club.liberty.asn.au

Hey guys,

Wondering if anyone has seen any options to improve the grip on a Pre-FL steering wheel.
Love the feel of the STI wheels, and even the Post-FL steering wheels have been improved.
I'm not going to spend $$$ on a DAMD steering wheel (although i'd love too).

My previous car was a Falcon Xr6, and i bought a grip from a Motorsport Company (specialising in fords) which was surprisingly good. It made it chunkier, but also didn't look terrible.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

*And yes i know they might be tacky, unprofessional and a bit ricey, but at the end of the day, if it's more comfortable and nicer than the stock wheel, i'll be happy.

You can shave the foam on the rims outer edge for slightly smaller diameter, reprofile the circumference and then re-cover in thin high density foam.

Get some sort of release agent on the reprofiled, refoamed rim, cover it with layers of masking tape or similar.

Then cut the tape off on the same lines as the original leather cover, flatten it out, and there is your template for the new leather, suede or alcantara cover that you will be hand stitching back onto the wheel.

Source the right color fat waxed thread and the right sort of needle (probably curved) from an auto retrimmer.
The sewn edges of the leather will need to have the stitch holes pre spiked using a dedicated hand tool that looks like a boot spur.
You will need to go to a boot repairer etc. to get the 2 pieces of the cover sewn together depending on your cut (or DIY).
Go a little smaller cos the cover will be stretched on somewhat.

Then work out how to do the right stitch and spend some time finishing it off!
That's what I'm going to do with my spare post FL wheel (eventually).

There's a how to on one of the forester sites iirc...

Or do this: http://tinyurl.com/d36xvgk

thanks for the detailed response.
Its interesting, although i'm not a capable sewer. I might contact the upholstery shop around the corner from my work and see if they've ever done something similar before.

Thats pretty much what they would do if you can imagine the man hours lol.

My buddy is a cobbler - has all the equipment and leather supplies, and I have a spare steering wheel.
The only thing is finding the right foam to reprofile the rim, but he probably has that too.
He's using all eco glues etc. which is a bonus.

I'm going to do this once I have a few other projects in the can.

bigBADbenny wrote:Thats pretty much what they would do if you can imagine the man hours lol.

My buddy is a cobbler - has all the equipment and leather supplies, and I have a spare steering wheel.
The only thing is finding the right foam to reprofile the rim, but he probably has that too.
He's using all eco glues etc. which is a bonus.

I'm going to do this once I have a few other projects in the can.

I'll let you do it first
As lame as it looks i'll try and find a good (subtle) cover till theres a good solution.

Can you guess how much time it would take for an upholsterer to do something like you're suggesting?

http://www.planetsoarer.com/leather/

Does all sorts of wheels though, not just soarer. Mate had his Evo VI Wheel redone too. Maybe send him an email?

An expert will do it betterer and quickerer
There's a s/h preface wheel going in the FS for sending in too

The DAMD one is ideal I think. Too bad it's so damned expensive.

As a temporary fix, you might be able to get away with one of these (Redline Goods steering wheel cover specific to our car)

My steering wheel has seen better days and I wouldn't mind something a little thicker. I'm considering doing the above mod

SH30RB wrote:As a temporary fix, you might be able to get away with one of these (Redline Goods steering wheel cover specific to our car)

My steering wheel has seen better days and I wouldn't mind something a little thicker. I'm considering doing the above mod

Thats not bad!
I admit, i think the only way to have a PERFECT steering wheel is to upgrade to a DAMD or K2 gear wheel, but something like that would be good!
Although i'd want to see someone else's first before committing. Installation doesn't look too hard either..