Best product for cleaning alcantara/suede steering wheels ?

[Slippydiff]

As per the thread title, all suggestions appreciated.
Or is it a case of just using decent interior cleaner heavily diluted and keeping the wheel rim as dry as possible and then drying the alcantara with a microfibre ?

I ask as I did this on my old M3 CSL, and whilst it looked almost "as new" the following morning when the rim had totally dried, it went matted again in next to no time once I started using the car again (and no, I don't have sweaty hands !!)

[Quickmoose]

I was advised to you gentle wipe the wheel with a damp rag and washing up liquid.
And sure enough the rag came away grimey and after a gentle drying with a dry rag. All was well.
Feel free to replace rags with micro fibre towels.... as long as they’re clean, not sure it matters.
This method was used on a re-trimmed wheel from Royal Steering wheels...

[Summit_Detailing]

You need some Raceglaze Alcantara Cleaner -

https://www.elitecarcare.co.uk/product/raceglaze-a...

cheers,

Chris

[Slippydiff]

Summit_Detailing said:

You need some Raceglaze Alcantara Cleaner -

https://www.elitecarcare.co.uk/product/raceglaze-a...

cheers,

Chris

Thank you all. I'll most likely give the RG Alcantara cleaner a go Chris.

A quick follow up for those interested : The alcantara covered item in question, was a 996 GT3 RS gearknob, the alcantara a flattened, hard, shiny and rank mess. Basically it had congealed with numerous days worth of hot, sticky and sweaty palms to its credit.

See this image of an MB steering wheel prior to cleaning, (the wheel rim on the RHS top is how the gearknob was, though I'd say the gear knob in my car was worse)



Removed from the car I used a manual toothbrush dipped in a weak solution of warm water and industrial foaming carpet cleaner. I used the solution sparingly and rubbed the alcantara gently, the years of impregnated black sweat and gunge came out very easily.

Once I was satisfied I'd cleaned all the affected alcantara, I dried it thoroughly with three clean, dry microfibres.

I left the gearknob on top of another clean microfibre on top of a radiator to dry for a couple of hours.
The result was now clean, but wasn't soft to the touch and it didn't match the rest of the unsullied alcantara lower down on the gaiter.

Next up, try an electric shaver to remove the piling. Using the shaver as you would on your face : ie rubbing it over the surface. Actually seemed to worsen the piling. And a closer look at the alcantara indicated that whilst clean, it was actually still compacted and matted beneath the top surface.

Plan B : Use an electric toothbrush (actually, use the other half's electric toothbrush) to make the nap of the alcantara stand up.

Initially I rubbed the tips of the bristles over the surface of the alcantara, but a bit like the electric shaver, it made the piling worse and dragged it across the surface into long "streaks"/piles.

At this point I tried "dabbing" the tips of the bristles on to the surface and holding it in one place with gentle pressure for 5-10 seconds. Result !!
Doing this teases the nap into something less tangled and much softer without piling. In fact if you carry on, it all gets pretty fluffy So don't go too mad when you do this ...

With the alacantara now re-invigorated, fluffy and soft, I once again used the electric shaver to remove the excess fluffiness. But this time I made sure I didn't drag the shaver over/across the surface, so as to avoid any pile "streaking" (new piles being formed and dragged along the surface of the material) rather I gently dabbed the surface with the shaver until all the excess fluff had been removed.

The end result now looks and feels like new.



A couple of applications of good quality Scotchguard and the gearknob should be good for another few years (and be less likely to soak up sweat/gunge from sweaty palms in future too)

Come to think of it, I might start to wear gloves to protect it ....

Edited by Slippydiff on Wednesday 20th February 14:13