Ok, here it is. I bought a puma as you can see it
The steering wheel was in pretty sorry state, though the interior is OK
Here you can see the leather has melted away (I hope my English is understandable, it is not native to me, so apologies in advance!)
It was very unpleasant to hold, sticky and feeling dirty
So, the choice was obvious: retrim it!
First step was to take down the airbag (very good description of procedure in How to!)
And the steering wheel is out!
Old bits of leather trim....
The steering wheel without them
Note the recess in thickness; puma steering wheel is NOT all covered with leather! This will be dealt with later...
Making cutting drawing/plan (btw, this is a gent who is magician when it comes to car interiors; as I type it he is retrimming a complete mini clubman interior including the roof; his effort would embarass a Bentley owner....)
Making a trimming lines for the upper and lower parts of steering wheel that were not originally covered in leather using some spare leather that is easier to work with
And here it is: done and transferred to paper!
All the bits lined up together; they will be used for the wheel!
Stiched together. He suggested using blue thread (is that the right word?) but I thought it might be a overkill so kept low profile with black...
First trial fit...
Checking everything is ok, especially with the stich lines..
Time to deal with that recess in the wheel. Using some rubbery spounge to fill it in
And glueing it in place
Getting there....
Stiching it all together to get the nice tension and follow of a curves in wheel...
Hot air for drying the glue and allowing the leather to sit in properly..
Trimming it to perfection
And the wheel is done! Ready for fittment in puma!
And that is how it looks now. Million times better!
Driving my puma now makes me smile every second as I hold the steering wheel which is now completely covered in leather.
EDIT: all images are now hosted on imgur.
The steering wheel was in pretty sorry state, though the interior is OK
Here you can see the leather has melted away (I hope my English is understandable, it is not native to me, so apologies in advance!)
It was very unpleasant to hold, sticky and feeling dirty
So, the choice was obvious: retrim it!
First step was to take down the airbag (very good description of procedure in How to!)
And the steering wheel is out!
Old bits of leather trim....
The steering wheel without them
Note the recess in thickness; puma steering wheel is NOT all covered with leather! This will be dealt with later...
Making cutting drawing/plan (btw, this is a gent who is magician when it comes to car interiors; as I type it he is retrimming a complete mini clubman interior including the roof; his effort would embarass a Bentley owner....)
Making a trimming lines for the upper and lower parts of steering wheel that were not originally covered in leather using some spare leather that is easier to work with
And here it is: done and transferred to paper!
All the bits lined up together; they will be used for the wheel!
Stiched together. He suggested using blue thread (is that the right word?) but I thought it might be a overkill so kept low profile with black...
First trial fit...
Checking everything is ok, especially with the stich lines..
Time to deal with that recess in the wheel. Using some rubbery spounge to fill it in
And glueing it in place
Getting there....
Stiching it all together to get the nice tension and follow of a curves in wheel...
Hot air for drying the glue and allowing the leather to sit in properly..
Trimming it to perfection
And the wheel is done! Ready for fittment in puma!
And that is how it looks now. Million times better!
Driving my puma now makes me smile every second as I hold the steering wheel which is now completely covered in leather.
EDIT: all images are now hosted on imgur.