Premature Wear

[nickofh]

Hello everyone.

I'm thinking of a cheapish barge , its a 56 Skoda superb 1.8T with 26k miles on the clock. Price seems good for mileage from a national dealer. Thing that's worrying me is this steering wheel wear.







I'm quite busy with work and a newborn so I am wondering if its worth 3 hours worth of driving there and back to view it only to find that the car is clocked , what do you think ?

Thanks !

[Baryonyx]

I think you know that has done a few more miles than the advert says.

Even if the steering wheel didn't kook as though a tramp had been chewing on it, who buys a Superb to do those sort of miles? It's a turgid VAG family car, not an old Ferarri. I wouldn't bother.

[rich83]

Hard to say.... rest of the interior looks in VGC. if you had VCDS you could get the ECU for milage (in km) and work out if its been clocked or not.

[morgrp]

my sisters fabia was low mileage (well, 40k) and her steering wheel looked like that

[amusingduck]

Previous owner had a wedding ring made out of sandpaper?

[nct001]

That is not wear but accumulated filth and dirt, will wipe off with product like a leather cleaner.

[nickofh]

Well its had two owners. When I first saw the car advertised there were no pictures so I thought that's been an old mans car with that mileage. ( Bit like my dad he bought a new VW cc about six weeks ago , he tells me hes done 136 miles in it so far )

But that picture worried me , so not sure what to make. All I know is that the steering wheel of my 100K + Fiat croma ( current barge / dog car ) looks in better condition.

Shame we cant see the seats from the drivers support.

What to do! ?

[BritishRacinGrin]

Erm... at risk of stating the obvious... verify the mileage with Skoda's service records and previous MOTs?

[nct001]

As you say they have not prepped the car or taken official photographs. Pretty sure it is accumulated dirt, as this is a leather wheel and it would not wear like that. When you look at wheel face on from behind the wheel looks fine but when look from the side loads of dirt. Worst is dirt on back of steering wheel, can be awful.

[Mouse1903]

Maybe worth posting on a Skoda forum, it may be a common issue but to me it looks like too much wear for the mileage

[nickofh]

Here is the advert if anyone is interested

http://www.evanshalshaw.com/search/VehicleDetails/...

[eltax91]

My last Octavia had an awful wheel like that. I bought it as a one owner full history car with 47k on the clock. It wore even worse by the time o parted with it at 140k!! The new type of wheel always felt horrible and like it was made very cheaply.

The previous (early) Octavia I had, had an entirely different feel to the wheel and wore much better.

I'd gamble on the trip, having checked mot history online and inspect it thoroughly, with vcds if you can to verify ecu mileage.

[civicduty]

Ask the seller for the V5C reference use this service,

https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-status

And see if it returns any anomalies.

[cobra kid]

My 105k miles Golf has a better condition wheel than that.

[rich83]

I'd say that it's honest looking at those pics. Maybe the old owner had a stupid habit of getting in and out the car that meant rubbing the wheel on clothing etc.

I'd say it's worth looking at.

[DJP]

That looks more like some sort of residue stuck on the wheel rather than wear. Maybe it had some sort of steering wheel cover fitted that left that behind.

The rest of the interior, what we can see of it, looks commensurate with the stated mileage.

[Speed addicted]

Looks like dirt/glue rather than wear to me too, look at the condition of the gear stick.

[BuzzBravado]

I've seen hand cream do this to wheels before. If the previous owner liked to lotion up regularly then it could be a genuine low mileage car.

[andy-xr]

BuzzBravado said:

hand cream

I'd go with this as well, a Pug I bought, the guys Mrs seemed to have some routine of put hand cream on, go for a drive. Steering wheel and door pull were covered in it. It come off with a steam cleaner after trying polishes and cleaner sprays

[nickofh]

Well guys thanks for all your advice , I am pleasantly surprised by how much feedback you have all provided.

I have decided to go and see the car as I know I would regret it if it turns out to be genuinely low mileage. Partly because they offered me a good part ex of my 100K Fiat Croma. I will look out for the usual suspects and hopefully should spot if its a wrong un!

Nick