Steering Wheel Problem

[tjcool]

Hey i have a small prob with my original Momo steering wheel from the NA6

the leather on the top between the 12oclock and 3oclock position has seperated leaving a large annoying gap.

has anyone had this happen ?
any ideas on a fix ?
ive tried a few different types of glue and then taped it up to set with no luck - it just peels out again. It really needs stiching to hold it together.

ive gone to 4 diffrent motor trimmers in blue mouantins and penrith an all wont touch steering wheels.

it seems so easy to fix, im even contemplating just giving leather stitching a go myself!

any ideas or previous experience with this would be helpful.

it has to be cost effective too, i love that original wheel and would like to keep it but if its gonna cost too much ill just go buy a new one.

[StanTheMan]

Happened to mine about 10 years ago. I tried glueing it. But that didn't work.
I bought a new one.

[Benny]

Perhaps your mother or grandmother does some hand sewing.
As the holes are already there, it isn't too hard to do it yourself, but you will need a few things to do the job.
Firstly, you will need a heavy, CURVED needle (a straight one will just be too hard to handle easily) and some strong heavy thread. Prefferably one which has been waxed as this will work easier.

First, thread the needle with the thread then tie a knot in one end and hold onto the other end, as you don't want this coming out of the needle all the time.
Start near one of the spokes, somewhere where you won't find the knot annoying, and thread it through the existing holes, trying to maintain the original pattern of sewing.
You may have to go backwards and forwards a bit to match up the cross threading of the original.
Keep the thread nice and tight and continue on until the next spoke, then tie it off and voila, you've fixed your wheel!

Glue won't hold it as the leather is in tension and needs the mechanical hold that only thread, or staples will give it.

Good luck.
You may have to have a few goes at it before you get it right, but if you do, there will be long line of other forumites that will want their wheels done too!

[Fuzzlet]

Ah this takes me back to yr12, where for my D&T major project I re-trimmed my volvo in white leather. Baseball stitch isnt hard to learn - I learnt what I needed to from the internet. What I will say though, especially since you're re-using the original leather, is practise on some offcuts/other pieces of fabric before you have a go at doing the steering wheel. It wasnt *too* hard to do, just time consuming. The end result however, is well worth it

[Duj]

Go buy a Momo 'Race' steering wheel, they feel so much nicer and look awesome!

Or if your desperate I have 2 ol' NA stock wheels sitting around, PM me if your keen...

[Mr Morlock]

nothing to lose by giving it a go and save you unnecessary expense. Fuzzlet sounds a dab hand. You can buy the cord to do the job and colour will need to be black. A sail maker might be able to help with the cord and maybe even a needle. I have a hand piece ( from my Grandfather) where the eye of the needle is pushed thru with a dimpled metal insert though you can probably achieve the same by pulling with pliers. Some ( many) of the so called leather steering wheels with stitching are not stitched at all but done in an automated manner to give the impression of stitching- I guess your wheel is the real McCoy.

[bruce]

I re-trimmed my volvo in white leather

Get off this forum ! ! !

[tjcool]

morlock the wheel isnt real stiching you are right the wheel is definately doin an impression of real stiching but im thinking that the only way to pull it up back to gether is to use real stiching
so ill give it a go with thanks to you all for your ideas and will keep ya'll posted on how it comes out

and i wrote real stiching a few times just there


real stiching