Leather-wrapped steering wheels may be pretty common these days, but that wasn’t always the case. They were once reserved for high-end vehicles and sports cars, providing a luxurious feel and an assured grip. Before airbags became common, aftermarket leather steering wheels were popular upgrades for many car enthusiasts.
Last year, while wandering the swap meet aisles of a local German car show, I happened upon a vintage aftermarket leather steering wheel. When I saw it was embossed with an Audi Sport logo, I quickly texted my friend who has a 1985 Audi Coupe to see if he might be interested. A short while later I left with it. Looking it over more closely on the ride home, I noticed it was missing its leather wrap.
I felt bad for not having noticed that major detail, but told my friend I’d make it right. I’d never wrapped a steering wheel from scratch, but figured I could probably handle the job. After a little online research, I found a picture of the same wheel in original condition and got started. In total, the full restoration took probably 10 hours of time, including a trial-and-error first attempt that didn’t pass my standards.
Here’s what it took to full restore this steering wheel:
Research
The steering wheel I picked up was an Italvolanti “Indianapolis” that was co-branded with Audi Sport artwork. Since the one I’d bought had no leather, I wanted to see a picture of an original wheel for certain details. These might include stitch pattern and location, as well as whether the cover was made in multiple pieces. I discovered the cover was a single piece with the joining stitch located just above the lower right-hand spoke. The original closure used a top-stitch that was double cross-laced with a heavy upholstery thread. A pair of missing stripes, one silver and the other red, had once decorated a the flat surface on one of the horn buttons.
Material
The horn pad was still in good shape and was finished in a dark shade of brown. I had a small sample in my material remnants, but not enough to make a full wheel cover. I visited our local upholstery shop Bux Customs who had a partial hide in a slightly lighter shade. I had them trim off enough to make two full covers for good measure.
Measuring
Using a dressmaker’s measuring tape, I measured the outer diameter of the rim. At approximately 1” thick, I also calculated the inner diameter of the rim. Knowing the leather would stretch, I used the smaller dimension (about 40”) for the length of the cover to prevent too much material from gathering at the seam.
I also had to figure out how wide the cover would be. I needed enough material to close the gap, but not so much that it would be loose. I cut a small sample piece at a dimension that was about ten percent less than the true dimension, allowing for stretch.
Sewing
With my final dimensions, I cut the blank for the cover, allowing an overhang on the edges for seam allowance. Using my trusty old Sears Kenmore sewing machine, I stitched the ends together and had my basic wrap. Contrary to what you might have heard, you don’t need a commercial-grade machine to do upholstery. In fact, I’ve done at least two full interiors from scratch along with countless small projects like this.
Patterning
I chose to skip the original top-stitch/cross-stitch closure method and instead perforate the edges and cross-stitch only. This was based on the fact that my machine’s largest stitch rate in 6 stitches per inch. I needed 4 stitches per inch for it to look right. I made a paper pattern that had marks every 1/4 of an inch; these were also set back from the edge 1/4 of an inch.
My pattern included two lines of stitch marks and was made the exact width of my material. This was critical to ensuring all the stitch holes lined up on both sides of the cover. Using the smallest die on a handheld leather punch, I knocked out all the holes on the template. I then laid out the template where I needed to punch through the leather and marked the back side of the material with a pen. Finally, I used the same leather punch and the smallest die to make all my stitch holes.
Stitching
With all the holes punched, I lined up the cover on the wheel and laced the cover on using a waxed, heavy-weight upholstery thread. I chose a double cross-stitch pattern to most closely match the original pattern, keeping the thread drawn tightly with each passing stitch. This phase was the most tedious and time consuming, taking between 20 and 30 minutes per opening.
Finishing
The final steps involved making fine adjustments to the cover on the wheel to align the stitched seam with the interior centerline of the wheel. A bit of contact adhesive was used to tack down the tabs of leather that covered the spokes where there’s no stitching. And with that, the steering wheel looks like new. While the color is slightly off compared to the original leather, it’s probably not worth trying to match with a special leather paint. All that’s left is to reapply the silver and red stripes to the horn button.
