Restored my LX450 steering wheel (1 Viewer)

[Metric997]

Restored wrapped and hand stitched the steering wheel of my LX450. I originally ordered a wheel off ebay and it ended up be the wrong one, so I decided to restore my original (badly worn wheel) The entire foam/rubber ring moved on the actual metal wheel, so I split it and bonded it with a few drops of water and Gorilla Glue.

The area worn down to the metal, was filled in with Shoe Goop, since it would be strong and have a similar feel to the wheel.

I then installed a thin silicone wheel cover off Amazon in order to provide a thicker grip prior to stitching on the leather cover.

As you can see, I also decided to go with a black leather since I didn't really care for the tan. But I did bring in some brown deviated stitching to help tie in with the interior. The stitching took me about 5 hours to complete and boy were my fingers hurting afterwards.

To complete the look it decided to dye the airbag cover and steering column, and I'm quite pleased with the outcome

 

[woodsman 44]

Nice Job!...black looks really nice

 

[incogrhino]

Sweet... Ill mail mine right over...

 

[voodu3]

You did an awesome job! That looks great!

 

[MallX4]

Beautiful! What did you use to dye the airbag and column?

 

[Azca]

And where did you get the leather???

 

[Loamad FJ80]

Looks like Loncky....awesome work!!

 

[White80]

Very nice. I’m in line for new leather from @MScruiser as mine is in pretty bad shape too. I’ll stick with his oak color, but the all black look does look nice!

 

[MScruiser]

Very nice. I’m in line for new leather from @MScruiser as mine is in pretty bad shape too. I’ll stick with his oak color, but the all black look does look nice!

Thanks! Ill have the next batch done soon too.

Great job, @Metric997 ! Very nice stitching too.

 

[Metric997]

Sweet... Ill mail mine right over...

Hahaha, ship it!

You did an awesome job! That looks great!

Thank you.

Beautiful! What did you use to dye the airbag and column?

I used Color coat and I'm happy with the result. The key is to properly prepare the plastic to take the dye. All interior plastics have some mold release on the from the factory and it needs to be removed, to do so I used Tri-Sodium Phosphate which you can purchase at any local hardware store.

And where did you get the leather???

It's made by Loncky and could be purchased off Ebay or Amazon. The quality of it appears to be good but it ain't no bridge of weir leather.

Looks like Loncky....awesome work!!

You are correct.

Very nice. I’m in line for new leather from @MScruiser as mine is in pretty bad shape too. I’ll stick with his oak color, but the all black look does look nice!

Thank you. MScruiser has a very nice product from what I can see and I'm sure you'll love it. Color preference is subjective and sticking with the oak is a good choice, I considered it but wanted to try something different.

Thanks! Ill have the next batch done soon too.

Great job, @Metric997 ! Very nice stitching too.

Than you, but I'm sure your stitch work is better than mine, it's been years since it stitched a wheel.

 

[ajordan1975]

Man that came out great!

 

[mderrick]

looks great! I just emailed the seller to see if they would do it in 4 pieces rather than the 3...

 

[Metric997]

looks great! I just emailed the seller to see if they would do it in 4 pieces rather than the 3...

Curious to hear what their response is.

 

[tom2k]

The wheel of the very first photo and the wheel with the leather cover on (un-sewn) are two different wheels. Are you really showing the wheel you restore here?

 

[edfirebird68]

DIG THE JIG!!

HAHA USED TSP! That man knows whats up!.... I can respect that. Mold release...
Please link leather supplier or pm if proper.
Thx
ED

 

[Metric997]

The wheel of the very first photo and the wheel with the leather cover on (un-sewn) are two different wheels. Are you really showing the wheel you restore here?

If you had read the first sentence in my post, you would understand why they're different. I just didn't take pictures of the stitching process the second time around, and figured I'd provide the pictures of the process that I did have. But if you require something more confirming, look below.

 

[Delta VS]

That looks awesome! Very nice attention to detail there, good work.

 

[96FZJ80]

That looks great. Really like how the all black ties in with the dash. This is now on my list, need to ditch the Walmart wheel cover as it's starting to split at the seam. Thanks for sharing.

 

[btslaser]

Do you have a link for the silicone cover on Amazon?

 

[tom2k]

Please post more photos of the wheel uninstalled where repaired of the rubber and also close up stitching, if possible.
Thank you very much.