steering wheels again
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SoCal Garage Works does nice work. Low end from $575.
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You really only have a couple options when it comes to our steering wheels. Have a local interior shop recover the wheel in your choice of leather, get a Corvette steering wheel, or scgarageworks.com. I went the last option and love mine. A few others have their wheels too and like them. They are not cheap, but for what they are, they are very reasonable.
Happy with my Corvette Grand Sport wheel, and you can't beat the price. I think it was around $200.
Though, despite what I said previously, I will change my position on the alcantara. It was great for a few years, but slowly moisture has really killed it. Unless your car is only ever parked in a climate controlled, humidity controlled garage, and you only ever use driving gloves, then I'd say go with the leather wheel.
Though, despite what I said previously, I will change my position on the alcantara. It was great for a few years, but slowly moisture has really killed it. Unless your car is only ever parked in a climate controlled, humidity controlled garage, and you only ever use driving gloves, then I'd say go with the leather wheel.
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Was that a D-shaped wheel? I know most D-shaped Corvette wheels are not cheap but the standard style ones are in about the price range you mention.
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It is a matter of what you like when talking custom items. But yea, that sounds about right for the alcantara round Corvette wheels. I'm surprised that didn't hold up though. I thought that was supposed to be very durable.
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Is the Vette's steering wheel a direct swap? Same controls working, etc? Never considered swapping out the steering wheel… till now.
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It is the C6 wheel that is identical...and we mean identical. You could swap it out but unless you get the Alcantara one, it's going to be the exact same thing. All your controls and air bag swap from one wheel to the other. The image of my custom wheel from So Cal Garage Works (also known as SCGW...see image attached) shows the part of the steering wheel you are swapping. All the other parts you switch over from your current wheel once you have it off the car.Is the Vette's steering wheel a direct swap? Same controls working, etc? Never considered swapping out the steering wheel… till now.
Now if you get one of the factory Corvette D-shaped wheels for the C6, then it's going to look different but last I checked those sell for about the same as the ones like mine from SCGW.
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I understand that the factory Corvette D-shaped wheels ARE a direct swap EXCEPT they do not have the cruise control ON/OFF button. So you have to swap your button circuit board and either hide the switch with it set ON all the time, or cut a hole in the Corvette left hand panel to expose the button.
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As TomatoSoup said above, it's nearly direct. I don't have that wheel pictured, I have the one from the earlier Grand Sport. It's a nice wheel, and it has the attractive chrome trim. It definitely looks and feels better than the stock wheel, and the alcantara is great, when new. It's also available in leather, and if I were doing it again, I'd just get that.Is the Vette's steering wheel a direct swap? Same controls working, etc? Never considered swapping out the steering wheel… till now.
You do need to cut a hole for the cruise control button (or just set it to "on" permanently and cover the button up.) I drilled out a hole and then used some small files to widen it up to size. Slow work, as if you go too far you can't fix it, but probably took an hour in total. You'll need to move over the switch electronics from the old wheel, and of course, the airbag. Overall job is a 1/10 difficulty without making that hole, that might move it up to a 2/10.
If you want to get one of these, then let me know and I can dig up the part numbers, they're saved somewhere. If you want one that has all kinds of crazy non-circular geometric shapes, then you're on your own. :grin:
:cheers:
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Resurrecting from the dead. Can you please post the part number for the all-leather wheel? Many thanks
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Thanks for the picture, looks good actually. I hooked up with greg at scgw and im gonna ship him a brand new c6 wheel (like the one @mstrjon32 posted above) and he'll rework it to add perforated leather, d bottom and cf top and bottom. He sent a picture that he did for someone else and I was impressed with how well it looked.There are also businesses that will rework your stock wheel. This is a GXP wheel that has been converted to woodgrain inserts.
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Here is my 2007 Sky leather-covered steering wheel story.
The leather on my original steering wheel needed restoration. I looked into having it recovered, then having the leather repaired but the cost of both options was too expensive. A new steering wheel from GM was also very costly. So I went on eBay and eventually one came up for sale that looked real good. I paid a reasonable price with shipping considered. Upon arrival, I learned that the eBay pictures, though were excellent & detailed, did not capture some wear and UV damage. I decided to pursue dying the leather to achieve a uniform color, but could not located the exact original color dye so I bought a generic black dye. I had the steering off the car and the airbag and plastic parts off the steering wheel which made dying the leather very easy. I applied two coats of black dye which turned the leather as dark as the radio face. It is surely not OEM looking, but it does coordinate nicely. My steering wheel had white stitching that is now black stitching. If you don't mind the deviations, it is a decent alternative to living with a mildly worn leather steering wheel.
CLICK HERE to see the dye I bought on eBay. The dye dried gloss black, is not sticky, and does not come off on my hands or gloves. Any irregularities in the sheen of the leather itself remains. The dye only changed the leather to a uniform color.
Here is the end result.
![114490]()
The leather on my original steering wheel needed restoration. I looked into having it recovered, then having the leather repaired but the cost of both options was too expensive. A new steering wheel from GM was also very costly. So I went on eBay and eventually one came up for sale that looked real good. I paid a reasonable price with shipping considered. Upon arrival, I learned that the eBay pictures, though were excellent & detailed, did not capture some wear and UV damage. I decided to pursue dying the leather to achieve a uniform color, but could not located the exact original color dye so I bought a generic black dye. I had the steering off the car and the airbag and plastic parts off the steering wheel which made dying the leather very easy. I applied two coats of black dye which turned the leather as dark as the radio face. It is surely not OEM looking, but it does coordinate nicely. My steering wheel had white stitching that is now black stitching. If you don't mind the deviations, it is a decent alternative to living with a mildly worn leather steering wheel.
CLICK HERE to see the dye I bought on eBay. The dye dried gloss black, is not sticky, and does not come off on my hands or gloves. Any irregularities in the sheen of the leather itself remains. The dye only changed the leather to a uniform color.
Here is the end result.
Alcantara.....you MUST wear driving gloves if you want your wheel to last. I'm an avid sim-racer and my wheel for my sim-rig is alcantara. It's 5 years old and I've wore driving gloves the entire time (mainly because during 1 or 2 hour race my hands start to sweat). My sim wheel looks brand new yet.
I had a look--but for some reason the .txt file with this information is eluding me. I will do some more digging. When I forget about it in a three days, send me a PM and then I'll start looking again. 😉
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Thanks, I think I found one on ebay. Looks like I'll have to drill out the holes for the cruise control buttons. The OE wheel is discontinued from GM and cant be found anywhere, sadly.
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