Using Leatherique to Restore a 25-Year-Old Momo Steering Wheel

Yesterday, I talked about the positive experiences I’ve had with products from Griot’s Garage.  Today, I’m going to introduce you to leather care / restoration products from Leatherique.  Leatherique is well known in the circles of collector cars.  Their products have been used on collections all over the world!  So, when faced with a 23-year-old Ferrari in need of some "cow hide TLC", who do you call?  Leatherique!!

What is the part of the car that is touched more than any other part?  The door handle?  Nope.  The oil dip-stick?  (It should be, but…nope).  The gas cap?  With today’s fuel prices, I certainly hope not!  The steering wheel?  Absolutely!  The steering wheel!  You have the most interaction with the steering wheel than any other single component of the car.  Think about it…you touch it (and hold on to it) every time you drive.  You look over it, around it, underneath it, through it.  The steering wheel, while most likely not a focal point in the interior of a car, is one of the most critical parts of the interior.

The Ferrari’s leather wrapped, white stitched Momo steering wheel was in dire need of restoration.  The previous owner had used Velcro to place a remote control for the car stereo on the six o’clock spoke.  Word of caution:  When removing (and reinstalling) the wheel from the steering assembly, use extreme caution not to 1) scratch the painted area of the steering wheel and 2) mar the heads of the hex bolts used to hold the wheel to the steering assembly.  Further, if you are working on a newer car (one with airbags), please read the owners manual for the proper steps to disconnect any and all power sources so the airbag doesn't accidently deploy in your face!  (Flashback to National Lampoon's Vacation, "Look Honey, airbags!!")

The leather was dry, faded and felt like an old pair of combat boots...boots that saw action at Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima!

A visit to the Leatherique website and $25 later, the Leatherique Steering Wheel Kit arrived.  The kit contains:  4 oz. of Supper Prepping Agent, 4 oz. of Black Dye and 4 oz of Klear Kote.

This entire restoration took two evenings.  The first evening was spent setting up shop in the laundry room (the washing machine makes a pretty nice work surface when it’s too cold to work in the garage).

That first night was spent prepping the steering wheel by taping all the exposed metal parts and applying the Super Prepping Agent using some 600 grit wet sandpaper.  I simply saturated the sandpaper in the Prepping Agent and lightly rubbed in a back-and-forth motion all around the leather (avoiding the stitching).

This got the leather to a state where it looked like this:

This is also a very tricky and touchy part of the restoration.  Too much sanding and you’ll sand the grain out of the leather.  So, the trick is finding just the right amount of sanding required—without removing the leather’s natural grain and creating a smooth surface or worse—suede.  If you can get the leather where there is still visible grain, but the surface is dull to the eye, but soft and supple to the touch—BINGO.  Think of it like this, sand just enough to "rough up" the surface and "break up" the existing dye.  This creates a great foundation for the new dye to be properly absorbed into the leather and not have that "painted on look" that a lot of re-dye opponents preach.  Improperly prepped leather combined with dye not applied via several thin coats and your hide will look worse than Tammy Faye Bakker circa 1987!

I let the prepped leather dry over night.

While many folks airbrush the leather when re-dying, I wanted to preserve the contrast of the black leather with white threads and decided to “wipe dye” rather than airbrush.  Unless you’ve spent the summer in Gatlinburg or Myrtle Beach interning under the masterful eye of Fred the T-Shirt guy, the once bright-white threads would likely be nice shade of black at the hands of a non-experienced airbrusher!

With my trusty roll of paper towels in hand, I started the re-dye process.  The “wipe dye” process is actually very simple: 1) take a single square paper towel sheet and, while making the “okay” sign with your right hand (assuming you’re right handed), poke the center through the “o” in “okay” up toward you, 2) pull about 1/3 to 1/2 of the paper towel through the “o” and grip/squeeze with the “k”, 3) flatten and shape the “puff” you’ve created with the center of the paper towel, 4) arrange the “puff” in your hand so you can comfortably hold it and start the re-dye process.

Here I simply dabbed the dry paper towel puff lightly in the dye and started in working in small circular motions.  Certainly, extra care was given to areas next to the threads…one little slip and all the effort to keep the dye off of the treads would be all for not.

Holding the wheel in my left hand, I dyed using my right hand, pitching each paper towel once it got saturated with dye and started to show signs of “wear”.  While applying very little pressure, you don’t have to worry about paper towel fuzz getting in the dye or on your leather.  However, once you start to see the towel ball-up, pitch it and create another “puff”.  You can actually create several “puffs” in advance so you can simply grab a new one and keep working.

You’re probably wondering how I could work on the wheel without getting dye all over the place.  Luckily, the Momo wheel, when sat “upright” is angled enough such that the only part touching the surface of where it rests is the center hub where the horn button is (no leather touches any part of the work surface).  This allowed me to re-dye both sides in one evening and place it on the work surface (washing machine) to cure overnight.

The dye was applied in several very thin coats, again, using very little pressure. After going through several paper towels and really taking my time around the stitching, the end result couldn’t be better!

The kit came with a pigment-free dye Leatherique calls Klear Kote. This product is for added protection and enhanced sheen. I chose not to apply this product because the leather on the original Momo wheel was a matte finish (e.g., not glossy). Something interesting worth noting:  There is a stamp in the aluminum on the underside of the wheel that says “6 - 86”. This tells me the wheel was manufactured in June of 1986.

After the restoration, I think it looks just as it did in June some twenty-five years ago!

In the upcoming weeks, I'll post an extensive series on how the entire leather interior of the car was restored using Leatherique products.  For folks considering tackling a project like this, the series will be something you won't want to miss.  

Stay tuned....