Melted Steering Wheel?

[Parabola]

My friend recently bought an 2004 K12 Micra (In gold.. mmm!)

The steering wheel seems to have melted where it's held. Not sure what could have caused it, acidy hands?

They didn't even notice it when the car was bought, only when they saw another Micra, without the disfiguration!
Now it really bothers them, guessing a replacement wheel is the only option?

[davemac250]

Or one of those lovely slip over covers.

Maybe in fluffy pink?

[anonymous-user]

I have seen that happen on other cars. The steering wheel is corroded not melted. Caused by very sweaty hands!

[Jakub]

My OH old Clio had exactly same problem – disgusting thing.

[CatJ]

Quite common on Clio's.

[Riknos]

Jakub said:

My OH old Clio had exactly same problem – disgusting thing.

My housemate's 53 plate clio has the same - it's horrible.

When driving that, and comparing it to my 94, higher mileaged mx5, you'd think the clio was twice the age of the mx5, not the other way round.

[Baryonyx]

I was expecting this thread to be about a Renaultsport Clio!

My missus had a Micra like that in the past with the same type of wheel and it looked nothing like that, so whoever has been driving that must be leaching sulphuric acid out through their hands!

It happens in the Astras we have at work, but only in some cars. Most are at around 60,000 miles on the clock. Some of the plastic steering wheels have lost their shiny finish and started disintegrating into a rough foam. Some haven't. I suspected it may have been caused by people getting diesel on the steering wheel after they've been filling up.

[zygalski]

Baryonyx said:

I was expecting this thread to be about a Renaultsport Clio!...

Me too.
Virtually all of them suffered from it. Mine did

[MX7]

Did they buy it from Johnny Storm?

[Contigo]

I think on that special model the material used on the steering wheel was live snakeskin and unfortunately it seems to have shed it's skin.

[Sam1990]

Another account for Clios with manky steering wheels. The pool car used for work looks like a melted wax work.

[Baryonyx]

See also: every buffoon who fitted his Corsa B with a suede steering wheel so he could drive it day to day without gloves on, only for the wheel to disintegrate after a couple of weeks. Oops!

[Panda76]

CatJ said:

Quite common on Clio's.

Interesting that,my OH clio steering wheel is a mess.

[DeadMeat_UK]

Probably hairdressing chemicals on every drivers hands

[dav123a]

Got this on the OH focus , bought it with about 50k on.

[teeCup]

The wheel in both of my Renaultsport Clios have been like this, it's far worse in the phase 1 models IMO. Although to be honest most of the interior starts to fall to bits in a clip after about 8 years/ 70k!

[NelsonR32]

Parabola said:

They didn't even notice it when the car was bought,

I seriously hope you have advised they spend money on an an eye-test before they think about a new steering wheel?

[fozzymandeus]

You've just reminded me of the thing I really, really hated about my Clio R27.

[A2Z]

Can it be picked off with a fingernail?

I bought an MX5 with a manky leather steering wheel, full of "gunk" similar to your wheel. I used a "magic sponge", made by JML etc, damp and a bit of elbow grease and it came up like new.

http://www.jmldirect.com/eu/doktor-power/doktor-po...

[Dave Hedgehog]

thats some sneeze