I’m looking to wrap my flat bottom steering wheel in alcantara. Anyone have experience purchasing this item and wrapping their steering wheel, photos please. IMHO this will be a great look and feel for my jag, and add to an otherwise beautiful interior. I’ve searched various websites and would appreciate any comments and advice. My interior is brogue and I’m looking for a dark grey alcantara with stitching that’s complimentary to my interior.
cheers Frank

 

Are you taking about a DIY kit of some sort out sending your wheel to a shop to do it?

 

I’m looking for a DIY kit that I or a professional will install. Thanks for your quick response
cheers Frank

 

Am not familiar with any DIY kits but I had sent mine to Dallas Customs (I believe that’s what they are called which a lot of Porsche owners have used). It’s not perfect but much better than the sticky leather from when I bought the car. And it matches nicely with my suede seats.

 

Thanks for the info I’ll check them out. I prefer not to remove and send out my steering wheel but have a professional install the wrap. Your steering wheel looks great, I also have ivory stitching. Would you do anything differently?
cheers Frank

 

You will have to remove the steering wheel in order to get the controls out so the fabric can be tucked behind it but if local shop is doing it, then time without the wheel can be reduced but it does need to be removed either way.

 

Out of interest how long is the alcantera supposed to last on the wheel before the flat spot start appearing ?

 

am not sure myself as this is my first alcantera steering wheel but I have seen videos on cleaning them. I would assume it's a bit more maintenance compared to a leather wheel. after a little over a year and probably 1.5k miles, I'm happy with mine so far.

 

Sounds nuts, but I heard if you use baby wipes monthly or so they last a lot longer.

 

Ledermanz on Ebay makes some fantastic steering wheels.

 

I had Alcantera in my Nissan 370Z. The interior was a combination of leather and Alcantera. I thought it was a way for Nissan to cheap out on the cost with the Alcantera as the seat inserts and on the door panels.

I have to say, after experiencing the way the the Alcantera wore on the armrest I would be very hesitant to have it on a steering wheel. I think the oils from one's hands plus the natural wear are going to show up poorly after a few years. I know Craaaazzy is pleased with his but it will be an expensive mod and expensive again if you decide to remove it and re-do in leather again.

 

Thanks everyone, after reviewing posts and communicating with redline goods who also stated alcantara is not for everyone, I’ve decided to look at leather wraps. I’ve drive over 5,000 so far this year so it gets used. My steering wheel is very smooth and shiny, not to my liking. I’ll look at shades of grey or black that are mooted with contrasting stitching. Thank you all for your comments

 

I've read there are fifty to choose from ...

 

Just FYI, I also have a flat-bottomed wheel and tried a DIY suede cover. I only got partially through the install before realizing it would not work. The reason is that the bulges in thickness at 10:00 and 2:00 mean the cover must be custom fit to the wheel. Otherwise there will be gaps where the cover doesn't meet itself from both sides at those spots.

 

this is definitely a concern for me. need to look into Alcantara cleaning and getting it on a schedule. Porsches and BMWs and other manufactures have been selling specific models with it so hopefully it can’t be that bad.

 

Alcantara is just an Italian version of Ultrasuede. It's a polyester and polyurethane, man made product. It is actually pretty tough and does clean fairly easily. We use ultrasuede in aircraft, mostly for headliners. While it developed a terrible reputation, that was mostly due to people who had no idea how to care for it and were told not to clean it (that's because all aircraft fabrics are treated with fireblock and cleaning it with soap and water can remove the borax based fire block)

I used clean it with dry cleaning solvent (perchlorethane) when that was still available. This would bring it back to perfect condition.

I have come to really like Alcantara and it's American variants.

By the way, that shiny steering wheel can be quickly and easily re-dyed with a flat black leather treatment. That can be done in place.

Search you tube for examples of DIY re-dye. However, I will suggest that "blotting" on the dye will not give a perfect result, I prefer an airbrush.