Recovering steering wheel with suede

[GDII]

I am looking at recovering my standard SW20 steering wheel with black suede. I have been to a local leather store to try to find some but they don't have any suede in stock.

I am trying to figure out what thickness suede to use so that it doesn't stretch too much or rip when the stitching is pulled together. Or alternatively using a medium thickness leather but use the reverse side.

Has anyone done this themselves or would it be best to talk to a car upholster about what is best to buy? I want to do this myself using red stitching rather than pay someone.

[holden_fan2005]

Will be interested to see the outcome.

Go down and have a chat to these dudes if you're passing by. I see you're from Tawa so even better

http://www.kohlrodandcustom.co.nz/where.shtml

[GDII]

I was just thinking after I wrote this that I should just go there as it's just down the road. They even have a van with an ad parked on the main road that I go past every day.

I have seen it done on youtube and fitting it looks reasonably straight forward. Just getting the pattern correct so everything meets up right. Also punching the holes in the correct place for the stitching to look like this /\/\/\/\/\/ is something I am not too sure about. I should probably buy another wheel so I can work on it slowly and get it right. I will also cover the centre (non airbag) part with it. I'll probably lose the Toyota symbol unless I get some really thin suede for the centre.

I have always wanted a Sparco suede wheel but the cost of buying one is too high and they also don't look right in a road car. IMO

[GDII]

I went down to talk to Kohl Rod and Custom and they said to go to their suppliers which is the same shop I went into yesterday. They mainly work with leather but as mentioned before I can just use the grain side of the leather. That's if it is good with no defects.

I have a new gear stick boot that is leather with a nice grain side to it and isn't too thin so I will go to The Leather Shop and find something the same.

[dusk93]

I saw a reasonably good video from that guy Ish from west coast customs (pimp my ride ) He runs the leather/material through a sewing machine with no thread before doing it hand stiching it together so the stiches are evenly placed. he also uses 2 needles to do it so he can pull it tight to get a <<<<<<<< sort of stich.
But if your wanting to do the stiching as you said /\/\/\ you could maybe just use a single needle and do something fancy in the middle for a nice tight join?


Clicky Clicky

[GDII]

That was very helpful to watch. I think to get the stitch style I want I would have to offset one side of the folded leather by half a stitch to get this to work.
It is a single thread over the first side then under the second side then back over the second side then under the first side.
Picture shows it more clearly than I can describe.
If I am doing it in red stitching I have to get it right or it will look horrible.

[tsoob]

give my mate a hit up..

https://www.facebook.com/6Stitch

just add him its his business profile... he just took a steering wheel off me that i had lying around

he will have a chat to you for sure