DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

I plan to get this retrimmed, so condition and age are not important.

Why not get a new one Jamie: unless you someone who wants to do it for the fun of it?

Re-trimming steering wheels is notoriously expensive as it's so labour-intensive.

Barry wrote:Why not get a new one Jamie: unless you someone who wants to do it for the fun of it?

Re-trimming steering wheels is notoriously expensive as it's so labour-intensive.

I think Jamie wants to do one in a different leather colour

Yeah, I wanted a silver one trimmed in tan to match the car. Thought it might be a cool project.

I might try trimming it myself, then when I realise how difficult it is, I will pass it on to someone that knows what they are doing! Got to give these things a go...

Does anyone know if the black anodising can be sanded off and the wheel polished back to silver? I've been offered a black one with a boss and horn push.

Tatty one on Ebay at £10 with a day to go Jamie. No boss but they're pretty cheap.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MOMO-PROTOTIPO-ST ... dZViewItem

Cheers - I will have a go at that!

Jamie: it is quite possible to re-trim the wheel yourself, but you need to take your time. One of those jobs that you do a bit, and leave it for a while.

Nevertheless, it might be worth having a go on the basis that you won't use much leather, so all you've got to loose is a bit of time.

I recently fould out how to get a decent looking cross-stitch (which is what a lot of wheels have), which involves running two needles at once.

Making the leather blank isn't too bad. The last problem I need to overcome is getting the thread holes to line up really well. Not so bad with a black wheel and black thread, but a lighter colour, or contrasting thread would be a lot harder.

See that wheel is creeping up now: 41 quid so far ...

As for the anodising: you should be able to sand through it, although depending on how thick it is, it can be a bit harder than the metal below. This just means that you might have to use a small block for your wet-n-dry to stop the spokes coming out with ripples.

Obviously with wheels and similar, you would dip the item to strip the finish, but I don't think the rim would like that much!

Barry wrote:The last problem I need to overcome is getting the thread holes to line up really well. Not so bad with a black wheel and black thread, but a lighter colour, or contrasting thread would be a lot harder.

I think my mum has a tool for this - it looks like a pizza cutter, but with a jagged, zig-zag edge and will leave indentations at evenly spaced points if you roll it along fabric or leather. I don't know if this is it's intended purpose, but I guess it would mark he stiching points pretty well.

I'm not going to take the eBay one as the other one I've been offered includes boss and horn push.