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New steering wheel

29K views 70 replies 24 participants last post by  MadStyle 
#1 · (Edited)
Whew! Well that took a lot of time and patience but the finished product looks amazing!

It's real leather so I'm hoping it holds up to the test of time. Compared to the stock steering wheel leather it's worlds better.

Steering part Steering wheel Vehicle Speedometer Car


Land vehicle Vehicle Car Steering wheel Steering part


Vehicle Auto part Car Steering part Steering wheel


Steering part Steering wheel Carbon Auto part Vehicle


Vehicle Car Carbon Steering wheel



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#12 ·
My ocd is killing me though. The top two leather stitches that separate the perforated section to the solid leather section are alittle crooked to the left, not perfectly center over the top of the steering wheel. It took a lot of time and patience to line everything up but somehow I still missed that. Alittle tug to the right prior to taping it up would have fixed it. Oh well!


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#21 ·
Two questions

Whew! Well that took a lot of time and patience but the finished product looks amazing!

It's real leather so I'm hoping it holds up to the test of time. Compared to the stock steering wheel leather it's worlds


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Was it hard to tuck the edges in between the old wheel and the spokes? I checked the gap between the spoke trim and the wheel and it's pretty tight.

Also did the added thickness of the new wrap interfere with the shift paddle travel? The leather angles in on the rear of the 3 and 9 o'clock spoke where it is right to the front of the paddle's travel. It's a small area, but still concerned that it may restrict pulling forward on the paddle.

It really boggles my mind that Mazda would cheap out on the area of the car where your hands touch most often. And the marketing hyperbole that mentioned the wheel uses high quality Japanese leather is laughable. That one thing I loved about my Golf R, the wheel was soooooo nice to look at and to hold.

The new wheel from the CX9 is a step in the right direction but could also benefit from a bit more thickness.
 
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#22 · (Edited)
Was it hard to tuck the edges in between the old wheel and the spokes? I checked the gap between the spoke trim and the wheel and it's pretty tight.

Also did the added thickness of the new wrap interfere with the shift paddle travel? The leather angles in on the rear of the 3 and 9 o'clock spoke where it is right to the front of the paddle's travel. It's a small area, but still concerned that it may restrict pulling forward on the paddle.

It really boggles my mind that Mazda would cheap out on the area of the car where your hands touch most often. And the marketing hyperbole that mentioned the wheel uses high quality Japanese leather is laughable. That one thing I loved about my Golf R, the wheel was soooooo nice to look at and to hold.

The new wheel from the CX9 is a step in the right direction but could also benefit from a bit more thickness.

I thought the same think about tucking but you'd be surprised how much they move when you put the trim tool in there. There is more than plenty of room.

The leather is not as thick as you think. It's 100% leather with raw hide on the rear but it's easily to work with. The hardest part was tucking it in near the paddles just trying to get the trim tool in there, not to mention not really being able to see very well since its on the backside. The paddles don't have much movement to them and it doesn't even come close to touching them. The leather quality and thickness of the wheel reminds me of my Lexus. It's shockingly identical.

The worst part is that once you install it you sadly realize now much of your vehicle is not real leather. As a matter of fact the only part on are cars that is real leather are the seats bolsters and that's only on GT models. The door trim, center ark rest and everything else is pleather or vinyl.

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#23 ·
I just saw it on Ali Express for $20, there are also different options for the color of the thread (for stitching). But it says shipping can take 1 month.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hand...2657694915.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.56.Trmx3k

But if it isn't an urgent mod then I think getting it for a 1/3rd of the price makes it an absolute steal! I think I'm going to pull the trigger on this as for $20 bucks it seems like a no brainer.

Good job on stitching the cover on your wheel, it looks great.
 
#26 · (Edited)
I should have mentioned this in the first thread but don't buy from Aliexpress! I went that route with the first cover because I thought the same thing, $20 is cheaper than $60. It only took alittle over a week to get to me.

The cover was not real leather, it was also significantly thicker which made tucking nearly impossible in some areas and it came up short in every single area. It left a 1/16 of an inch gap all around the steering wheel between the threads and never came close to touching. It also wasn't cut for the two hand grips up top so the gap increased greatly to about 1/8 inch in that area. It also came up short above the steering wheel controls so I couldn't try tucking it if I wanting to. It looked horrendous so I cut it off and filed a complaint and got a full refund. The one off Amazon is a perfect fit, high quality and real leather. You get what you pay for but you won't be disappointed.


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#29 ·
I've got a beautiful suede steering wheel cover that I've been holding onto because of the impending pain in the ass I know it will be to thread it (it's done the same as 95's), but after seeing how great theirs turned out I might have to take the plunge.




I'm off through Labor Day starting tomorrow so there's not going to be a better time!
 
#33 ·
Well I removed all the stitching from the top half of the steering wheel and redid it while also slightly repositioning to make it perfectly even. Practice really makes it perfect. I can probably do the whole steering wheel on just over an hour now. I'm very satisfied with the results and you cannot tell it's not OEM now. The quality of the stitching is flawless. There are a lot of lessons to be learned doing this, mainly with how to begin and end a thread.

A few tips...

Use the supplied double sided tape, it's a must. Especially of the section near the paddle shifts and controls.

Make sure everything is lined up perfectly before stitching. You only have one shot to get this right.

Add the tape after you put the cover on the wheel. Instructions will tell you to do it before but it's a lot harder to fit the cover with the tape already in it.

Stitch every other hole like the instructions ask. This method looks best and allows you to tighten properly. Stitch every hole only at the corners, 3 o'clock and 9' o'clock. Follow the every hole stitch through the back of the wheel.

Stitch the top part of the wheel in one giant stitch, don't break it up into sections.

Tighten, tighten, tighten! The cover is stronger than you realize but the if you pull the thread it will only tighten about 1-2 loops back. I went back every 10 stitches or so and tightened with the needle by lifting and tightening every thread I made all the way back. Trust me when I say this very very important.

Here's how the backside should look...

Helmet Steering part Vehicle Automotive design Steering wheel
Car seat cover Vehicle Car seat Steering wheel Car


Every other loop looks best.
Steering wheel Steering part Auto part Tire Carbon



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#34 ·
Just received mine tonight. Probably wont get to installing until the weekend. I'm still trying to figure out how to contort my arms to reach around the backside of the wheel near the paddles. Can't wait to see how the dark gray thread looks.

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