheel recovered by us, you can save on time and shipping :-)

The wheel is grey in color and we paid $60 fot it. Anybody interested? Let me know :-)

Take care
Jack
RedlineGoods Team

J LT1 TA

iTrader: (6)

OP, wheel looks awesome. Nice job.


Redline, I believe I read that you guys will do it for a fee. How do you go about sending the wheel to you. I already bought and recieved the wheel wrap. I was nervous about doing it when watching the videos and would rather have a professional do it.