Cousin Eddie
Member
My steering wheel has seen 90k of wear and tear. The leather finish has pretty much deteriorated on all of the high usage areas. I have looked time and time again for a replacement steering wheel, but short of calling a dealer and selling a kidney to pay for it, I have been unsuccessful. I am just not into the auto parts store variety of wheel covers. To me, they are cheap too cumbersome to drive with, and are just too flimsy to live with on a day to day basis.
Enter Wheelskins steering wheel covers. According to the website, they are 100% premium leather. They offer several options to help you find ALMOST exactly what you want. One thing that is important to realize right off the bat... although they allow you to input your vehicle make and model, these are not 100% specific to your vehicle.(more on that later)... The website is easy enough to navigate. There are customer submitted photo's that can help you get ideas of what you want. They divide the wheel covers in two separate specific locations. The top, bottom area is one and the sides are another. They offer either a smooth texture or a perferated texture.
This allows you several possibilities to completely customize the look of your wheel. What sets this cover apart from many of the other covers out there, is the fact that it is laced on (or sewn) with the provided needle and twine. According to what I saw on the website, the lacing is done tight enough to eliminated slippage, while still providing you with the positive tactile feedback of your vehicle handling.
I was still skepticle of this idea, because it is still just a wheel cover. Not much out there can replace the fit and finish of a factory steering wheel. With my original wheel looking as sad as you can see from the pics, I was willing to take the risk. So, I plopped down the $85.00 and ordered my new cover. I ordered the sand color for the sides and the black perforated for the top and bottom. As with all 2004s, I was hoping that the black instument console, will tie in with the black that I chose for the cover. It arrived in 3 days (I did pay extra for expedited shipping). One thing I liked about the website was they did give you and idea of what you were getting into with installation before you committed to buying it. It will take you no less than an hour to install. If you are an obsessive, ****, attention to detail type freak like myself, double that install time...
The directions were clear and easy enough to follow. Now this is were the "not 100% vehicle specific" comes into play. I mocked it up with the larger black patch on the top first. This is where you would naturally want the arrangement to be, because it allows your "ten and two" to reside on a single piece of leather. However the generic cover's seams would have landed direcly right on the top two steering wheel spokes. The problem with that, there is no way to positively secure the cover the wheel at the spokes. You have to make "dummy" stitches at the spokes which are purely cosmetic. The tightness of the stitching either side of the spokes keeps the cover secure and tight to the wheel. However, I was skepticle of putting a seam there, because it raises the profile of the cover at a place where the cover is least secured. So ultimately, I opted to flip it.
Once you get your placement lined up, you're ready to start the stitching process. It is important to keep every stitch as tight as possible. I stopped every ten or so stitches to ensure I was uniform. I am glad I did, because as it turns out, I wasn't destined to become a professional steering wheel cover installer....I made several mistakes and had to redo stitches a few times. After I finished all of the stitching, I tied the knot per the instructions and marveled at the site of my new looking wheel. To me, it completely rejuvinated the front interior. The colors were spot on. The perforated black looked factory at first glance.
Now this company didn't reinvent the wheel here (pun totally intended), this is still nothing more than a well fitting wheel cover. You are not going to win any car shows with this. Nor will it raise the resell value of your beloved expedition. But It is a viable alternative to replacing a steering wheel based soley on wear. It obviously raised the diameter of the wheel, but the wheel still feels solid. It also gives the wheel a slightly more cushon like feel. I have put an oil change worth of miles on the truck (including long trips) since I have installed it. I can tell you that if it does anything, it has enhanced the driveability of the truck. "Palming" the wheel is easier with more tactile feedback than before. Because I have larger hands than most, the larger wheel fits better and it less fatiguing.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee58/Sithapp/2010-08-05202425.jpg http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee58/Sithapp/2010-08-05203047.jpg
Enter Wheelskins steering wheel covers. According to the website, they are 100% premium leather. They offer several options to help you find ALMOST exactly what you want. One thing that is important to realize right off the bat... although they allow you to input your vehicle make and model, these are not 100% specific to your vehicle.(more on that later)... The website is easy enough to navigate. There are customer submitted photo's that can help you get ideas of what you want. They divide the wheel covers in two separate specific locations. The top, bottom area is one and the sides are another. They offer either a smooth texture or a perferated texture.
This allows you several possibilities to completely customize the look of your wheel. What sets this cover apart from many of the other covers out there, is the fact that it is laced on (or sewn) with the provided needle and twine. According to what I saw on the website, the lacing is done tight enough to eliminated slippage, while still providing you with the positive tactile feedback of your vehicle handling.
I was still skepticle of this idea, because it is still just a wheel cover. Not much out there can replace the fit and finish of a factory steering wheel. With my original wheel looking as sad as you can see from the pics, I was willing to take the risk. So, I plopped down the $85.00 and ordered my new cover. I ordered the sand color for the sides and the black perforated for the top and bottom. As with all 2004s, I was hoping that the black instument console, will tie in with the black that I chose for the cover. It arrived in 3 days (I did pay extra for expedited shipping). One thing I liked about the website was they did give you and idea of what you were getting into with installation before you committed to buying it. It will take you no less than an hour to install. If you are an obsessive, ****, attention to detail type freak like myself, double that install time...
The directions were clear and easy enough to follow. Now this is were the "not 100% vehicle specific" comes into play. I mocked it up with the larger black patch on the top first. This is where you would naturally want the arrangement to be, because it allows your "ten and two" to reside on a single piece of leather. However the generic cover's seams would have landed direcly right on the top two steering wheel spokes. The problem with that, there is no way to positively secure the cover the wheel at the spokes. You have to make "dummy" stitches at the spokes which are purely cosmetic. The tightness of the stitching either side of the spokes keeps the cover secure and tight to the wheel. However, I was skepticle of putting a seam there, because it raises the profile of the cover at a place where the cover is least secured. So ultimately, I opted to flip it.
Once you get your placement lined up, you're ready to start the stitching process. It is important to keep every stitch as tight as possible. I stopped every ten or so stitches to ensure I was uniform. I am glad I did, because as it turns out, I wasn't destined to become a professional steering wheel cover installer....I made several mistakes and had to redo stitches a few times. After I finished all of the stitching, I tied the knot per the instructions and marveled at the site of my new looking wheel. To me, it completely rejuvinated the front interior. The colors were spot on. The perforated black looked factory at first glance.
Now this company didn't reinvent the wheel here (pun totally intended), this is still nothing more than a well fitting wheel cover. You are not going to win any car shows with this. Nor will it raise the resell value of your beloved expedition. But It is a viable alternative to replacing a steering wheel based soley on wear. It obviously raised the diameter of the wheel, but the wheel still feels solid. It also gives the wheel a slightly more cushon like feel. I have put an oil change worth of miles on the truck (including long trips) since I have installed it. I can tell you that if it does anything, it has enhanced the driveability of the truck. "Palming" the wheel is easier with more tactile feedback than before. Because I have larger hands than most, the larger wheel fits better and it less fatiguing.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee58/Sithapp/2010-08-05202425.jpg http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee58/Sithapp/2010-08-05203047.jpg
