The steering wheel is used by the driver during the entire driving time. It is this that first of all receives all reactions in the form of stroking or pushing, expressing anger, joy or annoyance from the person who is sitting at the steering wheel. Driving safety can also depend on the quality of the car steering wheel.
Do-it-yourself braiding on the steering wheel will help minimize the risks from inconvenient operation of the steering wheel. One of the advantages of self-installation is the selection of individual materials and colors to match the overall interior decor.
The choice of upholstery determines the method of its fastening, further care for it, as well as the durability of the selected material.
Leather braids
It is customary to use natural leather as upholstery material. It is more durable and practical to process. The material is selected with or without perforation. The presence of holes helps to add volume to the product and is also an additional decoration. It's also a bit visually smooths out possible unevenness surfaces or minor technical problems during processing.
Leather braid
Leather is the most comfortable of materials due to its performance qualities.
It is easy to care for and is also more hygienic than other braid options. This point is especially relevant in cases where the car has several drivers. The leather steering wheel can be easily wiped with an antiseptic solution before driving. This procedure is not dangerous for the material, but will protect you from receiving “unwanted surprises.”
High-quality material may initially scare you off due to its price. However, not worth saving on such an important part of the car. The price will pay off over a long period of use, good mood while driving and easy maintenance.
Fur braids on the steering wheel
The use of fur braids only in the first couple of days can be of interest; then such an impractical and easily soiled material will bring more negative emotions when driving. Fur wrinkles quickly in areas of the most intensive use. The pile also gets dirty too quickly and loses its aesthetic appearance, especially light colors.
Fur braided steering wheel
Between the villi a large amount of dust and dirt gets clogged, which reduces the level of hygiene for such a frequently used control. In summer, hands quickly sweat, the pile can also get wet, which causes slippage when controlling. This factor can affect the safety of driving a vehicle.
Braided wire braids
Wire braids were once fashionable on cars. They were often used to decorate mainly domestic VAZ models. The practicality of this option lies in the relative strength of the plastic wire winding. It rarely wore out even with intensive use.
However, compared to artificial leather or genuine leather the woven base is not as cute and not hygienic enough. Dirt quickly collects between loose coils and is not so easy to remove. The use of solutions with household cleaning chemicals helps to restore a neat appearance.
Braided braids for VAZ
In winter, such material quickly “stiffens” and warms up poorly. You have to use gloves while driving.
Useful braids on the steering wheel
By making your own braid, you can make it not only beautiful, but also useful. For this purpose, special massage inserts are made in the outer part. They improve the usability of the steering wheel and also help improve blood microcirculation in the palms and fingers.
Along with massage seat covers, this braid helps during long car journeys.
You can install heating under a self-made braid. The option will be useful for all drivers in Russia, since the cold season in our country lasts several months. The button to turn on the heating can be displayed on the instrument panel.
Upholstery color and thickness
Don't choose trendy colors. They can quickly get boring, and you will need to re-upholster them again. And since it’s unlikely to be possible to sew a braid on the steering wheel quickly, you will have to drive for some time with the old, boring steering wheel constriction.
Original braid
It is advisable to select a material that is not too thick so that your hands don't get tired. For short distances this is not a significant factor, but when driving a thick steering wheel for a long time, fatigue will be noticeable.
Volumetric inserts
It is unlikely that foam inserts under the braid will help. At first they will add softness, although they will increase the thickness of the wheel. For cars with a thin steering wheel, this may be a bonus, but during operation such a thickener is quite will quickly lose shape. Outer material Because of this condition, the foam will sag and scroll along its diameter.
For those who do not know how to make a voluminous braid on the steering wheel with their own hands and at the same time maintain the shape of the “steering wheel” for a long time, we can advise use pads with gel filler. It will not flatten, since it is based on containers with an incompressible substance. It is enough to protect such a steering wheel from punctures and burns.
Braid with gel inserts
Basic parameters for selection
In order to decide on required size material for the braid, no need to remove the steering wheel. All you need to do is take a tailor's yardstick and take measurements along the outside of the rim. This will be the basic setting. You also need to measure the diameter of the rim to determine the required width of the upholstery strip.
In this case, an addition of 3-5 mm per seam is taken into account. Most often, the outer diameter is in the range of 35-41 cm. A smaller steering wheel is typical for cars sporty style, and they prefer to install a larger diameter on luxury cars. In addition to aesthetic perception, there are legally approved standards for steering wheel sizes.
Types of lacing with nylon thread
According to Russian GOST, the rim diameter should not exceed 40 mm.
Not all traffic police officers are on duty with calipers to take measurements, but if there is an obvious discrepancy, you can be punished for such an excess.
Sewing braids yourself
Get good result Reliable tools and high-quality, carefully selected material will help. Let's give example of leather steering wheel tuning. To make a braid you will need to stock up on the following set:
- leather strip approximately 120x10 cm in size and several additional flaps;
- lasting nylon cord for stitching, about 3 meters, it can be replaced with leather twine;
- breakdown for perforation for lace;
- minimum two needles length from 50 mm and a hook with a small head for tightening nylon thread;
- pair of tailors thimbles;
- skein cling film and a roll of tape;
- drawing A1 sheet for the pattern.
Decorative seam on braid
There are two options for steering wheel trim. In one case, only steering wheel tuning is used, and in the second, the spokes are also upholstered. Both options, when carefully executed, look nice, but the method of decoration without upholstering the spokes is considered to be less labor-intensive.
Spokeless steering wheel cover
In this case, you can get by with a strip of leather, the length of which is calculated using the formula, multiplying the number pi (3.14) by the length of the diameter. Additionally, you can use a tailor's meter to take empirical measurements of the outer circumference. In this case, until the last stitching of the tape into a ring, you need to put a little tension on the skin, as it will stretch slightly on the steering wheel.
The ring can be made not only from a single piece, but also from combinations of perforated and smooth elements, material with embossed milling or relief embossing, using multi-colored inserts of various leather tones that harmoniously fit into the overall interior of the cabin.
Types of seams
The allowances left for sewing the braided parts together are will need to be coated with glue for skin. This operation will add strength and subsequently prevent the threads used to connect the pattern pieces from standing out at the joints. The seams may protrude due to the allowances of the leather. This can be removed by lightly tapping the seals with a hammer.
Holes are prepared for lacing using a punch. It is a metal tube with one edge sharpened. By pointing it with this side on the skin, on the other side you need to hit it with a hammer, you will get a hole. The excess skin will go into the puncture hole.
Having marked along the entire side for stitching, you can punch out perforations for lacing with thread or leather twine. It is difficult to buy such string separately, and finding a long two-meter piece of genuine leather is almost impossible. For this purpose it is used a device made from a knitting needle and a sharpened pencil.
Making a leather cord
They are tightly held together with tape and a spiral is drawn on a piece of leather. The tip of the knitting needle is held above the line drawn in pencil. Parallelism is maintained between the edges of such an Archimedean spiral, which most engineers studied in universities. The thickness of the twine must be at least 3-4 mm, otherwise it will break if pulled too hard.
To pull such a cord you will need to use an awl. The process will be longer, but the result will be more original than stitching with nylon thread.
It will be more convenient to start lacing immediately after the knitting needle. This way the knot will not be “conspicuous”. The operation is performed using several types of cross lacing. Most simple options– cross stitch or consecutive stitches. It is preferable to tighten after a complete passage along the sector between the nearest knitting needles.
For better fixation, you can pour a little shoe glue into the cut between the braid and the steering wheel with a syringe until it is completely tightened. Heating the glued surfaces with a hair dryer will better distribute the liquid. Additionally, smoothing is applied along the outside of the braid.
Punch for perforation
Knots of nylon cords must be coated with superglue so that they don't come undone. The nylon slides together, and a small amount of glue will fix it in one place.
Spoke steering wheel cover
A more complex option involves making a pattern for sewing upholstery. It is done using cling film and wrapping bark around all areas for new upholstery. We fix this base with molar tape. After this, we draw the seams with a marker and number the resulting pattern pieces. On separate sheet draw a diagram of the location of the numbered parts.
Now you can carefully cut the masking tape along the marked seams. We straighten the resulting parts and outline them on sheet A1. Then we cut out the patterns taking into account the addition of dimensions for the joining seams.
Step 1. Wrap with film, then with tape and number the sectors 
Step 2. Forming patterns for sectors 
Step 3. Try on the sewn patterns on the steering wheel 
Step 4. Sew up all seams 
Step 5. Install the decor and buttons in their places
We sew the parts together using a machine along the length of the steering wheel. You definitely need to make a little tension. Punching perforations for lacing. Now you can fix the braid on the steering wheel and lace up the seam. First you need to remove the plastic decor and the airbag cartridge. After lacing, we return everything to its place. If necessary, glue the gap between the steering wheel and the upholstery. Dry the glue with a hairdryer.
For a long time I wanted to change the steering wheel cover because I enjoy driving and wanted more grip. Unfortunately, I could not find suitable sheathing for sale in the form ready set, because my car's steering wheel is not a standard size. I tried a couple of them, but didn't find one that suited me.
A few days ago I was looking for trim on aliexpress, and then it occurred to me interesting idea- Why not make the car steering wheel trim yourself? I then started scouring this website looking for ready-made instructions, but didn't find any, but read a lot of tutorials where people, even newbies to the leather craft, make amazing things. This gave me confidence that I could do everything myself too.
To begin with, I took the remaining piece of fabric that was lying around my house and started working.
Step 1. Materials and their cost.
- A piece of board fabric the length of the circumference of the steering wheel is free. It was a piece left over from some project my wife had.
- A strip of leather about the size of a quarter square meter(this size is more than enough to make 2 normal sized trims, but my steering wheel is thick, so this size was enough for one trim). About 500rub
- Threads - 50 rub.
- Glue - 20 rub.
- Measuring tape, ruler, pencils, scissors, etc.
- Time - from 4 to 5 hours.
I started by cutting fabric with the length of the steering wheel circumference and a width of 11 cm. First, I asked my friend to sew a piece of fabric, but the resulting donut turned out to be too big and I had to alter it myself at home and cut off the excess. Now everything is the right size. In the photo above you can see where I marked the fabric so I could cut the leather later.
Step 2. I cut the skin.
Once the fabric pattern was ready, I took out a piece of leather and cut it according to the pattern. I then made some temporary stitches to try the trim on the handlebars. The original measurements were correct and I started marking the places that needed to be cut. Once this was done, it was time to fold the sides of the pattern to make the side stitches for sewing the cover on the wheel.
Once the desired spots were marked, I began cutting the leather and turning the edges under to stitch the sides. As a result, together with the folded edges, the width of the paneling turned out to be 11 cm. I applied glue to the leather to make it easier to sew the sides of the trim together.
After this step, it's time to sew the ends together and put the trim on the steering wheel. I stitched around the perimeter sewing machine. The leather is not thick, so it can be sewn even on an ordinary household machine. Then I tried the trim on the steering wheel again
The dimensions were perfect and the trim fit snugly around the steering wheel. Now it's time to stitch everything together on the handlebar.
Step 3. Sew the trim on the steering wheel
I took a long needle and bought nylon thread, it is stronger than cotton.
Typically, the stitches on ready-made trims available in stores are a little longer, which reduces the number of seams when sewing, but since I made this side seam myself, the stitches were shorter and therefore took longer to sew. Take a look at the close-up image and you'll see what I mean.
The sewing took about 2 hours, but I had a lot of fun making something with my own hands. Also the ready-made covers available in the market do not cover the lower part of the handlebars as this is the thickest part, close to 13 cm in girth, and no cover is suitable for it. My custom trim was made to fit this width and therefore covers the entire handlebar. take a look at the last image.
It turned out a little crooked, but since I did it for the first time, I am very pleased with the result and with myself. For beginners, I can advise you to make upholstery for the first time not from leather, but to buy a piece of leatherette or use an old jacket or coat.
Next time I will make a different trim so that it fits the steering wheel more tightly and matches the color of the trim of the car itself.
June 3, 2019Without exaggeration, we can say that the steering wheel is not only one of the most important elements of car control, but also the “face” of the vehicle interior. Therefore, the most common way to add attractiveness and individuality to the interior is by covering the steering wheel. Even a beginner can do it; the main thing here is patience and attention to every detail.
Materials and tools
Since the steering wheel is constantly in contact with the driver’s hands, when choosing material for the covering, you should pay attention to quality, strength and durability. There are many options - you can choose fur, artificial or natural leather, silicone, foam rubber or wire.
The most popular and practical is the braid made of genuine leather. This braid retains its appearance for a long time, is pleasant to the touch, has good performance qualities, and looks expensive and solid. You can simply wipe it with a damp alcohol wipe to remove dust. It is better to give preference to perforated leather. It is softer and, thanks to its pores, breathes better.
Important! You should choose car leather, not furniture leather, otherwise in a short time the work will go down the drain.
Before you start reupholstering the steering wheel, you should prepare everything necessary materials and tools. These include:
- leather;
- large needle for sewing (you can take a hardened one);
- durable nylon thread;
- thimble;
- stationery knife;
- masking tape;
- cling film (you can take packaging film);
- marker or pencil;
- medium density cardboard;
- glue or epoxy resin.
Wrapping procedure
Removing the steering wheel and old braid
Before starting work, you must remove the steering wheel using the vehicle repair and operation manual. Before dismantling, disconnect the battery! If there is an airbag in the housing, wait at least five minutes.
Remove the old braid. You can simply cut along the seam.
Creating a pattern and cutting out a new braid
Next you need to make a pattern. To do this, first the steering wheel is carefully, evenly, without differences in height, wrapped with film, and then tightly with masking tape. Using a marker, the future pattern is divided into four parts and a mark is made along the inside of the steering wheel for the inner seam.
Before cutting, you must number all the parts. Cut strictly along the lines!
Using the marked marks, you need to cut the masking tape and remove it from the steering wheel. It turns out four parts of the pattern. To level them, you can put a weight on top for several hours. Or make a denser template from cardboard, placing elements of masking tape on it.
Then, according to the sample of the resulting pattern, the elements of the future leather braid are cut out, and an allowance of 1.5-2 ml is made along the length. Each element must be marked. Do not forget that the final result depends on the accuracy of the work at the pattern making stage.
The pattern pieces are sewn together using a sewing machine or a needle and thread. It is necessary to retreat from the edge by 2-3 mm, otherwise the material will tear under tension. All parts are connected to form a ring. The finished ring is applied to the steering wheel. Everything must fit exactly to size. If the braid runs along the steering wheel, it is necessary to sew it along the seam. For additional fixation, the steering wheel can be lubricated with glue or epoxy resin.
Fastenings for manual sewing of braid
After this, you need to make fastenings that will hold the seam connecting the edges of the braid.
There are two types of fastening:
- holes;
- stitches along the edges of the product.
Holes along the edges of the braid can be made manually using an awl, or using a sewing machine with a needle without thread with a rounded tip.
The number of holes should be the same on both sides, the distance from the edge is approximately 4 mm, between the holes 4-5 mm. The work is quite labor-intensive, you should get about 600 holes.
The second method is much simpler - just use a sewing machine to make a stitch along the edge of the braid with a stitch in increments of 5-6 mm. The distance from the edge of the product is 4 mm.
All knots are made with inside and are secured with no more than two stitches.
Sewing the braid on the steering wheel
There are many options for braid lacing. The choice depends on the type of fastening and personal imagination. The simplest is to lace up like sneakers, threading a strong thread into the prepared fastenings. You should start from the bottom and move counterclockwise, carefully straightening the folds and stretching the material well.
Reference! If in some place it was not possible to straighten the skin perfectly, you can use a hairdryer. When heated, the skin becomes more elastic and small wrinkles are smoothed out.
After finishing the covering, all the threads should be hidden under the leather, the knots should be glued with glue and a hairdryer should be used along the entire length of the steering wheel so that the leather fits better to the steering wheel. All seams can be coated with special leather glue. This will prevent them from unraveling.
Caring for leather braid
If the steering wheel is covered with leather, then it requires special attention, because dust and dirt easily accumulate in the pores of the skin. This affects not only the appearance of the steering wheel, but also the health of the driver. To clean, you can use special leather products or make your own, for example, mixing warm water with shampoo to wash the car body.
To extend the service life of such braiding, you should use special products that clean and moisturize it. Such products always contain special filters that protect the skin from fading.
Of course, making a leather braid with your own hands is much more difficult than buying a ready-made one. But on the other hand, you will be rightfully proud of your work, enjoying its results.
To make driving comfortable, many drivers buy special covers for the steering wheel. This modification creates convenience and makes your hands less tired. Plus to this in better side The interior of the cabin is changing. Today there are a lot of different offers on the market. However, you can tighten the steering wheel yourself. The most practical and convenient material for steering wheel tuning is Genuine Leather. The use of artificial substitutes is not recommended. Since they do not have proper elasticity and wear out quickly.
Tools and materials for reupholstery
Covering the steering wheel with leather yourself involves using the following materials and tools:
To make a template (pattern), it is best to use cling film and wide masking tape.
Thick paper or cardboard.
A stationery or other sharp knife, marker or pencil.
Durable and high-quality thread, preferably nylon.
For safe and convenient sewing, you will need two thimbles for the middle finger.
Durable sewing needles made of hardened steel.
High quality soft genuine leather.
A screwdriver and a wrench to remove and then install the steering wheel.
To cover the steering wheel with leather yourself, it is advisable to use two types of material, perforated and smooth leather. The combination of two different textures will not only create an original and pleasant aesthetic appearance, but will also provide comfort for working with the steering wheel.
Perforated leather has increased elasticity. It is soft and comfortable to work with. Smooth leather, in turn, is more resistant to wear. Therefore, if you combine them together, you get a durable, soft and quite abrasion-resistant material. Experts believe that leather with a thickness of 1.2-1.4 mm is optimal for steering wheel covers. You can choose any skin color, it all depends on your taste. As a rule, the most popular cases are made of leather. dark shades. The most commonly used material is black.
Leather steering wheel template
In order for the steering wheel to be reupholstered with your own hands to a high quality, you must first make a pattern. To do this, first make a template from film and tape. First of all, remove the steering wheel, having previously removed the signal cover. Then unscrew the nut securing the steering wheel to the shaft and remove the steering wheel from the splines, swinging it in different directions.
After that, using cling film and masking tape, we make a model of the steering wheel and a template for the pattern. We wrap the steering wheel with film. We glue paper-based masking tape on top. Mark the places where you plan to make seams with a marker or pencil. Then carefully cut out the tape along these lines. The result should be four elements, one rectangular and three cross-shaped. We unfold all the details for the template and number them. After that, we place them on cardboard or thick paper and make patterns of a similar shape for the pattern.
Leather pattern
To do original case, you first need to look through various sketches and choose the most suitable one. Of course, only four solutions can be implemented. However, you can make each sector from two or more elements, combining different textures or skin tones. Naturally, this will require more time and effort, but the end result is worth it. You can search on the Internet various options and choose the most convenient and practical ones. After you have decided on the design of the case, we place the pieces of leather on the table and make patterns using a stationery knife.
When making patterns, it is very important not to miss the next essential point. Each sector of the template is transferred to the skin not strictly according to its shape, but with a small margin. That is, after you have laid the template on the leather, you need to cut it out by 1.0-1.5 cm from the edge of the sector. This margin will be needed to ensure the necessary strength of the seams. Otherwise, after a short period of use, the seams will come apart, and you’ll just have to throw the cover away. As a result, you will need to reupholster the steering wheel with leather yourself.
After the pieces of leather are cut, attach them to the steering wheel and check that all sectors are cut correctly and match in size, taking into account the seam allowance. If necessary, all excess can be trimmed, because all patterns are made with sufficient margin. Once you are sure that all the elements are prepared and correspond to the design intent, you can start sewing.
Preparing a leather case
First, we lay out all the parts on the table in accordance with how they will be located in the case and begin to sew them together in the given order. The edges of the sectors must be swept to avoid tightening of the skin during use. The parts must be sewn together with strong nylon threads, departing from the edge at least 3 mm. All parts are sewn together completely in the form of a ring, with the exception of those seams that you previously marked with a marker.
After the workpiece is completely sewn and all edges are sewn, carefully pull the cover onto the steering wheel so that the joints of the seams are in the places of the cuts. We smooth out the material and eliminate sagging. Some experts advise “setting” the skin on glue or epoxy resin. However, in any case it is necessary to sew the edges.
Video - Covering the steering wheel with leather
So, now the most important thing to do is to tighten the edges of the cover so that it is securely fixed to the steering wheel. This procedure is very troublesome, time-consuming and requires a lot of time. First of all, you should decide on the place where the seam will begin. Here you first need to secure the thread, and then you can carefully sew. When tightening the edges of the cover in the area of the signal cover, it is recommended to coat the edges of the leather with rubber glue.
There are many types of seams. However, the most popular are braid, sports and macrame. They look beautiful and form the most durable connection.
Once the cover is completely ready, you can install the steering wheel on the car. The cover may have minor creases. There is no need to worry about this. If you used genuine leather, then due to the increased elasticity of the material, all these flaws will completely disappear over time.
The steering wheel is the element of the car with which the driver comes into contact most often. This leads to wear on the steering wheel coating and the appearance of abrasions, which not only spoil appearance, but also make driving less comfortable and convenient. In order to restore coverage, many drivers buy from automobile stores. The disadvantage of having a foreign object on the steering wheel is the inconvenience of driving.
In order to give the steering wheel of your car a stylish appearance, as well as to replace the often poor-quality factory coating with a more comfortable one, it is recommended to reupholster the steering wheel with leather. The best option will do this manually - this way you can not only save on the finished leather covering, but also re-tighten the steering wheel according to your preferences for convenience and beauty. Leather covering not only looks better and lasts longer, but also improves the handling of the car.
Selecting material for steering wheel reupholstery
Nowadays, there are many types of ready-made steering wheel products available in stores. However, the most profitable option would be self-creation leather covering. The advantages include not only cost savings, but also the ability to create a unique cover for the steering wheel of a specific car.
The best material for creating the coating is genuine leather. The optimal thickness is 1.3 millimeters, since thinner ones will wear out quickly, and thicker ones have low ductility during processing. In addition, it is desirable that the skin be taken from the sides or back of the animal - this material has the best degree of stretch.
An excellent option for a car steering wheel is perforated leather. She has more stylish look, and is also more comfortable when operating the machine due to better friction. At the same time, it is less resistant to damage than smooth.
Before purchasing leather for steering wheel covers, you need to inspect the material for cracks, tears and other defects, as they will manifest themselves during the creation of the cover or already in use. It is necessary to choose the color and texture of the leather so that it matches the style of the salon. In addition, it is recommended to buy leather with a reserve or make sure that the seller has more material, since errors may be made during the process of creating the covering.
The least suitable materials for wear-resistant coating are leatherette and other artificial types of materials. They quickly become unusable and have little elasticity. That is why leather, despite its relative high cost, is the most popular option.
Materials and tools needed to create a leather steering wheel cover
In order to make a high-quality steering wheel coating, you need to use several simple and affordable tools and materials:
- high quality upholstery material;
- a bobbin of durable synthetic thread in the color of the covering material;
- hardened steel needles for working with leather;
- 2 thimbles for pushing the needle;
- a roll of mounting tape;
- A3 sheet of cardboard paper;
- roll of cling film;
- a marker that gives a thick line;
- small scissors;
- two-component strong glue or epoxy resin for working with leather;
- an industrial or powerful household hair dryer for drying glue.
Creating a steering wheel cover template
In order for the steering wheel to be wrapped in leather accurately and of high quality, a pattern is needed. This, in turn, requires the correct template, which will allow the shape of the steering wheel to be transferred to a plane - a pattern for cutting out the leather.
The first step in creating a steering wheel template is to dismantle it. You need to remove the signal cover, and then unscrew the nut holding it on the shaft. Next, it needs to be swung to the sides.
The steering wheel is wrapped in cling film, and several layers of masking tape are applied to it (this way, the tape will stick only to the film). The steering wheel must be divided into several conventional parts - along the joints of the existing coating. As a rule, there are four of them - one central and three with rounded sides. It is important to number or label each item as they are different from each other. To create a pattern, a layer of tape must be pressed onto thin cardboard. Preferably at night.
Creating a pattern for a leather steering wheel cover
The next step after the template is the pattern drawing. The tape mock-up, pressed onto heavy paper, may end up being slightly larger than the size of cover required for the handlebar. However, during use, the leather will first become wrinkled and then smooth out. In addition, an overlap of material is necessary in order to sew the parts - it should be 2 millimeters from the edge. Next, you need to trace the template unfolded on the plane of the cardboard, and then trace it, leaving an overlap.
Sewing leather cover for a car steering wheel
To create the finished steering wheel cover, you need to lay out all the parts on the table so that they will come into contact during use. Next, you need to firmly sew the parts together with strong threads that will withstand a long period of use without wearing out. That is why it is important that the leather, threads and glue are of high quality - ideally, such covering is made for years of use.
After the cover has acquired its shape and volume, you need to try it on the steering wheel. It is important that when putting it on the steering wheel, the folds are not too large, since they will not be able to stretch during use and can greatly deform the entire coating when directly exposed to the sun.
To smooth out the seams of the covering against the overall background of the covering, it is recommended to cut grooves on the steering wheel. You can do the same with the edges of parts of the material.
Leather-covered steering wheel
At the stage of fixing the covering on the steering wheel, it is important to give the coating maximum adherence to the surface and the best connection with each other. You need to stitch the material crosswise. In this case, the threads at the junction of the steering wheel spokes are passed through and go with back side. You can secure the stitches with a double knot at the start of the constriction.
For car enthusiasts who are doing this procedure for the first time and have no experience in reupholstering, it is recommended to use glue or epoxy resin. This will make the fit more reliable and durable, as well as correct certain errors. The glue must be dried with a hairdryer and allowed to dry. Car owners who have previously reupholstered prefer to soak the leather in water - this way, as it dries, the coating fits better due to the reduction in size.
After the glue or the coating itself has dried, you can put the steering wheel in place. The same applies to all parts - alarm covers, buttons, airbags and other devices.
Bottom line
Do-it-yourself reupholstery is a painstaking and monotonous task. However, it allows for a stylish and practical steering wheel cover in a simple and affordable way.
