[Vulcan50]

First and foremost, I am not a representative of any company listed below. I have simply listed them because of my excitement toward them or for your convenience.

I recently got my Redline Goods Alcantara wrap for my steering wheel. It's a great option for those of us with high mileage cars with worn steering wheels or just to step up the cleanliness of your interior. First this isn't eBay, using quality products is not cheap. With that said if that is a concern, visit BMW and get a price on a new steering wheel.

Go ahead, I'll wait.

Welcome back, now that that is out of the way, let's get started.

First, visit redlinegoods.com and pick how you want your wrap. I didn't find the thread color I wanted listed on their site, so I sent them some. I would save yourself time if you go this route and visit jpmsupplyco.com. I searched for weeks and found this site by chance a few months later. One thing to keep in mind, USPS tends to be the cheapest international shipping and for me to send the small spool, it was nearly $50. (There HQ is in Poland, and my wheel was their first of this style so it had to be fabbed in their HQ. So your wrap may come from their US partner, and shipping be cheaper (read: not international).)

Just a personal preference, I opted to do a wheel thickening. This was because I went with the Alcantara and it is a very thin material, and I have very large hands. This may or may not be worth the cost to you. I imagine there would be less of a return on the thickening, if you go with leather since its thicker.

Remove the wheel once you have the wrap, it took me a while to finish due to family and my anal nature. There are a thousand videos on YouTube to do this. You are on your own here.

Remove the stock wrap. Get an xacto or retractable blade. Only cut the tread that pulls the sides together there are two lines of stitching through the leather (one on either side of the split) and one that pulls them together. Cut the one that holds them together.

So this is how I received my wheel post thickening. Note the recesses in the wheel for the seams are still present

[IMG]http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...psnuaqcd03.jpg[/IMG]

(Ignore the cutout at the 12 o'clock position, that's for a later project. Yours font look like that)

Taking careful measurements and making sure it's all centered is key, it will save time later. One thing to know about alcantara (in this application at least) is that it stretches in one axis. Therefore it will stretch around the wheel (circumstance), not almond the diameter. So to get the wrap on, slide the first edge (likely the top) past center, so there is a lot hanging over the back, then work the sides down together work through the bottom. The thread has little stretch so this helps to not fight it.

Work it around until the seems line up in to the grooves.

This is where I differed from other write-ups I've seen. I got the seams lined up so the either side of the wrap matched up, if they didn't line up it wouldn't be noticeable but like I said earlier, I'm anal. So I lined them up and secured them. I used thread, but wire ties of even pipe cleaners work (I also used pipe cleaners).

[IMG]http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...psr7bklfih.jpg[/IMG]

I started stitching at the seam this ensured the sides were even from a recognizable point. Since the stitching goes diagonal from one side to the other, using the seam as your center, pick a stitch that lies over the seam, and on the other side (the next stitch point) go to the first stitch past the seam. Make sure there is a bunch of slack, because after you finish the first half, you take the slack thread your needle and go the other way.

[IMG]http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...psunsoacm2.jpg[/IMG]

Here I'm working the second direction, you can see to the right of the stay thread it is finished, and I am now working to the left.

[IMG]http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...ps9tmae7ze.jpg[/IMG]

In some of the tight areas around the spokes you may go through the same stitch on one side more than once. It looks a little bit strange, but it looks a lot better than all of the subsequent stitches being off.

Don't tie off the ends, trust me. Leave plenty of slack. Tape it out of your way if need be. Once you have it the way you like it, take it apart a little and apply adhesive. In the case of Alcantara be careful, it will come through the fabric. Once tacky, restitch. I'm going to remove my wheel eventually to apply adhesive to the spoke. I thought I could get away without doing the one, and while it's not really visible, you can feel it. The more adhesive you can get on it the tighter it will be, but it also create more room for overspray. Use your judgement.

If this is your first wrap be prepared to do it again, I decided to completely change my stitch pattern. I also trimmed the edges that meet because there was some looseness to it that I didn't like. You may or may not want/need to do this. You will trim some excess around the spoke where the thread stops using the adhesive to keep it down. The excess is so the Alcantara is easier to work with.

Overlap…

[IMG]http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...pslkrxv1vq.jpg[/IMG]

Excess…

[IMG]http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...pscyacksgk.jpg[/IMG]

Once you finish you will have this…

[IMG]http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...psg7hyha0f.jpg[/IMG]

One thing to remember is you can send your wheel in for them to wrap for you. Still much cheaper than OEM and a better end result. In the end I would be happy to use redline goods again

[AWSB328iM]

Wow that looks horrible.

[Faredo]

Originally Posted by AWSB328iM

Wow that looks horrible.

ya it does

Shame, im sure it took some time, I would start looking at a wheel replacement from here.