Has anyone attempted and succeeded in refitting a gt steering wheel with foam? Mine has good leather, but the foam inside broke down. I don't want an aftermarket wheel. Any tips,tricks,and secrets would be much appreciated. Immediate questions I have are: What kind glue? What kind foam? What am I forgetting? Ron
I think I saw where someone here does replacement / rebuilt steering wheels. I dont think its something you can do on your own. The original is like molded onto the wheel. Kinda pricey if I remember, but other than that, find a good used one.
I want to get one of these in the post above at some point, but at the moment I'm curious if anyone has found a regular old steering wheel cover (like a $15 wal-mart one) that actually fits these? I've tried two different standard sized ones and neither fits the Fiero wheel.
------------------ My Fiero: 1986 Pontiac Fiero GT, V6, 4-speed manual
I've taken apart my wheel, layer by layer. 1. The outer layer is leather that simply unstitches. 2. The next layer is a this foam pad. This is what broke down and looks exactly like peanut butter (but doesn't taste like it, but it looks yummy) 3. The center is molded plastic and is rigid and hard.
My plan is to scrape and clean all the old peanut butter and foam off the leather, clean it good, Maybe recolor it, clean all the funk off the hard inner section real good and repaint the spokes while I'm in there, and go source some closed cell foam to sandwich in there...oh and some thread too. I'd post pics, but I'm all android and the pic host isn't cooperating. Ron
My Fiero came with a slip on steering wheel cover, which is good because the foam broke down and is squishing out in spots. It is gross to forget and put your hands where that stuff is. While the slip on cover is nice, I would rather have the sew on style. I've been to a number of stores and can't find a cover for a 14 inch steering wheel.
I've taken apart my wheel, layer by layer. 1. The outer layer is leather that simply unstitches. 2. The next layer is a this foam pad. This is what broke down and looks exactly like peanut butter (but doesn't taste like it, but it looks yummy) 3. The center is molded plastic and is rigid and hard.
My plan is to scrape and clean all the old peanut butter and foam off the leather, clean it good, Maybe recolor it, clean all the funk off the hard inner section real good and repaint the spokes while I'm in there, and go source some closed cell foam to sandwich in there...oh and some thread too. I'd post pics, but I'm all android and the pic host isn't cooperating. Ron
What about instead of a foam, use something to wind around the wheel, then cover in leather? I think you may have a hard time cutting the foam in a perfect circle (well, unless you make a template and cut out the foam off the wheel, etc... that would work also).
I just installed a Wheelskins Leather sew-on wheel cover on my GT. The Size for the GT wheel is AXX. They say the size on the the site is AX, but that I think is for the standard 4-spoke Fiero wheel. I've had one of these on my El Camino for over 10 years now, and am very happy with them. They hold up extremely well. You can dig around on Ebay and find a good deal for under $40.
What about instead of a foam, use something to wind around the wheel, then cover in leather? I think you may have a hard time cutting the foam in a perfect circle (well, unless you make a template and cut out the foam off the wheel, etc... that would work also).
I re-wrapped the steering wheel on my F-150 project with new leather and believe it or not, I used mesh dry wall tape for the under wrap. The kind that is slightly sticky. Worked perfectly.
A lot of interesting ideas! I've got a difficult choice to make, what, between cork and mesh drywall tape and all. Last night, I removed the leather and cleaned off the goo from the wheel itself....it's made of some kind of solid pvc playground plastic. I found that the grip twisting is solely a result of the broken down foam (now a lubricant and a liquid) took away the friction that kept the leather straight, gripping the wheel. I'm carrying through with my plan to adhere new foam the the wheel, then restitch the original (still good) leather cover back on. Effectively just a refurbished factory wheel. I wish i could figure out the picture thing. "My Fiero" hosting site isn't working either. Ron
I bought a leather skin kit on E-bay for about $50. You have to stitch it yourself but the holes are pre-punched so it's not difficult. The one thing the instructions emphasize is to keep the stitches tight.
[This message has been edited by RayOtton (edited 12-13-2014).]
We have a new member on here who has done this. He is going to post a how-to on it in General Chat. You may want to PM him and ask what he used for the foam: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/094977.html
Yes, I have recovered my wheel, and hopefully I'll have a how-to up by this weekend. In the meantime, I'll give you guys the short version to hold you over until I can go into more detail. With a bit of patience and quite a bit of time, I was able to recover my wheel for less than $50
- Instead of using foam, I opted to use a thin layer of black felt that I purchased from Walmart as padding. The felt will not break down over time. and was only a few bucks a yard. - For an adhesive, I used Action Upholstery spray adhesive. This is the same spray adhesive that Mr Mikes provides with his seat cover kits (I still had some left over) - I purchased my leather directly from Mr. Mike so that my wheel would match my new seats. I required a 17x4in strip for the upper portion of the wheel and a 30x8in strip for the lower portion. This cost me $35 shipped - Use upholstery thread, as normal thread will not be strong enough. In my guide I will be outlining both the stock "baseball stitch" as well as the "euro stitch" style often found on BMW and other European vehicles. I opted for the euro stitch to match my Italian style seat covers, and for uniqueness. If you decide to use a baseball style stitch, measure out an punch the holes in your leather ahead of time, as it will help maintain a nice even stitch (its very easy to mess up your spacing if you're not an experienced seamstress)
------------------ "The Twins" '87 GT 3.4 pushrod daily driver '88 GT 3.4 DOHC swap in progress
Also, another member was kind enough to upload a few pictures of my finished wheel while I figure out how to get PIP working. The photos can be found on the thread link directly above my previous post.
------------------ "The Twins" '87 GT 3.4 pushrod daily driver '88 GT 3.4 DOHC swap in progress
Alrighty. My fingers are bleeding, but I've finished what i had set out to do. I used 1/8th" rubber pipe foam insulation as padding. I think it's a little softer than original, but it's comfy and not too soft. To apply it, i stripped off the old foam and glue, then wrapped the foam radius wise around the circumference of the wheel, first the outside, then inside. I wrapped three spokes individually. Then leather, rubber cement as i stitched it back up. I like the European stitch, but opted to keep the baseball stitch and I'm glad i did because it turned out real nice.
I have to say, though, $150 is well worth paying to have someone else do this job. It killed my hands. Ron
I hear you on that one. I'm in the middle of a baseball stitch wheel for myself at the moment, and I've already got a nice blister forming from all the thread pulling. It looks really nice though.
------------------ "The Twins" '87 GT 3.4 pushrod daily driver '88 GT 3.4 DOHC swap in progress
I used the old leather. It's still extremely supple. I think it just needs recolored. New leather would look and smell better,though! I wonder if I'd worn golf gloves if i wouldn't have ruined my hands. Pulling the stitches is what did it. Ouch. Ron
