Thinking of upgrading my 997.2 to alcantara steering wheel and read all the pros and cons and still can't make up my mind. For those that are currently using it, any thoughts on likes/dislikes of that faux suede and how does it hold up long term?

 

 

I really enjoy mine, and it is a DD. I changed my steering wheel, shifter and e-brake to alcantara. Had them for about a year and a half and they still look brand new, and the steering wheel has red, grey and yellow colors. I do have my car detailed every three to four months though and they give the alcantara special attention at my request. Although regular care isn't hard. Use a soft brush (boar or horse hair) to remove the dust off the alcantara. Using a high quality fabric guard or coating (after your alcantara has been dusted), run a slightly damped (not soaked) white cotton cloth over it (a high quality cotton terry towel will do a better job than a microfiber towel here). Do NOT rub too vigorously, this will crush the texture and destroy the finish of alcantara. Also rub in the same direction, not back and forth.

I would say if you are someone that lotions or sanitizes your hand often, you might want to avoid alcantara. I don't use hand lotions and do take care that my hands are clean before driving my car. The oil from your hands, food residue, etc will do a number to the alcantara whereas that would be much easier to clean off the traditional leather steering wheel.

 

Why is there such enthusiasm for a synthetic material invented to
look like suede? It is fake!

 

I was thinking about it briefly as someone was selling their steering wheel second hand recently. However, I think that the issues with oils and moisture from hands will inevitably make it gross... even my leather steering wheel needs a good cleaning every couple months. If my car was a track car only and I wore driving gloves, I'd definitely do it. However as a DD and where I sometimes eat & drink while driving, had to stick with the leather.

 

Alcantara is lighter, more durable, more breathable and more comfortable (last part is subjective but often considered so) than other materials used for seating, steering wheels, headliners etc. True Alcantara is only made in Italy, whereas Ultrasuede or synthetic suede is made around the world. Additionally for those of us wearing racing gloves with our alcantara interior there is a solid and firm connection to our vehicles control's when out on the track on a hot sweaty day.

I would absolutely agree with mujeriega, if you eat in your car, stay away from alcantara. My car doesn't transport open drink containers and I never eat in it, but I do drive it almost daily and the alcantara is holding up very well (with regular care).

As a side note I think it would be wise to avoid writing anything off just under the fake guise. As a synthetic (aka fake) item does not in and of itself determine quality. Do you use fake oil in your car? Is the carpet in your vehicle fake? Synthetic materials are often made to enhance an items durability and improve the quality, synthetic alone is not a qualifier to say it is cheap or inferior.

 

I just got mine wrapped in alcantara and love it. One additional benefit over leather is that it is temperature neutral. It never feels too hot or too cold. We'll see how it holds up in the long term, but so far i am please with the decision.

 

It does require more maintenance and I do not use any hand lotion when I drive the car, it'll make the surface matted and slick.

Use Sonax for the cleaner, it cleans well and is pretty gentle.

 

I got mine last fall and love it. I take extra care as a far as my hands go. That's the only consideration I can think of. Would definitely get it again.

 

Actually personally I don't mind the soiling on the alcantara steering wheel. Kind of like a worn look as in the patina of old furnitures. I collect old stuff. Still own some
old Leica vintage cameras that is all brassy and in demand by the collectors. My concern is will alcantara ever crack under the heat of the sun within the cabin ?

 

Nice, hard to beat some of those classic Leica cameras and I know exactly what you mean. The classic worn in look could be fine if you don't mind. However you will want to treat/clean just enough so it doesn't become so oily it is smooth like glass. That I don't think you would like. Alcantara by design is strong, I wouldn't be concerned about it holding up in the sun. It will fair better than your dash. A reason I had my windshield tinted. It's a special tint for that, think only 5% but blocks 95% of UV, done to protect the dash and reduce heat in the car. The wife's car dash is wrapped in Napa leather and I did the same tint as that definitely won't fair well over the years under the sun.

 

Im on my second. I love how it feels. But I hate how I feel watching it wear (especially since they are so nice new). I bought the second one used here, and the PO said there was about 10K miles on the wheel. I've only put 3K on it and its already getting some pile. If you have even the slightest bit of moisture, oil, lotion, it will really. Its a pain if you are washing or working on your car. I would trade mine for a leather wheel

 

My 2012 GTS has alcantara everywhere except the PDK shifter and console lid, I replaced the console lid with an alcantara one but I always thought it was weird they left those two areas out. Anyway, picked up my car with 5300 mi in 2015 and the wheel was wrecked lol. I brought it back with Sonax alcantara cleaner, that stuff is awesome and I recommend everyone who has alcantara where their hands routinely touch buy some. I used to clean it more often but now I don't really mind the worn look, I have 32,000 mi on the odometer now. I want to get a smaller diameter wheel and may look into a 991.2 wheel as I think they would swap over, I'd probably get an alcantara one or have it wrapped in it for continuity with my interior. Overall, would've ordered my car with leather and no center locks...

 

I have half leather and half alcantera on my current wheel. No problems. If you're into upgrading your wheel why not get it exactly the way you want it? As long as you stick with the same style wheel you currently have you can customize your wheel for about half the cost of a new alcantera wheel from Suncoast with Dallas Custom Steering Wheels (no affiliation). Main reason (imo) to do it this way other than being able to pick the mix of alcantera and leather or all alcantera is that you can also make it thicker which makes a big difference and you can pick the color of the stitching to match whatever else you have in the interior.

It's a core exchange transaction so you send your old wheel back when you receive the new one and then get your deposit back. I've done two of them and can't remember the exact deposit amount but both transactions went very smoothly and they do nice work in less than a week. There's also DCT which does the same thing but I have no experience with them. Another one in Germany which I can't remember the name of. Somebody else will probably chime in. I've attached the two wheels done by Dallas. Cost me about $450 each with core exchange as I recall it. Links to Dallas and DCT at the bottom.







http://www.dallassteeringwheel.com/sw1.htm
http://www.dctms.com/Products.html

 

Very nice. That is the exact SportsDesign steering wheel I have in mind. My car is 997.2 and apparently the existing airbag can't be used. So I'm looking at replacing both the steering wheel as well as the airbag. But then it is not plug & play because the horn and airbag needs to be activated again.