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-   -   Steering Wheel Recover - Part Deux! (Pix & A Bit Long) (http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/277995-steering-wheel-recover-part-deux-pix-bit-long.html)

bigchillcar 04-22-2006 08:29 AM

pre..would $75 be okay with you? it's been long enough since i did mine, and seeing as how i haven't stayed in a holiday inn express this week, it will probably take me closer to the 7 hour than the 4 hours i figured for the second time.. ;) believe it or not (as fate would have it), i'm between jobs as we speak.
ryan

Dan in Pasadena 04-23-2006 06:02 AM

Matt, Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, I thought about conditioning it with something like Lexol. In the end I decided not to because I was afraid of it getting too soft with the conditioner and pulling through the needle holes I was going to re-use. As it is I pulled through on only 2 or 3 places - lucky. Funny thing is it probably would have pulled through those places anyway. I put a fair to large amount of tension on the sinew, on those few places it pulled through immediately with little tension. In all the other holes it held like a champ.

Last, to anyone thinking of doing this project - use the artificial sinew I bought from Michael's - a big craft supply chain. It is so much better than conventional thread IMHO. Picture of the package:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1145800919.jpg

Pipo 05-15-2006 04:47 PM

I called a place called Autobahn Interiors of San Diego, very nice and polite people, but they want $350 plus shipping for restoring my 911 steering wheel. Dan, great job, your effort was worth it. The leather on my steering wheel is in good condition, just faded and with missing threads just like yours was. The biggest problem is that is dark blue just like the interior. I do not know where I can get a stain to redo the leather if I try to redo it myself.
Felipe

bigchillcar 05-15-2006 06:22 PM

felipe..if you keep looking, you can probably find a blue leather kit. i haven't looked for one, but they must be out there.

dan's gonna wanna re-do his wheel to make it perrrrrrfect... ;) :D
ryan

Dan in Pasadena 05-15-2006 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigchillcar
...dan's gonna wanna re-do his wheel to make it perrrrrrfect... ;) :D

ACTUALLY.............I think it is perfect already!....well, for a 30 year old part.:D

Felipe, If your leather is in as good of condition as you say, why not contact Leathrique.com and buy some dye from them. Then I would tell you to try to find the artificial sinew I used from a craft store in a matching blue, or barring that thread or a contrasting sinew color I used that so I think it is best, YMMV.

Post back with what you decide to do but now after having done this job I'd say $350 is just way too much. Not that the effort isn't worth that much - it DOES take a lot of time, but is a very DIY'able job, go for it! Good luck, Dan

bigchillcar 05-15-2006 06:53 PM

think there's a place in florida that does it for a hundred bucks cheaper..but i can't recall the name. try a google search.
ryan

Pipo 05-15-2006 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigchillcar
think there's a place in florida that does it for a hundred bucks cheaper..but i can't recall the name. try a google search.
ryan

If the place is Alan Gun, I found this thread and is not good. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=231126&perpage=20&highl ight=alan%20gun&pagenumber=1

I will try to find a kit or a dye or something, I do not want an aftermarket steering wheel, and paying $350 is not workable.
Thanks!

bigchillcar 05-15-2006 07:18 PM

i have a thread on here where i've offered to do the job for folks for $75. it takes many hours to do it right..and i think the kit is around $50, but i don't know if our host sells any other color than black. i'd have to hunt for my thread, but i do show the steps involved with pics taken throughout the process if you want to see what's involved. it took me 7 hours to do mine..others have spent days..
ryan

Pipo 05-15-2006 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigchillcar
i have a thread on here where i've offered to do the job for folks for $75. it takes many hours to do it right..and i think the kit is around $50, but i don't know if our host sells any other color than black. i'd have to hunt for my thread, but i do show the steps involved with pics taken throughout the process if you want to see what's involved. it took me 7 hours to do mine..others have spent days..
ryan

Is it this one?, good info. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=237194&perpage=20&highl ight=steering%20wheel&pagenumber=1

bigchillcar 05-15-2006 07:35 PM

pipo..yep..that would be the one. :)

Dan in Pasadena 05-16-2006 07:04 AM

Ryan,
You're a masochist!...$75??!!! Yikers man. It took me almost exactly 5 hours one night watching a baseball game - 7pm to midnight exactly and my back was killing me from being hunched over it. And I wasn't starting from a totally new kit. I was restitching my wheel which still had stitching at the spoke ends.

Felipe, I am certain Leatherique can get you the right dye color. The only problems may be they don't sell real small quantities - assuming you only need to do the wheel. Also, the "sinew" I used, though great, probably doesn't come in blue. But Ryan and others have had good luck with thread and you ought to be able to find that in blue....though it'll probably take some research to find it in a heavy guage.

bigchillcar 05-16-2006 07:14 AM

heheheh..thank you sir, may i have another.. :D

yeah, felipe..any fabric store ought to be able to hook you up with strong colored thread. let the ladies (only women work in fabric stores..even gay men avoid them) know what the application is..
ryan

Steveinatlanta 05-16-2006 09:12 AM

I have been tempted to try this job too... can't because of the "Fuchs refinishing debacle" in my garage.

But, the only thing that is wrong with my steering wheel is the leather on the top is rough. Not torn, not in bad shape, just rough. The stitching is in very good shape.

Will re dieying the leather take the roughness out? Is there anything else that will smooth it out and make it new looking?

Dan in Pasadena 05-16-2006 09:31 AM

Steve, I'm no exeprt, but I think once it is rough you are through the "skin" of the tanned leather and into the "suede" for lack of a better term. If you dyed it, it would look better because it would be one color...but it would look bad again fairly soon.

I'd suggest you contact Leatherique and ask them if they have a product that might help you. Otherwise? I think you're a customer for a recover kit.

jjone20 05-16-2006 10:19 AM

Having done it in 7 hours (Ah, yes, Quasimodo...), I think $75 is very reasonable.

nhromyak 05-16-2006 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Steveinatlanta

But, the only thing that is wrong with my steering wheel is the leather on the top is rough. Not torn, not in bad shape, just rough. The stitching is in very good shape.

Will re dieying the leather take the roughness out? Is there anything else that will smooth it out and make it new looking?

Leatherique's dye and/or crack filler will fix "rough" spots. I am little disappointed in their dye, as the dye tends to make a brand new piece of leather feel more like plastic or vinyl.

I have the four spoke. I bought the respoke kit from Allen-Gunn Leather (AGL?). I got it in brown. It is MUCH darker than my brown (on cashmere). I got Leatherique's redye kit / custom. I had them match my brown. The match was excellent.

So far, I have had taken 9 hours to do this four spoke. I think I have one more hour to go.

I tried to follow the factory stitching from what I could tell from the old leather. It looks like the factory stitching would NOT cross the back side of the leather. Hence a "simple" cross-stitch is not factory. In other words - on the seem where you see the "x" (cross-stitch) behind this (toward the rubbery part of the steering wheel is a parrallel stitch running ALONG the seem. I was able to duplicate MOST of my stitches this way. Using this stitching, I found I got very few "bumps" between the "x"s.

Good luck.

Pipo 05-16-2006 03:47 PM

Well, here is the plan; I call letherique today, $45 for 8 ounces of dye which should be enough. I just have to come up with a sample of the color. I will look under the seat to see if I can cut a piece of leather to send as a sample. I do not think it won’t be hard to find the string.

Dan in Pasadena 05-17-2006 08:11 AM

Felipe,
If you have a "Michael's" craft store (I don't know if they're a nationwide chain or not) or if you have a LARGE craft type place, check them out for the "artificial sinew" I used and posted in a picture earlier in this thread. You won't be disappointed. It is MUCH stronger than any "string" you're going to find, plus it has a sort of waxiness to the feel which keeps it from slipping as you move from one stitch to the next. I highly recommend it for anyone taking on this project. Felipe, yours being blue complicates this but for most the black sinew works great. Please post the Before, During and After pix.

Pipo 05-17-2006 03:06 PM

Does anybody know if a 944 steering wheel will fit a 911? I have seen a couple on e-bay listed for 944s. My dash board is black, so a black steering wheel would work too. Also I notice the 944s wheels listed on e-bay have the PORSCHE name engrave on the leather, mine does not. Dan, I already printed the picture and the info you posted and I am going to Michaels with it. Thanks

Felipe

Dan in Pasadena 05-17-2006 03:12 PM

Felipe, You're welcome. And also, here's picture of a 930S wheel in my old 944 (Please ignore the red piping on the floor mats, a momentary loss of blood to my brain while I was ordering them!:rolleyes: )

So, obviously if a 911 wheel fits in a 944, a 944 wheel should fit in a 911. I think you have to buy a different hub adapter.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1147907570.jpg


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