Alcantara suede steering wheels

[toppstuff]

Do they lose their finish, go all shiny and tired looking?

I've seen a few cars with a bit of alcantara here and there and some really grubby looking steering wheels.

What is the experience of owners, maybe people with a CSL , a GT3RS or a Lamborghini ? ( or an after market wheel from Demon Tweeks on their Vauxhall Corsa come to that..!)

Do they maintain their good looks for long or do they get all nasty looking?

[thatsprettyshady]

With lack of care though do start to smell, go shiny and just generally feel disgusting.

Learn to clean and care for them properly and they are great, I really miss the alcantara wheel on my old CSL

[Mr MXT]

And to tack on to the end, do they go all manky if they get rained on?

[Little Dave]

I have an alcantara wheel on my 4 year old 50,000 mile Cayman. It is still ok(ish) and I do love the feel of it. However I am trying to find a decent company that can refurb it. Any suggestions?

[George7]

I think they're generally designed to be used with racing gloves, but obviously most people don't bother with that sort of thing unless on a track and they therefore get ruined extremely quickly.

[itz_baseline]

You can get brushes that help bring it back to life. Best option is a retrim, but you will be surprised what a good brush can do.

[djt100]

My Volvo had one, and it was without doubt the worst bit of a very clean car. Blooming awful

[Siy]

Little Dave - try these guys - I know some that used them, and were pleased with results on Porsches

[MGZRod]

Most are made to be used with gloves. I had a cheapo one in my MX5 and after a few hours of use my hands were black

[s m]

Worth a read

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?402-...

[MattOz]

My M3 CS has one and during my ownership it was steamed, using a Karcher steamer, every couple of months. Made a huge difference. When I bought the car the alcantara was dirty, sticky and really not very nice. A quick steam put that right and it was fine for the two years I owned the car.

I did buy an alcantara cleaner to use, but it wasn't as effective as the steamer.

The grime lifted from the wheel......

[Zod]

Having had the alcantara wheel on my CSL, I went for the optional leather trim on my V12V.

[Mr MXT]

So presumably they get very knackering very quickly if they get wet?

[Faxo]

My Mrs' MINI JCW has one, I'm worried it'll lose its feel

I use some alcantara cleaner, it's been mentioned on a thread on here before - not sure if it's any good, as the car is only 2000 miles old, so it's more to prevent it deteriorating

Re the Karcher steaming, is this a special Karcher for this, as I've never heard of a steaming version?

[MattOz]

The Steamer is one like this............

http://www.coopelectricalshop.co.uk/Karcher-SC1-02...

The alcantara does get a little damp, but using the microfibre as the barrier means it's not as wet as it could be. Once it dries, the alcantara pile is a little firm for the first few miles, but a few turns of the wheel soon softens it up again. I did this plenty of times with no damage to the alcantara itself.

[darreni]

MattOz said:

The Steamer is one like this............

http://www.coopelectricalshop.co.uk/Karcher-SC1-02...

The alcantara does get a little damp, but using the microfibre as the barrier means it's not as wet as it could be. Once it dries, the alcantara pile is a little firm for the first few miles, but a few turns of the wheel soon softens it up again. I did this plenty of times with no damage to the alcantara itself.

Any tips on the cleaning/steaming process? I have the exact same steamer & would like to do the wheel on my csl without cocking it up.

[MattOz]

darreni said:

Any tips on the cleaning/steaming process? I have the exact same steamer & would like to do the wheel on my csl without cocking it up.

Just don't stay in one place for more than a second or two. Short bursts of steam through a new microfibre. Tape up the steering wheel trim as the steamer can damage the edges of it. The alcantara pile will feel firmer when it's dried, but it won't take long to soften off again.

After 70k miles, my CS wheel was like this

Edited by MattOz on Friday 1st November 19:13

[Mermaid]

Zod said:

Having had the alcantara wheel on my CSL, I went for the optional leather trim on my V12V.

Wise man.

Alcantara steering wheels for road cars are a big rip-off, and look manky/unhygienic.

Ask Porsche, BMW or Audi for prices compared to the leather equivalent - almost double in many cases.

Porsche Alcantara does seem better than BMW's The E46 CS/L steering wheel was particularly bad.

[LondonSW7]

I didn't buy an otherwise lovely 360 because of a knackered alcantara steering wheel... My advice is to avoid...

[Pazuzu]

I had the wheel on my 70k CSL re-done by Jack at Royal Steering wheels for £140 IIRC and it was absolutely lovely.

Before that it was a bit thin where your hands naturally rested.

http://royalsteeringwheels.com/

He also re-did the standard leather M Sport steering wheel for my Dad's E39 with extra padding and again a great job.

Cheers!

Phil