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      08-31-2020, 04:02 PM   #1
GTIGUY1992
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DIY steering wheel Leather repair

So I noticed that the M/M-Sport leather steering wheel has a tendency to wear prematurely on some people's cars (mine included), and despite taking excellent care of my leather I got the dreaded sticky wheel, then the immediate after effects of complete dye failure (see images below).

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This is a wheel that has NOT been neglected or abused. I do not eat in the car, I keep my hands as clean as permissible (I work in an office environment so at worst I'm getting keyboard dust on it). And I cleaned and conditioned the wheel with leatherique products once every 1-2 months.

Still got dye failure by about 25K miles.

So I ordered a leather dye kit from leatherworldtech and got to work. The before pictures show it with some shop lights so it looks worse than it was in natural light, but it was still bad. I prepped by using the supplied leather cleaner with multiple passes. Then I LIGHTLY scuffed the application area with almost no pressure using the scuffing pad provided. When I say lightly scuff I mean light. Don't put too much pressure on it, you're just scuffing gently to help the dye work itself in and remove as little original material as possible.

Next I applied the dye to the sponge, as little as possible for the first coat- keep it light, use multiple coats. Then I used a hairdryer to accelerate the drying process. After the first coat I went heavier on the second, then after drying I scuffed the applied area lightly with the scuffing pad provided to even out any high spots or brush marks. I applied the third coat as as light as the first, just trying to blend everything together as best I could and keep from getting any "brush strokes" in the finish. After drying using the dryer you have the below results.

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The color match is nearly perfect, but I did my best to blend it and you can still see minute color difference (most prevalent in the 3rd image) along with visible texture difference (again shown best in the 3rd image). But under natural light and regular scrutiny it looks near factory finish. The area feels a bit more coarse than the rest of the wheel, but it doesn't bother me nearly as much as the failed dye looked.

If people are interested I can try to get some more pics with additional lighting and a better camera.
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      09-03-2020, 01:29 PM   #2
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Are you or any other drivers using handcare products? I would note that on my e46 M3 not only was the leather on the steering wheel looking iffy when I bought it (at over 100k miles), but the paint was peeling on the steering wheel trim, while the passenger door handle/armrest looked like paint stripper had been poured over it. It had been used to run the kids to and from school by both the owner and his wife. HTH
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      09-03-2020, 03:46 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M Fifty View Post
Are you or any other drivers using handcare products? I would note that on my e46 M3 not only was the leather on the steering wheel looking iffy when I bought it (at over 100k miles), but the paint was peeling on the steering wheel trim, while the passenger door handle/armrest looked like paint stripper had been poured over it. It had been used to run the kids to and from school by both the owner and his wife. HTH
I'm the only driver but to answer your question, no I never use any or creams. I do wash them regularly, and don't wear any wedding rings/bands so I didn't abrade the surface. No kids either haha.

From what I've seen other owners from the FXX generations with these wheels have gotten this same type of wear in areas they rarely even touch (top of wheel) so it leads me to believe it's just dye failure, which is unfortunate.
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      09-04-2020, 07:34 PM   #4
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Thanks for posting, and thanks for the review. This is something I want to look at, since my X5 steering wheels is looking even worse than yours. I am convinced BMW uses very poor materials on their "higher end" steering wheels, and it's ridiculous they fail so quickly. But BMW won't admit to it, and they will simply label it as "wear and tear" when you bring it to their attention.

Here is mine:

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      09-04-2020, 07:36 PM   #5
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I see quite a few options in the drop downs. Which options did you choose?
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      09-04-2020, 10:50 PM   #6
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Hi P1, Yes my wear was almost identical to yours it seems but concentrated on the side in a smaller area. Regarding the options, now this might be different for an X series vehicle's steering wheels vs the M wheels so I am by no means an expert- but my option selection was as follows:

BMW, Color Option: 917 Black, 4oz touch up (you can do a whole seat let alone a wheel with a 4oz.), Satin- low gloss, no color adjusting kit- you can blend them yourself if you follow the process of *light* layers, and no anti-microbial.

Again, these were just the color options I chose for the M Steering wheel but I would hazard a guess that both of ours are probably the same dye color.

Yeah I was furious when BMW told me that was normal wear and tear. I have a 2016 GTI, had a damn Mustang, both with leather that lasted over 90K miles without any dye failure whatsoever. For my BMW's wheel to fall apart at 20K miles was ridiculous. This is a garage kept car too. But I figured before dropping 800 bucks on a new M Performance wheel I can at least try this for $50. Nothing ventured nothing gained.
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