Cheap steering wheel fixes?

I bought a pair of Lada Nivas - stripped one and it came with an older aftermarket steering wheel in poor shape. The metal part is fine but the outer fabric bit toast. Is it worth saving? Any cheap fixes? Thanks.

Will a Wheelskins work?

Don't know how fancy you're shooting for, but some of the teams here at Tech will wrap their old wheels in black athletic tape. It works great and looks good for a while - best of all it's real cheap, so when it wears out or gets dirty you can just pull it off and wrap on some more. Also, it cuts down on blisters if you're driving like crazy for long periods of time (I wouldn't know but that's what guys on our Baja team say).

Grant wheels are 5 bolt. I have never seen a 6 bolt grant. 6 bolt wheels would be luisi, momo, italvolante, nardi and their copiers. Each have a slightly different bolt pattern

Grant, APC and Victor are pretty much the only 5 bolt wheels and are all the same pattern.

Clean it as best as possible then start coating it with Polyurathane. Once you've got it nice and built up sand it smooth and have it re-covered with new leather. You could use bondo too but seen those swell over time cause the bondo abosorbs the moisture if its not sealed.

Minor Threadjack Alert!

On a semi-related note, I have a Mugen steering wheel that was on my old Civic Si. The rim, which I assume is aluminum, is broken just above the 9 and 3 positions.

Has anyone repaired anything like this, or is it just garage art at this point? It would obviously need to be reskinned after any repair to the metal.

I also have a Fitti E3 that I love, but the leather, thought not badly worn, is cracked from the sun. Is there anything tho rejuvenate badly dried leather? I've tried Connolly Hide Care a few times but it needs something more.

Thanks for the ideas.

The wheels skins looks promising - not sure if this particular wheel is worth the investment. The black athletic tape might be right in the ball park though.

Not sure what type of wheel it is. Here is the logo (from memory - I'll take a photo later). Its on a Lada so probably would fit a Fiat as well.

On the subject of steering wheels.

I used to have a 2002 Acura RSX. It had a tiny little steering wheel with a thick rim. This was maybe the best thing about the whole car.

Now I have a 1995 Acura Integra and the steering wheel is made of a rubbery substance and has a skinny rim with a huge diameter.

What can I do to get a wheel with a small diameter and a fat rim and not lose my airbag? What are the options (especially the less expensive options)?

TreoWayne wrote: On the subject of steering wheels. I used to have a 2002 Acura RSX. It had a tiny little steering wheel with a thick rim. This was maybe the best thing about the whole car. Now I have a 1995 Acura Integra and the steering wheel is made of a rubbery substance and has a skinny rim with a huge diameter. What can I do to get a wheel with a small diameter and a fat rim and not lose my airbag? What are the options (especially the less expensive options)?

While it doesn't fix the diameter, Wheelskins do a lot to fatten up the rim. I had one on my Civic and it felt considerably better.

ArthurDent wrote: I bought a pair of Lada Nivas

Awesome.

Knurled wrote:

ArthurDent wrote: I bought a pair of Lada Nivas

Awesome.

I already had one too. Only brought one home complete - stripped the other for parts - full story plus pictures here: http://oldcarjunkie.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/another-niva-or-sort-of-two/

Here is the script on the wheel

What does that even say? Caio? Calo? alo? aio?

really big size

Ok so on the back it says "Raid - made in Italy"