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Article &
Photos by Jim Bacon
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When we
purchased the WJ, not only do we look at the mechanical
condition and operation of the vehicle, but the overall
condition such as the wear and tear on the interior.
On every WJ I test drove that was at least a few years old,
it never failed that the steering wheel covers were always
in bad shape. Granted this not a deal breaker nor
makes it un-drivable, but if your steering wheel is somewhat
distorted to the touch, it can be a bit of a nuisance.
We looked at several steering wheel wraps, and the selection
via wally world does not really keep the OEM like style we
were wanting. After several searches online, we
discovered WheelSkins.com. They had exactly what we
wanted and their choice of colors and styles made it an easy
choice for the rig.
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What You Will Need
• WheelSkins
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• 60 minutes or less of
your time
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Installation
1.
Remove all items from the WheelSkins box.
2.
Remove the needle from the spool of thread and unwind all of
the thread. The thread is tacky, so be sure not to go
fast as it can knot up on you easy if you do not take your
time.
3.
Grab your new leather steering wheel cover and fit on
your steering wheel. The fit is very snug, so you may
have to pull a bit hard to slip over the wheel. be
sure to have the sewn seam at the very bottom of your wheel,
so that is looks correct and OEM.
4.
Time to thread the needle. Be sure to have about 6
inches though the needle eye, no need to do a knot, etc, it
will stay on the needle as you start to the process.
- 5.
You will want to start the threading of the wheel roughly
about 4 or 5 perforated holes from the sewn seam or from a
spoke in the wheel. This will help get the starting
of the "sewing" to be pulled tight, otherwise you would
not achieve the tight fit if you started on a spoke or
sewn seam.
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(note: there is only one sewn seam.)
6.
You will start the threading from the back of the hole and
then work in a diagonal pattern pulling the thread
completely though the hole. On the first threaded
hole, you will want to keep a minimum of 6" of thread,
because you will end back at that point and will tie it off.
The instructions say it will take roughly 60 minutes, but I
was done in half that time.
7.
As you are threading, do not rush the process of pulling the
thread though the holes, because the tackiness of the thread
it is very easy to have it appear to be in a knot.
If that happens, just gently pull the thread from the
knotted area, and it will come undone very easy.
8.
When you reach a spoke in the wheel, you will use a method
called a "Dummy Knot". This is simply threading
the
perforated holes you see and not the rear portion, once you
are at the end of the spoke you can resume the normal
process.
9.
Once you have reached the starting point, you will thread
the last hole and come up the middle and not though a
forward hole. Just simply tie a double knot, cut-off
excess thread and your done!
REVIEW:
I have
had the wheel on for over a week now and not only does it
feel better than the original leather on the steering wheel,
it looks better than OEM. My neighbor that stopped by
when I was putting on the cover, made a few jokes saying
just go to wally world and buy one, your crazy for lacing
that up. But after I had installed and he took it for
a spin around the neighborhood, he will be getting rid of
his rubber steering wheel cover and getting a WheelSkin.
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