rust war conscript
Anyone tried re-stitching themselves? Any advice?
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Member
Have not tried to repair those stiches but I have used Wheelskins several times before with excellent results.
https://wheelskins.com/
Good luck
Old Guy
BMW CCA MemberI might have to try that myself for my E36. The leather and stitching is still in good shape but the color is badly worn.Originally Posted by Mike2002
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paper mechanic
i kinda like the sport wheel when it's just a little worn in and the black is going to brown. i had a look at the vid that company has on youtube and the wheels look awful. i'd probably get it done professional when the time comes for mine. it's an oof of a cost though.
paper mechanic
you can buy leather lace to do the repair and there are online vids on the correct stitching. the leather is usually degraded to the point the lace will simply rip through it though in most instances, if it hasn't degraded to that point already.
it's unfortunate, but the best fix is almost always a good re-wrap
rust war conscript
82eye, I’m all for the worn-in look too. I think the leather on this one is actually okay, so I’ll look up how to stitch and see what happens. With the rest of this car the way it is, it would be really weird to have a re-covered wheel
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paper mechanic
82eye, I’m all for the worn-in look too. I think the leather on this one is actually okay, so I’ll look up how to stitch and see what happens. With the rest of this car the way it is, it would be really weird to have a re-covered wheel
check local upholststery shops and and the like too. sometimes there are guys that will re-lace them if the leather is good enough.
rust war conscript
I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to consult my housemate who actually makes leather things… like this handbag which she gave to me a few years ago (!!!)
So she and I looked at the stitching on the wheel and figured out how to do it. She has all the right needles and thread, and agreed that the leather looks decent. I’ll post pics once we get it sewed up
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paper mechanic
perfect !I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to consult my housemate who actually makes leather things… like this handbag which she gave to me a few years ago (!!!)
So she and I looked at the stitching on the wheel and figured out how to do it. She has all the right needles and thread, and agreed that the leather looks decent. I’ll post pics once we get it sewed up
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rust war conscript
Investigation of the situation; what IS this stitch? How many threads? How does it work?
IMG_7984bf.jpg
I had to very carefully prick threads apart and used a seam ripper on a few looped parts to sort out what was going on. Turns out it's a standard hexagonal stitch, not at all uncommon on Euro cars' steering wheels as I gather. There are a total of five threads. On each lip of the leather where it comes together, there is an "under" thread and an "over" thread. The under thread looks like it might have been sealed into place with some sort of adhesive originally. It is laid flat along the leather on the wheel side. The "over" thread is passed down through the hole, around the under thread, back up through the same hole, and then lays flat along the leather over to the next hole, where it goes down, around the under thread, up again through the same hole, and so on. These two threads make up what's happening on the leather, each side, at the seam, and then there is a fifth thread that zig-zags between the "over" thread on each side to stitch them together. Really a nice stitch imo. Good job, guys.
Ok so once I had that figured out I assessed the condition of each of the five threads and decided that for the portion shown in these pics, I only need to replace two threads: the "over" thread on one side, and the fifth stitching/connecting thread. Here we go with the curved upholstery needle. I decided to go ahead and just get that over thread in there kinda loosely and then let it stretch as I applied the fifth connecting thread. That strategy actually worked really well.
IMG_7985bf.jpg
In the above pic I am just starting the over thread on the one side. Honestly the hardest part of all of this is tying the knots to connect my new thread to the old thread somewhere. The process of doing the actual stitching was really quite easy although my old eyes suck and I had to wear reading glasses and a headlamp for extra light just like your dental hygenist does. I hate having things attached to my head.
IMG_7986bf.jpg
Above, the end result on the first/worst of two sections (the other section only needed a replacement of a 3" section of the fifth connecting thread). I think this turned out pretty good? I did NOT want to ream too hard on the threads to make them taut, lest I risk tearing the leather right through the holes. Fortunately that did not happen, but also Q400 came to my aid and sorta squished the leather toward the seam from the back to help ease tension as I tightened threads, very incrementally. That was super helpful I think. Then when I was done with it all he stole that steering wheel and gave it a cleaning/re-sealing with my favorite leather product, Sno-Seal, giving it extra attention in the areas I had stitched. Then he put it back on the car and drove it off LOL (don't worry, I get to drive it lots tomorrow)
So we'll see how this holds up. I'm really pleased that I now know exactly how this stitch pattern works. If my work unravels or fails somehow, I will simply undo more of it until I get to healthier thread and re-stitch as needed. I feel like it wouldn't be hard to do the entire wheel, to be honest, but I'm a lazy mfer and was just looking to start somewhere for today. You know, Hippocratic Oath and all. I'll keep this thread posted with how this all turns out over time.
//Clio
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