Any Interest in Having Your Steering Wheel Recovered? (Page 2/7)
css9450 DEC 19, 09:21 AM
Another thing you might want to consider, is that Dallas offers the option of thicker padding under the leather (or an additional layer, or something) which results in a thicker, more contemporary-looking wheel. You'll probably want to offer that too.
Irrationable DEC 19, 09:25 AM

quote
Originally posted by johnyrottin:

I would certainly be interested. I have one that needs to be done. However, with the limitation being that the first set is black I wouldn't be in your first set. If I could offer a suggestion. If I were to embark on this endeavor I would buy a few color lots. They would consist of black, grey, tan, and beechwood color lots. I know that means you would have to expand your payback window to eight steering wheels but it would also expand your pool of candidates. I would gladly pay $100 for a wheel to be recovered seeing as Dallas Steering Wheel charges a multiple of that amount. If you do decide to expand I have at least two to have done, one dark grey factory color and one beechwood factory color.



This is the kind of feedback I was looking for by starting this thread! I realized that color would be another hurdle in doing wheels for others. Given that the seats in my car are done in black, as well as having a black dash and carpets, the black wheel made the most sense for me. However, I know that many of you would likely want to stick with the factory grey/tan/beechwood.

As of right now, doing a wheel in factory colors would require me to purchase the leather from Mr Mikes by the square foot, as my wholesale source likely wouldn't carry an EXACT match. This is not a huge issue, but would require me to charge around $25 more per wheel due to the increase in material cost. Additionally, leather orders from Mr Mike take around 2 weeks to arrive, which would drastically increase the time it would take me to get your wheel back to you. Another option would be for you to buy the leather from Mike yourself, then send it in to me with your wheel (for which I could offer a discount as I would not have to supply the leather)

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"The Twins"
'87 GT 3.4 pushrod daily driver
'88 GT 3.4 DOHC swap in progress

Irrationable DEC 19, 12:26 PM

quote
Originally posted by css9450:

Another thing you might want to consider, is that Dallas offers the option of thicker padding under the leather (or an additional layer, or something) which results in a thicker, more contemporary-looking wheel. You'll probably want to offer that too.



I initially considered offering thicker padding, but it would require me to alter the template dimensions that I currently have. Since this would require some trial and error (and likely result in some wasted materials), I'm opting to focus on restoring wheels to factory specs, as I have this method down to an exact science.

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"The Twins"
'87 GT 3.4 pushrod daily driver
'88 GT 3.4 DOHC swap in progress

tshark DEC 19, 02:07 PM
Hmmm. Some of my Fieros had thin wheels, others had thicker wheels. All were stock. Maybe later years had thicker wheels? My '88 GT & '86 SE had thick wheels, but the '85 had a thin wheel.
Irrationable DEC 19, 02:18 PM
There may be a thickness difference between years, but I was fairly certain that all the three spoke wheels had the same thickness and diameter. I know that some of the earlier years had three spoke GT-style wheels in which the leather only covered an inch or so of the spokes of the wheel.

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"The Twins"
'87 GT 3.4 pushrod daily driver
'88 GT 3.4 DOHC swap in progress

zmcdonal DEC 19, 10:40 PM
When I first saw your original post about doing a tutorial on how to recover a wheel I was very skeptical and I thought there is no way this is going to end well. But I have to say I have to eat my words, that looks awesome! Very nice job! I think you will have a lot of takers at the $100-125 price range even if there is an up charge for material from Mr Mike. I thought I read somewhere about someone using material from Mr Mike for something before and they said it was thicker and more difficult to work with though, so I don't know if that would be an issue or how thick the stuff you are using is.

I would be a customer, at some point in the future for sure! I have a few other big expenses to cover first. I'm not 100% sure what color I'd want, my car has tan interior but it's got a black wheel in it now and it looks decent, but I may want to go back to factory tan.

[This message has been edited by zmcdonal (edited 12-19-2014).]

Irrationable DEC 19, 10:56 PM

quote
Originally posted by zmcdonal:

I thought I read somewhere about someone using material from Mr Mike for something before and they said it was thicker and more difficult to work with though, so I don't know if that would be an issue or how thick the stuff you are using is.



The leather pictured above is actually from Mr Mike's. I wanted the grain and color of my wheel to match the material that was used on my seats, so I opted to order my leather from him. The leather was pretty heavy, but that actually worked well for the steering wheel, as I didn't have to worry about the leather tearing as I pulled the stitching tight.

The shop that I would be buying bulk leather from will match the weight and grain of any sample that you bring to them. I was planning on bringing them a scrap of leftover leather from Mike's since it worked so well on this wheel.

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"The Twins"
'87 GT 3.4 pushrod daily driver
'88 GT 3.4 DOHC swap in progress

Alex4mula DEC 19, 11:04 PM
I don't care about the manual. If I had a wheel I would want you to do it. That looks great! I think $35 for good leather is nothing. But some people here are cheap.
Irrationable DEC 19, 11:32 PM
I agree that $35 for leather from Mike is perfectly reasonable. I've already covered one wheel with it, and will be covering a second one for myself in it within the next few days.

As I stated before, the big issue with Mike's leather is the time that it takes to receive the leather after placing an order. I would hate to keep customers waiting additional time because I hadn't received the leather yet. By purchasing the leather in bulk from a local supplier, I can eliminate this additional wait time.

As far as cost is concerned, I'd like to keep my price affordable while still maintaining a profit margin that makes it worth my time. If buying the same quality leather in bulk locally allows me to shave 20-30 bucks off the price of each wheel, I can offer the wheels that much cheaper.

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"The Twins"
'87 GT 3.4 pushrod daily driver
'88 GT 3.4 DOHC swap in progress

Sonny Burnett 21 DEC 19, 11:45 PM
I'm interested in getting my steering wheel resurfaced. Pm the details or email me