maybe my searching sucks? how do you clean the steering wheels on our rides?

you know how you try to clean it with an armor all wipe or something and black dirt/stuff just keeps coming off but it never cleans the steering wheel. is it impossible or what? it's really starting to get to me



really not sure why it's turning yellow. i mean im pretty brown skinned :o

 

it looks yellow from the lights,...but probably get some leather cleaner and use some aggression to take it out.

 

Magic clean erasers, then use a leather cleaner conditioner.

 

It's probably turning yellow because you've been cleaning it too much. The dye is gone. That's the black stuff that just keeps coming off.

Mine is getting worn and turning yellow so I bought a new wheel but in retrospect I probably could've fixed it very cheap.

 

I sure wouldn't - not Magic Eraser on Leather (or leatherette as the case may be).


Woolite and water about 1:5 to 1:10. Then a good leather cleaner, then conditioner (some are cleaner/conditioner combined).

 

I made this mistake with my Santa Fe's black leather shift knob. I kept scrubbing it thinking I was getting dirt off and instead I took all the dye off the top of it. Won't do that again....

 

As soon as everyone realizes what happened this may turn into a funny thread.

 

so i went upon someone's suggestion of going here
http://www.303products.com/

i went and found my local retailer that sells 303 aerospace protectant... never heard of it and the shit was like 16 bucks a bottle... but whatever, i bought one.

wow.... what the hell is in this? my steering wheel looks brand new now. i thinking im going to use this on the rest of my interior

 

another before pic just to show u guys how terrible it looked:



this is after applying aerospace protectant:




all that yellow dirt shit is gone.

 

Yellow stuff will be back. You just temporarily fixed it. The steering wheel is worn. The protectant made it harder to see.

 

dont tell me that. i want to believe! i will be keeping an eye on it to see

 

I honestly believe that that yellow stuff was not the material under the dye. I had it before too and I looked closer and just saw that it was mainly dirt from my hands. I play basketball a lot and I would hardly wash my hands afterwards. My steering wheel looked exactly like the OP and all it took was some cleaning solution and it came off.

So basically, I BELIEVE it's accumulated dirt on the steering wheel. I now clean my steering wheel bi monthly to keep it in pristine shape and have not had a problem with yellow stuff.

 

Omg. Love 303...

 

Hopefully that's it. I know as my steering wheel wore out I used protectant every other day to cover up the wear.

 

I'm having both the shift knob and steering wheel re-covered on my Santa Fe by this guy: http://www.dallassteeringwheel.com/index.htm

Check out his 'Steering Wheels' section and you can see the custom work he's done on TL-S wheels. I've heard nothing but great things.

 

You never know. I forget sometimes that not everyone has as bad of luck as I do. It does look a lot better now.

 

Found some at my local boat dealer. May be short term but it sure looks good for now. Thanks for the info.

 

That's pretty cool. Wonder how much that runs!

 

And Skrewologist, glad it cleaned up for you with the 303 and hopefully it's gonna last!

I just ordered a bottle for myself but haven't used it yet. Can't wait!

 

How's it holding up? Did the 303 fix it?

 

ya'll need to wash your hands!!

 

interested to see how it is going too?

 

Yeah guys. The steering wheel still looks very clean. I went ahead and put aerospace protectant on my dash, shift knob, and the rest of the interior. I don't think I will be going back to anything else. What's awesome is that it has UV protection which helps in this crazy heat down south. It's also probably part of why 303 products are much more expensive. It leaves a beautiful finish, none of that ghetto glossy look. Let me know how it turns out for you guys who ordered it.

 

I also bought a bottle of 303 aerospace fabric vinyl cleaner which is more of a household bottle for plastics, vinyl, carpet, etc. So I hear it's very good to clean the engine bay but I think the aerospace protectant is also.

 

What about simply using a wet paper towel? I got my car back recently and the steering wheel felt sticky, as if some protectant had been put on it. I took a wet paper towel and cleaned it. A tremendous amount of dirt came off and it feels back to normal.

 

mix up a litte batch of warm water with a cap or two of woolite, just enough to make some soapy water, use a microfibre rag soaked with this solution and wring it out and scrub the steering wheel...you will be horrified at how dirty your steering wheel is....

 

I had a 02 TL-S for 8 years with a tan interior. It was forever getting dirty and the only thing that would clean it for sure was window cleaner.

Ya, I know it's potent with the amonia and everything else in it, but it did clean the soil off without having to scrub. Once I got it clean then I used Luxol Cleaner on it, not the conditioner 'cause it leaves a shiney film. The cleaner has a mild conditioner in it that moisturized the leather nicely. The leather looked like new when I sold it. Steering wheel color was slightly discolored more from ware than staining.

 

303 Space Protectant doesn’t contain any cleaners, so all you have done is to cover the oil stains (if it sounds too good to be true....

Leather steering wheel

On most leather conditioners the containers label warns against its use on steering wheels as it will make them slippery and unsafe. Oil / cream cannot permeate the urethane covered leather and therefore remain on the surface; the same thing will apply to seating surfaces
1. Clean the wheel’s leather surface with a leather cleaner (Leather Master Strong Effect Cleaner) (A-Aniline / Non-Coated) (P-Protected / Coated) or a degreaser (P21S Total Auto Wash) diluted 5:1 with warm distilled water in a spray bottle; dependent upon type and extent of soil or stain
2. Using a Medium / hard horse hair brush, or a soft sponge, spray and work the cleaner into foam, lightly scrub surface and immediately wipe with a terry towel to remove excess moisture, especially around stitching (you may need to repeat this process)
3. Then use vacuum extractor or compressed air nozzle to dry
4. Once wheel is thoroughly dry apply a leather protection (Leather Master’s Leather Protection) (A-Aniline / Non-Coated) (P-Protected / Coated)
5. For oil or grease stains use Leather Master Leather Degreaser (A-Aniline / Non-Coated) (P-Protected / Coated) (check for colour fastness) this aerosol product is ideal for cleaning oily stains; it dissolves and removes oil and grease from leather surface. This cleaner can be applied for cleaning all types of leather.

 

^ Water doesn't contain any cleaners either and it still removes some dirt on my steering wheel using a microfiber towel. Explain that.

 

For the same reason you can use Microfiber towels to clean without chemicals, water is a solvent and also provides a surface lubricant, along with a Microfiber towel polyester scrubbing fibres it will clean

Micro fibre came about by combining two DuPont inventions: Polyester (a scrubbing fibre) and Polyamide (an absorbing fibre) this nylon hybrid is created during weaving to create microscopic loops, which form a network of tiny hooks, scrubbing away dirt and grime.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you Andrew. I've been looking for someone who does something like this for a while now. The work he does looks amazing.