My steering wheel looked like total a$$ and I was considering a rewrap. PO had put a cheapo cover over the wheel, and when I pulled that off it had further contributed to the damage to the leather. Significant abrasion showing the undyed leather, lots of little crosshatch marks from the cover, etc. Before sending it off for recovering, I decided to take a shot on the colourlock dye kit.
Before
The colourlock steering wheel kit is a five part kit... cleaner, degreaser, dye/treatment, synthetic 'elephant fat' to rehydrate, and final protection coat. It comes with application sponges and a 240 grit sanding pad, and a cheap pair of plastic gloves.
I started in, cleaning then sanding before applying the degreaser and dye/treatment. After the first application it looked terrible and I was about to quit, but decided to resand and apply a second coat. After the second coat it looked way way better. Went for a third sanding and recoat. At this point it was pretty good, but I could still see marks from the abrasions and where the original dye had completely worn through. The sanding pad was done, so I used some 400 grit paper. The entire wheel got three coats of treatment, with the highly abraded areas getting five coats. Then the elephant fat, giving it overnight to soak in before giving it the final protection product. Overall, I'm really pleased. If this holds up it will be well worth the time and money.
Final result:
And the shifter (which also had the original dye worn through)...
Couple other notes... I removed the steering wheel and did the work on that out of the car. As damaged as the wheel was, it would have been rough to do it in the car... the backside was damaged as well. The sanding pad was cheap and not really doing much of anything after the second sanding... I recommend buying a quality 200ish and 400 grit sanding pad to anyone doing extensive refresh. I didn't even bother using the paper towels and cheap gloves included... microfiber and nitrile gloves are way better. Lastly it took awhile to arrive to me in Hawaii. I think it came from Germany, so plan for a few weeks of shipment depending where you live.
Overall the chemical products seem great, and there was plenty included. I will definitely use all the elephant fat for other leather I have... Long term hold-up of course is the question. The wheel does not look "brand new" but it does look "very well maintained vintage item."
Before
The colourlock steering wheel kit is a five part kit... cleaner, degreaser, dye/treatment, synthetic 'elephant fat' to rehydrate, and final protection coat. It comes with application sponges and a 240 grit sanding pad, and a cheap pair of plastic gloves.
I started in, cleaning then sanding before applying the degreaser and dye/treatment. After the first application it looked terrible and I was about to quit, but decided to resand and apply a second coat. After the second coat it looked way way better. Went for a third sanding and recoat. At this point it was pretty good, but I could still see marks from the abrasions and where the original dye had completely worn through. The sanding pad was done, so I used some 400 grit paper. The entire wheel got three coats of treatment, with the highly abraded areas getting five coats. Then the elephant fat, giving it overnight to soak in before giving it the final protection product. Overall, I'm really pleased. If this holds up it will be well worth the time and money.
Final result:
And the shifter (which also had the original dye worn through)...
Couple other notes... I removed the steering wheel and did the work on that out of the car. As damaged as the wheel was, it would have been rough to do it in the car... the backside was damaged as well. The sanding pad was cheap and not really doing much of anything after the second sanding... I recommend buying a quality 200ish and 400 grit sanding pad to anyone doing extensive refresh. I didn't even bother using the paper towels and cheap gloves included... microfiber and nitrile gloves are way better. Lastly it took awhile to arrive to me in Hawaii. I think it came from Germany, so plan for a few weeks of shipment depending where you live.
Overall the chemical products seem great, and there was plenty included. I will definitely use all the elephant fat for other leather I have... Long term hold-up of course is the question. The wheel does not look "brand new" but it does look "very well maintained vintage item."
Last edited:
