ilko

The C4S has been garaged for two months now. In the meantime I've been busy upgrading my Audi (warranty ran out and it was a great excuse to put a big turbo, suspension, brakes, etc.)... One of the things I did was change the steering wheel - I hated the Tiptronic buttons on the car and found that the Audi TT DSG had paddle shifters. I found a reupholster shop in Poland that was able to make a great steering wheel for me for a very reasonable price:

Here's the product, installed in my car:



I've totally fallen in love with this steering wheel, the feel is great, the perforated leather is so comfortable and grippy. I just had to have the same thing in the Porsche. So I asked the guys in Poland if they can do the same for my 996 3-spoke wheel and they said yes, at a very reasonable price. I sent my wheel back in December and today I received a photo of the finished product:



Black perforated leather with dark blue stitching (my interior is blue). Can't wait to get my hands on it, but unfortunately it takes about a month for the box to arrive. I'll make sure to post pictures once it's installed.

Thanks for reading and I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Ilko

AOW162435

Looks very nice, but you do know that there are top-notch steering wheel guys in the states?

And no, AGLA does not fall into that category.


Andreas

Nurburger

I've seen quite a few "look at my newly covered steering wheel" threads on various forums & have rarely been impressed with the quality of stitching or overall fit, but that is some of the best leather work I've seen on a sw ilko. Congrats & please PM me the contact info - I have 2 swheels for my BMW & Mercedes that I'd love to get recovered.

Cactus

That is nice.

95_993

Ilko,

both wheels look absolutely awesome. I love the paddle shift addition to the A4....sweeeet.

cp993C2S

Ilko...very nice.

I changed the wheel in my car last winter...never liked the grey matching wheel/airbag and wanted to change to black.

Had an outfit called Dallas Custom Steering Wheel (google it) do the job. I bought a used 993 wheel/airbag off ebay for $160, sent it to them, they recovered in 2-days, emailed photos to be sure I was satisfied and I had it back inside of a week...for about $200. I'd work w/ them again.

For those interested...check their website...many examples of finished products.

nile13

Ilko, is the shop in Poland called "Redline"?

What was the turnaround time, reupholstery costs and shipping costs?

Love the perforated leather. Had perforated Momo Competition and it was great. Would seriously consider doing this to my 996 3-poke wheel, especially if I can find a temporary replacement.

ilko

Thank you Andrea, but I figured why pay $550 for something that you can have for $200 shipping both ways included?

Thanks! And even so, the pictures don't do it justice. It's really a work of art, I'm not kidding. The website is http://carsdream.com/ you can contact them through there. The guy I've dealt with is Wieslaw.

That paddle shifting wheel fits on a B5 too

It's Cars Dream. The whole thing cost me a little under $200 including shipping my steering wheel from NYC. They can reupholster it in 2 days.

The shipping part is the trickiest, though. I sent mine in the middle of December and it took a month to get there. But that was with the mail delays they had due to the snow over there AND Christmas... Usually when I mail packages to Europe from NYC it takes 7-10 days.

I got my Audi wheel in about 3-4 weeks time, they ship it via DHL. They also offer a faster service for 20 Euro more IIRC. So you're looking at roughly 2 months tops with any delays. Which was fine for me since I don't drive the car in the winter.

You could also ask how much it would cost to just buy the wheel from them reupholstered and then sell your old one when you get the new one. They go for ~$150 on Ebay from what I've seen.

AOW162435

Now that makes sense.


Andreas

nile13

Ilko, thank you!

I think I'll try them, especially seeing that I've just missed that GT3 wheel with in NJ. The other question - does new leather match the airbag color and does thicker wrap (they used thicker wrap, correct? ) look OK with regular airbag? Would be very interesting to see your wheel with bag in once it's back.

BTW, I assume they speak English? My Polish is fairly rusty, although I could try. Also, I might see a group buy here...

ilko

Between your rusty Polish and their rusty English you'll do great! I posted their web site above for contact.

I don't know if the airbag is a perfect color match yet. I think it might be a little glossier than the leather on the wheel. The Audi airbag is more matte than the Porsche and the match is perfect. The final verdict will be in as soon as I install it. But if you lay off the ArmorAll you should be OK JK, I hate that product!

95_993

Hmmmmmm....you're killing me. Must....resist.

nile13

I never use ArmorAll, hate anything glossy. Matte is the king.

I've sent them an email, let's see what they say. I have fluent Russian and Ukrainian in my back pocket to talk to them, so maybe, just maybe...

Looking at their web site I'm seriously thinking that perforated leather wheel (or maybe even alcantara) with a yellow strip at 12 o'clock would look absolutely great and well worth the hassle. Maybe even yellow inside stitching to match the yellow cab, although that might be too much flash.

So, did they pad your 996 wheel? If so, by how much? Same question on Audi wheel.

ilko

I thought about a yellow (or red) strip, but at the end I felt it might make it look too busy. There are already two different types of leather used on the steering wheel. My airbag crest is also silver, so it would clash. But on a yellow crest, (and a yellow car!) I think it would look better.

Both wheels I ordered padded. Can't tell you exactly how much padding they use, but on the Audi wheel it was maybe 1-2mm larger diameter than stock. The padding is firm, but not hard like OEM.

Hope this helps.

V

Looks great Ilko! Two questions for you:

Did you have them make the wheel thicker also when they recovered it? I've heard that is also possible...

Also, what kind of material do they use? I assume leather but is it Porsche quality leather? Sounds like a great deal.

I agree with Andreas, I've seen many pictures of recovered wheels and they rarely look factory. This is an exception though, very nice. Paul Champagne does great work too.