I put my new steering wheel cover on yesterday and it looks great. Here is an
article I wrote up for the Brickline.
Maintaining Your Steering Wheel
By Scott Isensee
Bricklins have a leather wrapped steering wheel. Over time, leather dries out
and cracks. To keep your steering wheel looking good as long as possible, you
should treat it with a leather conditioner periodically. If the color fades,
use black leather dye to restore the original color.
If the leather starts to fall apart or you are unhappy with the appearance,
it is time to get the wheel recovered. Some of the Bricklin parts vendors can
have this done for you. It is, however, fairly expensive and I have heard it
can sometimes take months to get your steering wheel back. I didn't want to
stop driving my Bricklin for an extended time just to get the steering wheel
fixed so I looked for a way to repair it myself.
The Bricklin steering wheel is thicker than most. I looked through all the
local auto parts stores and searched the web, but couldn't find anyone
offering a standard steering wheel cover that would fit. I did, however, find
one company that would make a custom cover in any size. The URL is
http://www.wheelskins.com/appch.htm . For $39.99 plus $5 shipping they made
me a black leather cover that fit perfectly and looks close to the original.
The size I ordered was 14 <" x 4 3/8". That fit over the top of the old
cover. It adds approximately <" to the thickness of the steering wheel. If
you don't want yours to be that thick, you can remove the old cover and
adjust the dimensions appropriately. The new cover doesn't include the
leather that extends onto the spokes of the steering wheel so be sure to
leave that in place. If you don't care about originality, Wheelskins has many
other colors and combinations to choose from.
You install the new cover by wrapping it around the wheel and lacing it up
tight. There are detailed instructions in the box. It is helpful to have some
sewing ability. I talked my wife into helping. You have to skip three sewing
holes in the cover at each spoke of the wheel. This area will pucker. I
bought some glue intended for leather and glued the cover down against each
spoke using a clamp to hold it in place until it dried.
The end result is a steering wheel that looks like new. Now it should be good
for another 27 years.
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