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Help Re-Wrapping Steering Wheel


Ifrconditions

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Dec 30, 2022
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Earth
Vehicle Year
93
Make / Model
Ford ranger
Transmission
Automatic
Hello, I have a stock F150 and an aftermarket Lecarra wheel that I would love to learn how to wrap. I have been binging some YouTube videos but the few questions I still have are about material.
Does anyone have suggestions on where to source material? Also any advice, tips, or do's and don'ts are appreciated thanks!
 


Kruegon

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U.S. Military - Veteran
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Location
Birmingham, AL
Vehicle Year
2000
Make / Model
Ford Ranger XLT
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3.0 V6
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3.0L V6 Flex
Transmission
Automatic
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2WD
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4"
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0"
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What kind of material are you looking for? If yours leather wrapped or vinyl wrapped? I assume its wrapped now since you specified re-wrapping.

For the sake of example, let's assume it's leather wrapped. You need to decide how you want to wrap it. My 2000 Ranger is leather wrapped. The wrap itself is 2 pieces. One piece is from just below the cruise control on one side to the same on the other. The second piece meets this one across the bottom. I could duplicate it. Or I could put a single seam at the bottom. Or I could put the seam at the top or bottom and use an accent piece at the joint.

As it is leather, its prone to surface wear, drying, and cracking. Leather requires care. If you don't want to put as much long term care into it, you could opt for a heavy weight, high grade marine vinyl. That was my option for my motorcycle seat. Even other bikers can't tell it's not leather when touching it.

Want to go customer and unique? Use a short knap suede, or synthetic microfiber pleather. The material options are endless. The biggest challenge is the shape and fit.

You need it tight enough that it stretches a bit when stitching it. If it fits perfect when you wrap it, it will stretch out rather quickly. If it is too tight, it will strain the material or the stitches leading to premature failure. Most leather and vinyl wraps are done using a baseball stitch. If you have a leather shop in your area, see if they offer classes in cutting and stitching. Many do because they want you to learn to work leather and buy products from them. Tandy Leather stores even offer classes for free weekly (or they did when Instarted learning).

Also, I would scoured the net to see if anyone may have posted a cut pattern for the material. You'll need to make adjustments depending on the stretch of the material you use, but that is likely your best starting point to reduce the chances of wasting too much material.

I hope this was helpful. If not, ignore me and my rant. If so, I am glad I helped. If there's anything else I can help on, let me know. I'm an intermediate level leather worker just for the fun of it. They won't call me advanced because I suck as decorations. But my cutting, measuring, and stitching are fairly top notch.

Good luck.
 

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