My leather steering wheel has fallen apart and I was wonder if anyone has try to remove all the leather on the steering wheel ? What are the best option to fix a beat up steering wheel?

I had the same problem... What worked for me was a "new to me" steering wheel I picked up at the junkyard for $20. I had thought about having mine re-done but that was pretty expensive and I'd much rather spend that money on other things for the Runner.

I had a place in TX re-do mine. yes it was like $350 at the time but it's like having a new steering wheel. I'm going to be buried in my T4R so for me it's more of a long term investment.




as @JMat suggested you can find decent ones @ the junk yard and Timmy the toolman has a decent vid of howto remove, there are some differences between years for the airbag so best to find a matching year if you can.

Custom Steering Wheels | Wood Steering Wheel | Repair | Restoration. I never tried it because my wheel is still good.
Looks like the company does exelent work.

Craftcustoms recovered mine turn around 9 days.

I'm not against spending dough on a proper restoration. My old Pontiac was an embarrassing amount. In fact I was married back then I'm pretty sure I had to lie about that one.

But for my 4runner I got this kit on Amazon for $10. Ex took the checkbook.

Black would be less startling, but I wanted to shake it up a bit. About 20 mins to sew it in.

Try Wheelskins leather steering wrap. They make one specifically for the 3rd gen 4runner in oak or black. Pricey ($50) and somewhat difficult to lace up but the result is worth it.

I have a plain black wheelskin which I really like. In fact I'd install one even if the original wheel was fine after having it now, I like the thickness it adds and it looks great. Took a bit of time and some blisters sewing it together though.

Don't bother with the wheelskins, while they are decently priced they don't hold up well and don't particularly look amazing.

I'd also not bother re-wrapping your steering wheel or a junkyard one for 300+.

The best solution is to just pull a steering wheel out of a 2000+ Sienna, Camry or etc. (which is probably not going to be leather) and just be ok with it. Probably can pull one of them out of a junkyard for under 30 dollars and it'll provide a clean factory look. Perhaps its just a southern california thing but every steering wheel I found in a 3rd gen 4runner was trash out here (along with the front seats). The steering in the 96-97 4runner is significantly different than the one from 98-2002 though.

So, I had a go at buying a cheap kit off ebay to recover my really badly "pebbled" stock leather. The stock leather had also worn through to the suede in a few spots and it really bothered me.

Here's what I ordered. https://www.ebay.com/i/122637477409?chn=ps

First of all, the kit took several weeks to arrive. I suspect they make them when they receive an order, and it takes some time. So don't be expecting it in a few days.

I went with the "presewn" option which means you just have to run thread between the two sides of the seam back and forth. Install took about 5 hours. The stock leather can be easily removed by carefully taking a razor and cutting the thread of the stock stiching. If need be, I could even reinstall the stock cover if I wanted to.

I'm really happy with how parts of it turned out, and don't like how other parts turned out. The upper rim, lower rim and upper spokes are great, but the lower spokes fell like they have a bit of extra material and fit a bit loose despite cinching the stiching and using tabs of glue on the spokes. Still, overall, for $50, I'm happy for now. The new leather feels so much nicer, and it looks pretty good. I'm keeping my eye out for a used wheel in good condition though, or if I really can't find one, I might send it to Craft Customs who will recover it like new for $299.

Before:


During:


Stiching. The presewn option gets you the two parallel rows of stitches on either side of the seam. You then stitch them together, going every other loop on the rim, and every loop around the spokes. It's pretty easy but time consuming, and hard to get perfect around the spokes.


After:

Honestly I cut the leather off and the underneath is good enough for me. Looks way better than it did and it's free lol

Any chance of getting a pic of this? I'd be interested in doing this.

Have never gotten around to taking the glue off but its soft and smooth so it doesnt bother me one bit. Better than little leather peices coming off every time I drive it. Felt like that crap was gonna give me cancer lol.

Attached Images

 

I have a pic of my wheel sans leather cover in the thread right above. It looks pretty decent, but seems a bit thin to me. I'm not sure if it's the same or different from the non leather covered wheels of the base models.

It is at least subtly different. There is no room for leather to wrap around near the horn/airbag pad and the texture looks a bit more aggressive (before it gets worn, at least). My non-leather wheel is basically worn smooth at this point...

-Charlie