so who does excellent leather covered steering wheels?

rsporsche

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i know Juan Ortiz does, but he is generally quite busy and doesn't really love to do them. this is for a Petri, and it isn't for one of mine, its for a friend who doesn't post that much.

he looked at the guy in Texas (Leatherworks) and wasn't terribly impressed ... so i would appreciate it if you let me know anybody else you can think of.

many thanks in advance
scott
 

bert35csi

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Take a look at these guys: http://www.craftcustoms.com/ received a quote of $325 to rewrap a Petri in leather. Judging from the many pics and in particular, the older BMW wheels, it appears they do exceptional work. I’ve not rewrap my Petri yet, but will do it soon with these guys.

Think Alan is referring to Alan Gunn in Florida.
 

bert35csi

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This is part of the email I’d with CraftCustoms:

“The cost to reupholster your BMW or your vintage 70's 380mm BMW 3 spoke steering wheel to new leather specifications with basting stitching is $325 plus shipping. We use only full-grain automotive leather that exceeds industry standards. Simply send in your steering wheel and we'll take care of the rest. Turnaround is about eight days.”
 

Markos

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This is part of the email I’d with CraftCustoms:

“The cost to reupholster your BMW or your vintage 70's 380mm BMW 3 spoke steering wheel to new leather specifications with basting stitching is $325 plus shipping. We use only full-grain automotive leather that exceeds industry standards. Simply send in your steering wheel and we'll take care of the rest. Turnaround is about eight days.”

I'm pretty picky about this stuff, but I'm not super impressed with the CraftCustoms stuff. I think their newer stuff will be okay, but it appears to me that the leather that they use isn't appropriate for a vintage wheel. It looks too thin, and the incorrect texture.
 

Honolulu

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Here's the nutcase in the islands saying firmly... DIY. The right length and width of Latigo leather, punch holes with a small hammer and nail, stitch with carpet thread ot Dacron fishing line in the stitch of your choice!

You can dye the leather and/or thread any gaudy(or subtle) color you choose, just go to your local leather works. I know such shops are getting harder to fin now than they were in the 70's.

No one else, apparently, even considers to do this..is my DIY approach becoming irrelevant to the members of this group?
 

OCCoupe

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DO NOT GO TO ALAN GUNN, he does not do good work and does not honor his work or lack thereof. I have had bad experiences on two separate occasions and he was less than willing to make good, in fact he never really made them good. Some of the seems were coming undone on both wheels and on one wheel the stitching was so off that the only way to fix it was to redo the whole wheel cover which he refused to do.
 

Markos

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I figured the quiet person in question knew about my contact, but I use a craftsman in eastern europe. He is redoing Stan's CSI wheel at the moment, and I sent him my 380mm 1965-1967 Le Man's yesterday. Next up is my 380mm Alpina. I will be sending him a 380mm Petri but it is behind a stack of other wheels that will be going there. Total shipping both ways is around $85 for a lightweight wheel like a momo (Petri's are heavier). Shipping the factory wheel round trip will be close to $120.

One has to be very comfortable with heartburn around what is happening with customs. I'll have more data points by the summer but I did have one hiccup that was 50% my fault, 50% customs being a PITA. I spent "petri money" on the Le Mans and the Alpina is more or less irreplaceable, but his work is that good IMO. Normally I am an open book but PM me for details if you are seriously interested.
 
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'69 2800cs

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Dallas Custom Steering wheels did the 380mm thick grip wheel for my 911. The leather is ridiculously soft and smooth and they nailed the original stitching details.

Not sure they have the knowledge specific to Petri but the work is excellent.
 

coupeguy

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Dallas Custom Steering wheels did the 380mm thick grip wheel for my 911. The leather is ridiculously soft and smooth and they nailed the original stitching details.

Not sure they have the knowledge specific to Petri but the work is excellent.


Can you supply contact info and what you paid for the job? Any pics, what size was your wheel? You can send to [email protected] if you prefer.
Thanks
 

Bert Poliakoff

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Google Chris Scow. He did my Alpina wheel and custom stitched it so my handbrake cover and gear shift knob all matched. A few years ago he charged me $150 for the s wheel and less than 10 day turn around. He is in Texas .Round
trip shipping was $30. He changed his business name and I don't know it now but he can be googled. He also loves to talk on the phone.
 

coupeguy

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Google Chris Scow. He did my Alpina wheel and custom stitched it so my handbrake cover and gear shift knob all matched. A few years ago he charged me $150 for the s wheel and less than 10 day turn around. He is in Texas .Round
trip shipping was $30. He changed his business name and I don't know it now but he can be googled. He also loves to talk on the phone.

Its Leatherworks.com, charged me $165 for a 380 Petri and turn around was less than a week. However he only uses embossed or fake grain leather, not the natural leather grain as it comes off the cow. That's what Petri used and what I feel is worth a great deal more for the look and feel that is correct. The job was good, but he also did not do the treatment where the leather meets the spokes as I asked for, sent him pics of, tried to explain it on the phone and did all I could to have him do it as Petri did it. My efforts did not work, but for cost and time you probably cant beat his work, but I will be using someone else for the next wheels I have done.
 

coupeguy

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DO NOT GO TO ALAN GUNN, he does not do good work and does not honor his work or lack thereof. I have had bad experiences on two separate occasions and he was less than willing to make good, in fact he never really made them good. Some of the seems were coming undone on both wheels and on one wheel the stitching was so off that the only way to fix it was to redo the whole wheel cover which he refused to do.
I'll second that, Gunn is a high volume sweat shop operation, churning out a one style shift boot blob that bears no resemblance to an original E9 shift boot, no matter what you order.
 

'69 2800cs

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http://dallassteeringwheel.com/sw10.htm. They have 22 pages of sample pictures.

Here's a close up of what they do for the 911 thick grip wheel. I would think if you can get detail on how the original Petri is done they could match it.

Porsche911Padded_Back.jpg
 

rsporsche

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their price is 380 bucks for normal thickness, add 70 bucks for a thicker grip. this brings you up to the Juan Ortiz territory ... which would make it an easy decision.
 

Markos

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http://dallassteeringwheel.com/sw10.htm. They have 22 pages of sample pictures.
Here's a close up of what they do for the 911 thick grip wheel. I would think if you can get detail on how the original Petri is done they could match it.

There isn't much I can critique about cars with my POS, so I have no room to talk. With that said, I'm still not thrilled about the pic above. Perhaps this is what the original wheel looked like. What you find with a lot of shops however is that they fold the leather where it meets the spoke versus skiving it. Skiving is a process of shaving the leather so that it is very thin. Also, I'm not convinced that the original wheel would have had leather than looked like that. I'm guessing that the original leather is thicker with less bunching around the stitches. I could be wrong however, but nearly all of the recovered leather wheels that I see look like the pic above.

If you take a look at a Petri wheel, the leather will be skived at the spoke and not folded...
 
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