How to refinish your steering wheel

[Prodigalson]

Items needed (I purchased the Fiebings products and the wool daubers on Amazon. Total cost was approximately $35);
-Fiebings Deglazer
-Fiebings black dye
-Fiebings Resolene
-Soft cotton cloths
-Disposable gloves
-Foam brush
-Wool daubers



*BE SURE TO USE GLOVES FOR EVERY STEP! If you get dye on your skin you'll be staring at it for days!Also, do this in an area where you don’t mind getting dye on stuff. This dye will stain anything! Even stainless steel!

**You will no longer have red stitching if you do this** You might try to avoid dyeing the stitch areas, but I am very doubtful as to the likelihood of success with this approach.

Remove the steering wheel. I used the Corksport instructions provided for their replacement steering wheel. Follow their procedure until you have everything removed from the steering wheel.





Deglazer is used to remove the factory sealant coating. If the factory sealant coating is not removed, the dye will not be fully absorbed by the leather, resulting in an uneven finish. Put on a pair of rubber gloves before you begin. Using a terry cloth rag, pour enough deglazer on it to soak the rag, then rub/scrub the steering wheel with it. Remoisten the rag periodically as it evaporates quickly. Be sure not to neglect any areas.



As soon as the deglazer step is completed, begin applying dye. The daubers hold a lot of liquid, so be careful to squeeze off excess by pulling it across the edge of the container. Coat all surfaces of the steering wheel.



Allow to dry overnight, then inspect to ensure all areas are sufficiently dyed. If not, add more as needed and allow to dry overnight.

Once satisfied with the dyeing, and after you have waited overnight for the last dye coat to cure/dry, use a soft cotton cloth (I used an old, clean T-Shirt), and buff the leather. If the steering wheel is sticky, use some deglazer on a fresh terry cloth towel to remove excess dye.


Once steering wheel is buffed to a nice gloss and dry from any deglazer you may have used, take the foam brush, dip it in water, then squeeze it in a clean rag to remove excess water (foam should be damp). Dip into the Resolene, brush off excess and begin applying to steering wheel. Once the wheel has been completely coated, continue to brush with foam brush until the Resolene has been absorbed. You should see a very nice gloss at this point. Set aside overnight. On mine, I noticed that the upper part of the steering wheel where the finish originally was the worst needed a second layer. Wait another night for the acrylic coating to fully cure, then reassemble and reinstall steering wheel. You'll be pleased with the results.

[sharksinspace]

Shiny! How much did these products run you, all told? I absolutey love the CS wheel in my juan, but I'm sure there are many people who would much prefer a cheaper refinishing option over dropping, like, $350 on a full upgrade.

[Prodigalson]

Added the cost of the supplies. Thanks for the feedback. Anyone know how resize the pictures?

[pwdunmore]

I was about to do this myself, thanks for the walk through lol... I guess I wasn't the only one thinking about redying the leather instead of dropping money on a new wheel.

Great minds think alike! Thanks @Prodigalson;