The one thing I really like about this forum is the help I have received from the articles on how to do stuff. It's what makes these cars fun and affordable for me. My steering wheel in my daily driver has been looking pretty poorly lately. Well not really lately. It's been looking poorly for quite awhile. I tried to find articles on recovering one. If you send it away to be recovered it can be rather pricey. I was seeing prices in the $250.00 price range. Now since Fiero seems to be a synonym for thrifty, I decided to see how hard it was for someone with little experience, little time and little money to recover one. Also since I have a habit of not finishing projects, I'd wait until I finished to post anything. If not, it might be one of those dead-end threads ie smoooothegt body mods. With my typing skills being what they are, it may take me longer to post the write up than it did to do it. Anyway, here's what I did. This is what my current wheel looks like


Typical 20 year old steering wheel. Now I didn't want to go without my steering wheel for a couple of weeks so I remembered I had another old one in the shed.


It was a little on the rusty side, been in the shed for awhile.

First thing to do was to take it apart to see what it was made of. Had to drill out the rivets holding it together


Then I disassembled the center piece. Pretty rough looking



Next I had to skin it. Time to sharpen the leatherman.



Of course I found the dreaded steering wheel slime

Next I had to de-slime the wheel. This stuff worked well. Use in a well ventilated area!

A good wipedown got it pretty clean

Next I took a wirewheel to the metal center to remove the rust. Unfortunately the rust had removed a little metal from the wheel. Not a lot, but enough to see it wasn't going to look as smooth as it should. Off to the spray can box to see what I had. Ahah!! This will work.


Not to bad. beats sanding and polishing.

Next I wanted to smooth out the leather I had removed to make a pattern for the new cover.


I flattened it out and tried to press it as flat as possible to get a usable pattern. The slime helped it stick to the masking paper I was using. Plus I ironed it.

More?

This was my fix. $20.00 on ebay

$20.00 is good but I told you, I,m thrifty. This recover was done with stuff I had laying around the house. The only thing I bought was the thread I used. $2.00 at Joann fabrics. Everything else was leftover from some other project. Sometimes it pays to be a packrat. After covering with the padding, I got out my covering material. A few years ago, at scout camp, my son made a leather poncho in some kind of crafting class. He said years ago to throw it away, I said I,ll find a use for that some day. Well today is someday!! The color is not an exact match but it's just going to be in my daily driver. Close enough for me.

Plenty for what I needed. I cut two strips the size I thought I would need.


Then I glued and folded over the one edge of the larger piece. This would be the edge near the center of the wheel. About a 1/4" or so.

Then I sewed the two pieces together. Should have used a darker thread but I was being lazy.


This is what it looks like draped over the wheel

Then, starting at a random corner, I started sewing.



I didn't glue the leather to the felt at this point. I'm hoping it's stretched tight enough to keep it from twisting. My first stitches were a little close. It's been awhile since I baseball stitched anything. 20 years or so. Took a while to get the rhythm and spacing where I liked it. Fortunately, most of it's behind the wheel.

WOW! Incredible! I thought I was gonna have to dish out $150 for a new one, but this looks GREAT! This will be one of the first aesthetic things I do to my Fiero. Thanks for the write up!

Wow! Good job on that steering wheel it looks factory too!
Korey

WOW! I'd love to try this on my old 84-85 NP5 wheel, if only my sewing skills weren't near zero (should have seen the sunvisors I tried to do a few years ago)

creative!!!!! nice job;;;;;;

Very nice! At first, I didn't think you were going to be able to pull it off... It looks fantastic for a home job; heck, looks good for any job...
Only thing I may have dun different was to use better glue and to glue the leather; this way it will not twist...

great job. You should put your service in the mall. I am sure you will make a good buck helping out the fiero comunity.

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Here's an option I did on my 86T, I simply stripped it and dyied it black, also filled groves with thick solder.

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Wow, that looks REALLY good! Great job! Gives me thoughts on how to do mine when I am ready. Thanks for the detailed write up!

Thanks for the compliments. I'm not really looking to drum up business for myself. I just tried searching for a how-to article and wasn't able to find much. So I thought I'd write my trial and experience to help out any other members that want to do it themselves.
I probably should have glued the leather to the felt. I just thought I wouldn't get an even pull when I stretched the leather to the corners. Maybe try that when another needs a new cover.

very good craftsmanship

I'm gonna go take my steering wheel out now, I'll let you guys know if an AWFUL tailor can do this. Wish me luck!

Dallas Steering Wheels will do it for $250.00

You get a plus from me, Great looking job too. I might have a use now for my wifes old leather mini skirt.

Hmmmmm, the shift knob. Forgot about that.

wow. great job. I'm sure people would pay you to do things like that for them just an idea.

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C'mon you know my 4cylinder is Pimp. Just admit it. You'd own it.

quote Originally posted by Mytime: Well, I finished it. For me, unbelievable! I'm happy with the results. Now to reassemble, soon.

Unbelievable in my book too!

$2 for yours or
$250 for this

That's a no brainer! Great work and write-up, plus for you!

quote Originally posted by Mytime:

The last time I was in here, I was looking at this picture thinking to myself, "Ok man, you're two steps away from breaking out the thread and hand stitching some leather strips.."

I'm glad I came back in here. The only difference between the Dallas wheel (there's one in the Fiero outside) is that you used a smaller thread and a different stitch pattern. The last time I was at the local library returning a book, I looked up a leathercrafts book that had the Dallas stitch pattern in it. There's also a video on Youtube of seamstresses at Ferrari who can be closely observed stitching the optional Ferrari patterns on seats. Anyway, I've got a spare wheel in the attic I'm going to give a go at.

Your thrift is highly respected sir.

[This message has been edited by L67 (edited 11-26-2010).]

Soooo I used 1/2 inch high density foam. Hopefully it will compress a lot. I sewed it on. Hopefully that will alleviate the problem of the foam not sticking.

quote Originally posted by Mytime: ... It's been awhile since I baseball stitched anything. 20 years or so. ..

That looks fantastic! But I bet that little experience helped a lot there.

At phonedawgz can you give more information on Dallas steering wheel.

[This message has been edited by go faster (edited 11-27-2010).]

quote Originally posted by go faster: At phonedawgz can you give more information on Dallas steering wheel.

Google http://www.google.ca/search...g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

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quote Originally posted by go faster: At phonedawgz can you give more information on Dallas steering wheel.

Sad part is that you can get a new reproduction from Fiero Store for $110.00
http://fierostore.com/Produ...px?s=75003&d=330&p=1

Thanks Fierosound.

quote Originally posted by IMSA GT: Sad part is that you can get a new reproduction from Fiero Store for $110.00 http://fierostore.com/Produ...px?s=75003&d=330&p=1

And have you seen the differences between the two?

quote Originally posted by L67: And have you seen the differences between the two?

Yeah, they are probably like everything else they sell, cheap crap.

quote Originally posted by IMSA GT: Sad part is that you can get a new reproduction from Fiero Store for $110.00 http://fierostore.com/Produ...px?s=75003&d=330&p=1

I have seen the FS one and is not bad for the price but I don't think it is up to par with the Dallas one (or the one above).

Wow thought i better get my name in this thread so i can find it again and again wow.... That is such a nice job.

quote Originally posted by Alex4mula: I have seen the FS one and is not bad for the price but I don't think it is up to par with the Dallas one (or the one above).

I have too, and I was actually impressed. It's a good wheel for the money.

But the difference between the Fiero Store wheel and a Dallas recover is like comparing Seiko to Rolex (watches). Even still I think the intrinsic value of covering the damn thing yourself, as Mytime has done, surpasses both options. How often do you get to tell people you hand stitched the steering wheel in your car?

Great write up!

The dreaded goo of death dripped out of my GT wheel one hot day this summer, and I have been trolling the web looking for ideas on DIY recover. Have not seen felt used as padding, but it appeals to me to me more than foam which might eventually go the way of the original.

Anyone have suggestions on what glue might work best for attaching felt to wheel?

I agree with other posters -- it's not so much the price as it is the satisfaction of being able to say that you did it yourself.

Have bookmarked this writeup for reference this winter when I tackle this job - many thanks.

Awesome write up. Been looking for this exact write up. Thanks

Thanks again everyone. I'm happy to see that my writeup has been appreciated. I did it as much for myself as for everyone else. I tend to forget over time how I did things if I don't write down the details.
Well, if I were going to do it again, I would probably use weldwood contact cement. The same thing that I used on my headliner. Heard it sticks well and lasts a long time. Just didn't have any available when I was putting it together. The felt seems durable and I like the feel of the padding. I don't know how it will last long term. Have to wait and see. I do know it's not going to turn into goo anytime in the near future. I pulled the leather tight enough so I hope it doesn't twist on me
Finally got the wheel reassembled and traded into my car. Wow, a project I actually finished, I DO need to write this down. The color is a little off from factory but I'm not building a show car, just trying to keep things nice looking.

Thanks again for the compliments.

Doing the shifter?