I wrote a write-up a while back about how, following an accident, a worn leather leader and have gotten a lot of in order to it. Still, to be honest with you, it’s what I call an instant fix, not an excellent permanent deal like what a person needs in this business. Consequently, today, I’m gonna produce it a little differently and provide the right way to repair a new worn leather steering wheel.
The many types of leather in today’s vehicles are dyed with a structured water dye. It’s not only safer for the environment, which we all know is extensive right now but recharging options more flexible and better for the leather itself.
In the last post, I wrote My spouse and gave you a quick fix employing a solvent-based dye. I am just not saying that if you were in a pinch that employing a solvent based would be an awful thing, but like My spouse and I said, it’s a quick fix; there is practically nothing you would want to do for the customer that’s expecting a long-lasting repair.
The basics are indifferent in using a decline cloth to avoid aerosol getting on the instrument -panel, and the prepping is kind of the same too. But what I am just here to do is to demonstrate the right way to do this.
With that said, here we get.
After you’ve put your decline cloth behind the tire, wrapping it around to ensure no overspray is sure to get where you don’t want it for you to, take a scotch Brite bed and my prepping answer and clean the leather tire good, making sure you get the spine of the steering wheel too. Nothing bugs me more than seeing a steering wheel that has been fixed, and all they have done is repair the front. When you look over the windshield from the outside, things you see, umm, the back from the steering wheel, so clean entirely around.
Once you have it thoroughly clean, it’s time to address the actual wear that has been done to the actual leather.
If the leather offers frayed, that grayness (not sure if that’s anything, but it fits) needs to be sanded down smooth. You do this in particular, using various grits of sandpaper, dried-out and wet sanding, and the use of leather-filling substances.
I will begin with a heavier grit, 240 usually, but sometimes even 120, to get there just a little quicker. Wet the papers with my prepping remedy and start sanding. The preparing solution will break through the dye already there right now and smear around a tad; use this to your advantage; it kind of works as a filler and helps simplify things out quicker. Mud until it becomes dry. Subsequently, move up to finer granules like 400, and do a similar. If it’s not as smooth as you want, move up to the even finer grit sandpaper like a 600. At this time, you may still use the wet grinding technique, or you can dry mud it; this will depend on how much damage you’re dealing with.
After getting the area reasonably smooth, it is advisable to seal the leather using your water-based grip bottom part; this will not only help your compounds to stick better nevertheless make your repair easier to help with and last a lot much longer in the end. I do this by using my grip base in a squirt bottle and putting a bit onto a folded, soaked paper towel, then c it over the leather tire.
After you have sealed the leather-based, it’s time to break out your leather repair compounds. I have found that applying it together with your finger is the easiest after trying to use a pallet-cutting knife; kinda hard to curve your pallet knife around this type of tight curve. The compound I use the most on leather-based steering wheels is the aged Leather Crack Filler, or I’ll even use Viper Items Leather.
Extreme Fill. Each works well with using it with your finger, and each stay put well too. We primarily use the Leather Split Filler first, then basically need to fill more minor defects, then I’ll use the Leather-based Extreme Fill. I’ve found that this Leather Crack fill simply works best; it stands out nicely and remains put when sanding.
The biggest thing to remember within repairing a worn leather-based steering wheel is to get it as sleek as possible; the less quantity of leather repair compounds you apply, the better. It’s much less to go wrong later than a better chance of the chemical dyes sticking in the end.
One other suggestion I can give you is within the Chrysler leather steering tires, and it’s on these just. I have found this. Not sure why they do this, but they perform. The dye golf balls up and make the controls look rough. You can sand this if you want. However, I have found a better way of coping without wearing my arm out trying to fine sand the dye down sleek. Take a terry cloth hand towel and some lacquer thinner, and rub the dye away with the
drenched towel. This will take it into the leather and make this nice and smooth. Sometimes you will need to sand a bit afterward to get the raw leather sleek, but you will be surprised by the time and energy this will help you save. Once you’re done, you can fill and seal the actual raw leather and then color it to match.
After all the defects are sanded, filled, and smooth, you will need to prep the actual leather for dye. I will wipe the leather tire down with my readying solution, be careful not to scrub the filler out, and subsequently apply another coat involving the grip base. This ensures the dye will remain and not come off later the next day.
Now it’s time to apply your regular water-based dye to match.
This can be done in a couple of ways: remove it or aerosol it with a paint gun or a private. I almost always spray these dyes; it just looks more attractive in the end, and less dye is usually wasted, but that is absolutely up to you. I have found it’s better also to run the vehicle when you’re dying the buckskin steering wheel because you can typically position the wheel where you need it, plus you’re not trying to dye using your gun upside down. Remember the spine of the leather steering wheel way too: )
Some people, after death, will stop and call it OK, which is OK because the fabric dyes I use are ready to spray and don’t need anything else. Nevertheless, I like to topcoat all my fabric dyes with a clear water-structured topcoat; to me, it just presents more of a barrier to wear besides making the repair last longer. I take advantage of a low gloss topcoat employed with a spray gun, the same as the dye.
Now I still no longer stop there either… This is the little trick I invented kinda on my own. I found some of the leather steerings that added wheels, after being repaired and dyed, just felt dry out and didn’t look all-natural. What I do is implement a water-based buckskin conditioner, and then I use a leather wax or even chap wax. This may not only restore the natural oils lost in the repair procedure but make the leather controls look and feel factory. The polish also protects the leather-based from water and creams that may get on later. It just makes the leather feel and looks new again!
I use products in all my repairs that tend to be from one of what I think is the greatest on the market, Viper Products. Personally, I have tried many different products in the past and found Viper features a higher performance dye as well as compounds than any other I have used before. So proceed to check them out; I think you may be impressed!
I hope this can help more than my final post on how to repair the leather steering wheel. Just remember to consider your time when doing any restoration and use a water-dependent dye on the leather, it is not only safer for you and everyone else, but I promise a person it will look better in the end as well as last a lot longer that is what you wanted in the first place.
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