steering wheel cover happiness

[RichC]

by accident I fell across this posting on ebay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FOR-LOTUS-COL ... 3a6f8c00ff
I took a gamble and ordered one which came thru quickly.
Having spent the best part of saturday in front of fire & telly with needles in hand I am very proud owner of a tidied up CC wheel!
after 2 false starts I eventually got the hang of it and ignored the instructions which came with it ..
I used 2 small tapestry needles with blunt ends on a very long length of the thread supplied. Starting with this single thread being pulled through to its midpoint , I then proceeded to sew one end through very tightly leaving about 3 inches left for tieing off. I then threaded the other end though taking care to avoid catching the first thread in the holes & eventually, with a crochet needle, tightened the threads & tied off the ends together. I did this in 3 parts & you can't see where I tied off as its under the wheelcover
(there had been an unsightly 6" split in the seam of the plastic covering of the steering wheel ever since i owned the car & i sort of got used to it )
Can't wait to see how it feels .
Rich

[Mazzini]

Nice job, looks very professional.

[john.p.clegg]

The listing says Elan,how do you know the size?


John

[jerryh]

I fitted one of these to my wheel and found it straight forward, to make sure it accurately fits you give the guy two measurements one of the outside circumference of the wheel and one of the grip circumference and he custom makes each one with nice quality leather.


Jerry

[john.p.clegg]

Nice....

John

[snowyelan]

Hi Rich

Does the leather cover come with the holes for the stitching pre-pierced? I know my sewing abilities wouldn't be able to keep the stitching even...

Thanks

[RichC]

yes u use the same holes as per seam stitches.
The instructions recommend you just loop your thread thru the seam stitches which is completely naff . Goin thru the holes is a knack u develop and using blunt needles helps a lot .
I didn't know the size and had a sinking feeling after i'd ordered ... but this one fits the +2 wheel even though the ebay title says elan.............!
elan wheel is smaller , right?

[RichC]

yes u use the same holes as per seam stitches.
The instructions recommend you just loop your thread thru the seam stitches which is completely naff . Goin thru the holes is a knack u develop and using blunt needles helps a lot .
I didn't know the size and had a sinking feeling after i'd ordered ... but this one fits the +2 wheel even though the ebay title says elan.............!
elan wheel is smaller , right?

[RogerFrench]

Inspired by the original post I have ordered one, it was shipped today.

Fingers crossed!

[pharriso]

Inspired by the original post I have ordered one, it was shipped today.

Fingers crossed!

Can you take before & after pictures?

[gherlt]

Asked the seller about some details, he responded:

This cover is made to put on top of the original one
please check our fiting instruction on youtube
this is link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvAkrMajAno

[pharriso]

Oh, shucks, I thought it was a replacement skin, not a cover! Mine has a (very good) cover already.

Looks like I'll still have to use the wheel restorer in the UK...

[Bud English]

Rich, the way you stitched yours looks far superior to the stitching they show in the video. That makes no sense. Stitching to stitching looks like a weak link to me.

[john.p.clegg]

Maybe..

."to make sure it accurately fits you give the guy two measurements one of the outside circumference of the wheel and one of the grip circumference and he custom makes each one with nice quality leather."...

If one has a bare wheel with the measurements..?

"and ignored the instructions which came with it "...and the video...

and cross-stitch it as per Rich's instructions..?

You'll end up with a decent job...

John

[RichC]

yeah all you gotta do if you lost the original skin is to cut out a thin layer of neoprene or that dense white plastic packing sheet (not bubble wrap lol!) or something similar and place this between the cover and the wheel . I can see that working very well....