"Project Thickgrip" AKA The ultimate homemade steering wheel.

[Cornpanzer]

With my sucess last year in recovering an RS 380mm steering wheel, I decided to tackle a ST/RSR style thickgrip wheel. I will also be incorporating my replica factory hub spacer to make for a more comfortable driving position.

Often incorrectly referred to as a "double-wrapped" wheel, the thick grip wheel was based on the base hard plastic 380mm wheel (as opposed to the RS wheel which had a hard foam rubber core) with a layer of felt and thin cotton padding below the leather - not two layers of leather. Thanks to Jeff Smith for showing me his original RSR wheel dissected. (pics below)



So, I found a $15.00 1971 or earlier hard plastic wheel at a swap meet for the project. First step was to drill out the rivits which attached the hub followed by refinishing the spokes and then taping them off for protection.




The next step was to clean the rim and cover it with felt purchased from my local fabric store. I ended up using two layers of felt to match the thickness of the originals. 3M Spray adhesive was used to apply the felt


Notice that the felt does not cover the spoked areas of the rim.


And here is the wheel wrapped in felt.



Next step - making the cover.

[Cornpanzer]

The cover is the really tricky part. If you recall last year I searched long and hard for a piece of leather which was similar to the OEM stuff. Most of the steering wheel restos that I see are way to grainy and textured. I found a local supplier that was able to provide me with a hide that was very smooth and supple and just the right thickness.

You dont want to thick of a piece of leather because it wont stretch like you need it to!

Here is the catch. If you have an original cover, you can use it as a pattern, but that pattern wont be accurate as it has 35 years of stretching built into it. Your new cover must be smaller than the old so that you can stretch it into place for a tight fit. Of course each leather is slightly different, so there is no magic measurement. So, what to do????

Cut a chunk of leather from your scrap and use it as a trial. In my case, a piece 3 1/4" wide was perfect. I used an awl to punch stitch holes every 1/4 inch in my trial piece and stitched it in place to verify that it was tight, yet not stretched too much.

(note that I incorporated a thin cotton sheet just like the OEM)





So, after one or two of these experiments, you can dial in your width. But wait - dont cut yet, you need to mark your spoke flaps before you start cutting!

The spoke flaps are really tricky. You need to cut these flaps longer and wider than you will need so that you can sneak up on the fit. Remember, you are going to have a lot of stretching when you fit this cover to the wheel, so you may find that your measured location of the flaps could be 1/2" off of what you originally measured, so leave plenty of material to trim later.

You want to sew the ends of the cover together about 1/2" shorter than the actual circumference of the wheel so that it stretches a bit. Once again, leave yourself plenty of material and study this closely before you cut!

next up, Skiving the ends before you sew them together.

[Cornpanzer]

Well, after spending an hour on two posts that would have been better spent working on my wheel, I will get back to this when this broken down site is working properly again.

[t6dpilot]

Dave, as you know from our recent discussions, this is an awesomely timed post with great photos. Thanks! I too am attempting a DIY recover an RS style of wheel on my foam core RS style wheel (obtained from one of my Midwest buddies ) - thank you. I am looking forward to seeing photos of the skiving process. I also want to see how you sewed the ends together - looks tricky. So, I am surprised to see the cotton layer. Is that an ST/RSR only item or on the RS wheel also. My wheel did not have the cotton layer and I am really not wanting to do that because it looks like it really adds to the complexity.

Thanks for the great post Dave.

[Cornpanzer]

Scott,
The cotton was just on the RSR/ST wheels (or at least the one that I have seen cut apart)

[Cornpanzer]

Ok, so here is a picture of a cheap skiving tool. I am sure that there are higher quality examples out there, but this was $7 and it works well for what I need. When you buy one, get an extra pack of blades as you go through them very quickly.



Essentially, you drag the skiving tool across the edge of the leather to thin it down so that it can be folded over to create a nice clean edge which is no thicker than the surrounding material. The factory did this at the seam on the bottom of the wheel as well as at the end of each spoke. This is where most recover jobs fall short IMO, the spoke edges are cut off raw instead of folded over.


Here is what it looks like once you have skived it. The edge is paper thin. Practice this on a scrap a few times as it is easy to go too far!



Once you have the ends skived, you can stich them together, then glue the flaps over the stitching creating a hoop approx 1/2" smaller than the circumference of your wheel.
I wish I could explain the stitching, but I am not that good. If you dont have a factory wheel to copy, I would suggest investing in a stitching book or picking one up at the library.

[Cornpanzer]

Once you have your cover cut to size and all your holes punched, you can fit it to the wheel. In the pictures you will notice a big mistake I made of using tape to hold it in place. Not a problem if it is on for a short time, but if you leave it on overnight, the tape could pull some of the finish off your leather....DOH! (I now have a small 1/2" dia mark on my wheel that I will have to have repaired)

In this pic you can see what I was saying about making the circumference smaller than the wheel. In doing so, the natural result is that it actually starts wrapping itself and stays in place while you are working. The second advantage is that there is now less material on the i.d. of the rim that must be squeezed together without wrinkles.



Below is a picture of the spoke area. You can see how the edge is nicely folded under and glued.



Like I mentioned earlier, it is best to leave these spoke flaps cut long and wide until you have the cover on the wheel. You have to be obsessive about the fit here and carefully trim them to fit. Remember, each seam has to start with a gap that you then stretch closed so that the leather fits tight!

Obviously the stitching around the wheel is a normal "X" stitch. However, I have seen both an "X" as well as a baseball stitch on the spokes. It probably came down to who was doing the job that day. Honestly, the spokes are so short with these thick grip wheels that it doesnt really matter.

[Cornpanzer]

This is how far I have made it as of this evening. If you are considering doing this project to try and save some money....HA!!! Your time is worth more than that. However, if you are handy and would like to challenge yourself , go for it.
How hard is it? Well, if your last family wallpaper job nearly ended up in a murder/suicide, you may want to skip it. If you have the skill set to do wallpapering and basic upholstery style work, there is no reason that you cant do this. You have to be obsessive about detail and be able to visualize the potential results of each step you take.

[Tom F.]

Absolutely great post. Thank you for taking the time to show us.

Are you steaming the leather to shrink it onto the indentations on the back of the wheel? Are you gluing the cover anywhere on the rim?

[robmog]

that is so cool!
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