Alcantara Suede Steering Wheel Tutorial

[nikotegra]

Alright, so there have been numerous tutorials on here that have helped me and saved me a ton of dough. Time to give back.

A bit of a back story first. I do a lot of rock climbing. Nothing is worse than climbing into your car with your red, tender hands and having to handle your hot as hell steering wheel. So I wanted to upgrade my leather cover. Ahhh... To hell with it, I always loved the feel and look of micro suede; my steering wheel looked worse for wear and I just wanted to spoil myself and my car (Tasha. Yeah I named my car, I ain't ashamed).

We will be removing the stock leather "wrap" and replacing it with a band spanking new Alcantara wrap. Now for those of you who do not know what Alcantara is, basically its the micro suede you see in some high end cars like Aston Martins and Ferrari's etc. It's a lot more expensive compared to normal micro suede, but is said to be more harder wearing and much more resistant to sun fade and grime, it also stays (relatively) cool in hot Australian sun. But the main reason I wanted it... Well its because when I grip my steering wheel it feels like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI_cy9hK7XI (By the way, I'm talking about the guy with the kittens, not the shitty T-Shirt)

Time
2-3hrs if you took things slow like I did.

What will you need:
The cover Kit (Many options exist, micro suede, leather, leather with pin holes etc etc)
From here: http://www.redlinegoods.com/RSX0205shiftboot.php
Patience - Lots of it!
A sharp blade to cut through the stitching of the leather
Size 30 Torx
14mm Socket with extender.
Thread (Provided with the Kit)
and >BLUNT< needle. (Provided with the Kit)

Optional
Double sided Tape (Preferred by me, less messy and secure)
Glue (I would stay away, but has been successfully implemented)
Stapler
iPhone opening tool/guitar pick to help fold the material
Beer or Wine (Lots of it; this is going to take some time so it really should go in the list of things you need)
Anune T1 with Senheiser HD650 and FLAC Albums of HIStory, Dark Side of the Moon, If you Wait (But I digress)

Motivation

Look at it, Look at it, Look at it, Look; at; it... And now Reeeeee'spect it!

Step One: Realise that you do not want to end up with a face full of Nylon while performing this awesome operation. So Disconnect the bloody battery before you proceed, wait a little while. Just in case.

Step Two:
Remove your steering wheel using this guide: http://honda-tech.com/acura-rsx-dc5-...-swap-2484761/

Optional: Realise that your electric drill does not have the necessary torque to undo the stupid screws. You use a bit of Russio-Kiwi-Australian thinking to come up with a Nikotool. Pictured here

Yeah, thats right its a Torx in a drill extender in a 1/2" socket in a converter in a socket extender in a ratchet. (From now on I'm assuming that Honda hires the characters from the avengers to tighten the screws in my car. I already stripped 2 of them trying to get to the (still) non functioning lock actuator on my passenger side #firstworldproblems)

Step Three:
Using the knife cut through the stitching carefully.



Step Four:
Admire your now naked wheel. Don't worry it ain't going to stay like this for long.


Step Five:
Take your time, and do this right the first time. Align your cover well. Once aligned you can use the iPhone tool and double sided tape to semi secure the wrap so it doesn't move unless you want to readjust it. The double sided tape is not there to glue the wrap in place. It's only to help you keep it where you want it as you sow the wrap on. It ain't going to move anywhere once you have finished the job, glue or no glue!








Step Six:
Realise that the guy who made Redline's instruction videos is a muppet who can't video for crap and you aint getting those 30 minutes of your life back. (Oh and while we're on topic, If you know that guy please tell him that his lips; my ass; they should meet) Go on to youtube and find the stitching pattern tutorial for you that you can actually follow. I used this one here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9hNSkl0eKI

Start sowing! I started from the the bottom right and moved my way clockwise. I secured and restarted the thread 3 times in total. Supposedly this is not very good for the same reason Tu144 is a shitty plane. (The panels are too large which once a crack started to develop lead to catastrophic structural failures, while in the Concorde the panels were small which meant if a crack would start it would stop once it reaches the end of the panel) - Basically it means that I would have to resow half of the wheel if a thread would come loose. Its also very difficult trying to keep almost a metre of thread knick and knot free while you're doing the mod. The reason why I went with the 3 massive threads method is neatness. I felt restarting threading would lead to an uneven pattern... Constantly recheck that everything is in alignment as you sow your way around. Thankfully I did numerous times and nothing is worse than having to unthread because you disalligned the wrap.

Step Seven:
Admire

Step Eight:
Reverse the guide above to reinstall the wheel.

Extra Comments
I'm in no way associated with redline. And if they are reading this thread I would ask them to pay extra attention to the three connection points. There is a little bit of folding around these areas. My stitching seems more than fine to me (I used tweezer for 30 minutes trying to find the right combination of too tight and loose around that area) in the end I stretched the material over and used staples on the inside of the centre of the wheel to keep them in there. The wheel while very good is still not perfect. I will let you judge yourselves.

End Product


Thanks peeps.

Niko