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Installation instructions come with every Wheelskin sold, but here are a few tips that I have picked up
along the way that might help you:
1. Fix your old wheel before installing your
Wheelskin
Sometimes old factory leather wheels collect tears and
there can even be chunks missing from the wheel. What do you do?
Unless it is already falling off, do NOT remove the old leather.
Chances are the spokes are still in good shape, and you will need that since no
generic leather cover made will cover the spokes.
Fix the loose bits and holes. To do this, buy a tube of
silicone gasket sealer/maker from an auto parts store. This comes in black, gold, a
reddish color and maybe blue. Get the color closest to the factory cover, but it
really is not important. You want the "thick" gasket material, not the
thin sealer used sometimes for windshields." Silicone bathtub caulk
will also work.
Then apply some of the sealer under torn bits and use it to glue them
down. fill in any gaps or holes with the sealer also. Use enough to just fill
in the area. Then wrap the wheel tightly with a couple layers of thin plastic food
wrap and let the wheel set overnight. Take off the wrap when the sealant is dry and
trim with a razor blade if necessary, or fill in some more and wrap again. When you
have a nice smooth surface, you are ready to install your Wheelskin.
Why fix the old wheel? A Wheelskin is so soft and supple that it
will show imperfections through the surface. One demo wheel I have even shows the
mold line from a rubber racing wheel through the leather. This is a good thing,
since you will feel the finger grips on the back of most wheels through the leather, but
you have to fix problems before installation. So take some time, and you will enjoy
your "new" steering wheel.
2. Get rid of the "Chads": Wheelskins
covers come pre-punched with all the holes needed to sew them up nice and tight.
Sometimes though, a few of the leather plugs (or "chads") remain in the
holes. I recommend you take the supplied needle and just poke it through EVERY hole
in the cover on both seams to drive out any remaining plugs. Then run your fingers
across the seam, inside and outside, all the way around to make sure they are pulled loose and none are stuck
inside the cover on the bare leather surface. If any of these plugs get under your
Wheelskin during installation, you will see a bump that may bother you every time you get
in the car. This bump will also wear its surface off before the rest of the cover.
If you get part-way through an installation and notice a bump, then take the time
right then to un-stitch the cover till you can pick out the offending particle and go
ahead with your stitching.
2. Do a Baseball Stitch to make your
cover appear more like a factory installation (scroll down more to see the
new "Cross" stitch you may want to try).
NOTE: allow one to two hours to install your
first Wheelskin if you do the loop stitch. You should allow maybe twice
that for the baseball stitch. This isn't hard work. Allow plenty of
time and make yourself comfortable before starting. One of our customers
had this to say about his first installation using the baseball stitch.
"I finally got the time to install the Eurotone Wheelskin on my Tundra pickup. Realizing that I'm slow, your estimate of two hours was a little short of the five hours I took - but I am extremely pleased with the end product. It ain't perfect - installation-wise - but it really looks good, and the gray/charcoal is almost a perfect match to my Katzkin leather seats. The baseball stitch was tedious, but looks great. And the Wheelskin could not have fit any better - just like it was custom made for my steering wheel."
Thanks for a great product, and for the directions on the baseball stitch."
A Very Pleased Customer,
Doug K.
Midlothian, VA.
NOTE: Customer Charles G. of Pennsylvania observed
that when using two compete thread kits for the Baseball stitch, that at least
on his Size A cover, he wound up with almost 8 feet of extra thread on each
side. He suggests cutting some off to reduce the amount of thread you have
to deal with. (see the note from Lee below to take this one step
further.)
I will say that ONE thread kit MIGHT do the baseball stitch,
but not every thread kit has exactly the same amount of thread, they vary a
little. If a customer tried one kit (or cut close to 8 feet off each
thread kit) and came up a foot short, that would be VERY frustrating. So
use two kits. If you want to cut 2-4 feet off the end of each thread kit,
that would probably leave plenty to do the baseball stitch, but don't cut too
much! Better to have way too much thread, than to wind up just a little
short and have to start all over!
For a neat solution to this dilemma, see below:
I recently received a red Wheelskin for my '99 Dodge
Ram. The cover was to replace an inexpensive leather cover that was beginning to
fail. I installed it using the baseball stitch and it looks great. It took nearly all of both
laces to install, little waste.
To start, I unrolled about ten feet of lace and left the remainder rolled
up at the bottom of the wheel. As I got around toward the starting point, it became obvious that I would run out of lace. At that point, I started
lacing backward by unrolling the extra thread until the laces met and I tied-off.
This saved lacing all around with several feet of thread with no risk of running out by cutting off at the beginning of the job.
One more tip, I used a curved upholstery needle to great advantage on the back side of the spokes.
Great fit, good service. Thanks, Lee
A variation of the above tip comes to us from Sugar Land Texas!
Thanks for the prompt shipment of the Wheelskin. I installed on Sunday using the baseball stitch. Great product. It
looks very good and I am pleased. Your instructions on your web site were very valuable, especially the photos and the tips from other folks. I
thought I would add a tip or two.
It takes a hard steady pull as your instructions say to close the seams of the skin.
I found great relief and the ability to pull more firmly by using two cotton cloths
(or old socks) wrapped around my fingers (wrapped around 3 or 4 fingers on each hand) before then wrapping
the thread on top of the cloths. This spreads the load and relieves much of the stress on the fingers. It also keeps the hands more free of the
wax. I also recommend making two stitches and pull them both at the same time
instead of pulling tight after each stitch. (As your instructions correctly say, you are pulling about 5 stitches with each pull anyway.)
This cuts down on the amount of pulling (hand stress), speeds up the process, and gives a tighter seam.
I used the tip of leaving extra thread rolled up and tucked in at the starting point to avoid working with a lot of extra string length.
I found that cutting thread for the baseball stitch to a length of 9 feet
allowed plenty of extra. If in doubt, leave some extra rolled up at the
starting point.
Lastly, if you have stretched the Wheelskin so that it is a little bunched up near the end, you can try to squeeze and push (while rotating back and
forth a little) back around the wheel's circumference to take out the extra slack/bunch. I had a small amount of bunch and this worked fine to
eliminate it without being evident at any other spot on the wheel.
Regards,
Ed, Sugar Land, TX 77478
Here we go with instructions on the BASEBALL STITCH:
 Here
is a nicely preserved 1991 Taurus SHO steering wheel, I am going to cover it to
preserve the factory leather and also to add thickness to the rim. The
Wheelskins also gives a better grip than the slick factory leather. I will
do the baseball stitch to this wheel, keep reading: NOTE: these
instruction work for both original solid color Wheelskins and the Eurotone two
or three-tone Wheelskins.
The instructions that come with your Wheelskins show a typical loop stitch. If you want your wheel to look more like
factory, use a baseball stitch. While there may be enough waxed thread to do this,
if you decide to do a baseball stitch, let me know and I will include an extra
needle/thread kit at no charge.
How do you do the stitch? I will do my best to describe it, but
also look over a baseball or your factory wheel to get an idea. In the
picture at the right, I show how to measure for grip circumference.
Wrap a string (or in this case an electrical wire) around the rim, going ON TOP
of the finger grips, not between them. Make a pencil mark where the two
cross as shown.
Why a pencil? So if you get some on the factory cover you can get it off!
In the next picture, I have laid the wire out straight and just measure
between the two marks. In this case it shows about 3 3/4". Then
you need to get the wheel outside diameter. In the picture below right,
you see the tape measure starting from one outside edge, across the middle of
the wheel to the other side. The dimension in this case is just over
15". 
With these two dimensions, you can go to the chart for SIZES.
In this case, the dimensions tell me I need a size AXX. DC CarCare will be
happy to custom size any cover you need, or check what size you need if your
vehicle is not listed in the charts. We also guarantee a good fit.
The next step is to stretch the cover over the wheel.
Wheelskins covers are very soft leather, but when it is cold outside (below
about 40 degrees) any leather can get stiff. So make sure the cover is at
room temp (70 degrees) and that the interior of the vehicle is also at room
temp. Work outside with the motor running if necessary (don't run the
motor inside a garage!) and always be aware of exhaust fumes. 
Put the cover over the bottom of the wheel, stretch it over the sides and use
your thumbs or fingers to stretch it over the top. Be careful not to pull
too hard on the glued seam, it can be torn apart, then the supporting string
glued in the seam comes out and it is harder to install. The picture on
the left shows the first step. Be sure to carefully align the cover so
that the seam will be where you want it. That is usually over the old
seam, but sometimes you may want it a bit more to the front or back. Be
consistent though, a seam that wanders inside the rim can be annoying.
START STITCHING: First, you have to have two needles. I took two thread kits. I
threaded one end through each seam meeting in the middle at the bottom of the wheel like
in the Wheelskins directions. I tied the two threads together and then had one thread
going out each seam. In the picture on the right you can see the threads
started through opposite holes. Let about 6" of thread come through
and tie two or three knots to tie the ends together. then pull the threads
through so the knot is in the seam.
(Alternate stitching method: Sent in by a DC CarCare
customer:
Hi Don:
You sent me extra tan-colored lacing thread a few weeks ago. Thanks.
I installed the wheel cover today (the first Michigan day in the 50's in many months) and I came up with a new technique that you may want to pass on to your customers.
I used the baseball stitch (thanks for the instructions and photos on your website) and did the lacing in four sections, using the appropriate colored thread for each. (My cover was in black and oak.) This worked extremely well and now each section has matching (or awfully close to matching) thread. And, since I was able to use relatively short lengths of thread, it virtually eliminated the tangling problem inherent with two long waxed threads, which can be a real pain.
I don't know what colors the thread comes in, (We
offer Black, Grey, Tan and Red-- DCCC) but even combining dark thread with dark sections and light with light may be helpful in achieving a finished, OEM look.
The final results look great. I'm very pleased with the Wheelskin product and with your company's customer support.
Harry Baker
Clawson, MI
Trim the excess thread to about 1/4", not closer! Use holes that are directly across from each other.
To start  your
stitches, cross the threads over and go under the seam and back out the other side. You
will want to always cross the threads the same way (front one under or over) each
time, remain consistent! In the picture on the left, if you look hard you
can see the knot where the threads started on the left. I made the
stitches "V" to the right since that is how the factory cover
was.
At this point I started a couple inches to the left of the seam
in the cover (Eurotone covers will have FOUR seams) and then stitched through
it. Do NOT start AT the seam, you will never get it pulled tight. Like with the loop stitch, you want to pull tight EVERY
stitch then go
on. You will see the V shape of the baseball stitch starting to form, and get the
idea. If it doesn't work at first, start over. NOTE that in the
picture above, the last couple of stitches are a bit loose, but the early ones
are tight. As you pull each stitch tight, the wax in the thread tends to
hold earlier stitches tight. When pulling, pull firm and long, rather than
a jerky motion. Also pull straight out to the sides, not forward, you can
stretch the cover if you pull wrong. You are trying to tighten the last
four or five stitches every time
.
In the picture above, I have poked the needles into empty holes to keep
them from tangling. I always put the needle that has thread coming out
the front hole on the bottom and the needle with the thread coming out the
back holes on top. Go slow when you start and develop a method that
works for you. Managing the thread is the most annoying part, but if
you go slow, and plan your first few moves, then repeat them, you develop a
rhythm. Plan on taking about two hours to do a baseball stitch
cover,
When you come to a spoke, the baseball stitch has two advantages over
the loop. First you have a thread on each side of the spoke and you can loop the
thread on both sides. Second, with the baseball stitch, you can pull the seam
tighter and closer to the spokes than with the loop stitch. Take care to choose
which pair of holes to end with....if you don't like what you see, do it over.
(by doing it over, I mean un-stitch the last few pairs of stitches and go
again, not start with all new thread.)
In the next picture at right, I have arrived at the first spoke. This
SHO wheel is perfect for a
Wheelskin. The spoke meets the rim AT the rim, and the spokes are thin
and not wide. A thick and wide spoke won't look quite as good, but it
will still look nice. Spokes where the leather comes down from the rim
also aren't quite as neat as this installation will be, but again, when
done, almost everyone likes the result, no matter what type of wheel you
have.
To cross the spokes, use a loop stitch looping the thread around
and into the next hole on BOTH sides of the spoke. I had to get out of the
seat, get down on my knees and get behind the wheel to get the back side, but
the front is easy. Again, pull EACH stitch as tight as you can with a firm
steady pull.
Speaking of the thread, this waxed thread can take a lot of abuse.
If you use two sets of thread, you almost have twice as much as you need so you can
cut off some and start over if you have too.  When you get to the other side of the
spoke, as at the picture at the left, pick up the next pair of holes that you can close almost all the way and keep going.
In the picture below to the right, I have made my way around the
top and other spokes and am near my original starting point. I put this
picture in for those people that have sometimes gotten to this point and thought
the cover was going to bunch up and look bad. If the cover is sized right,
and you pull the
stitches out rather than down or forward when tightening the stitches, you won't
stretch the cover as you go. This amount of bunching is normal and
perfect, as you will see.
 When you get to the bottom again, take the last stitches,
and loop them over and back under the original knot, running the threads out the
seam.
Then tie several knots, cut off the excess, leaving at least
1/2" and tuck the knot in the seam,  as shown in
the loop stitch instructions. In the picture on the right, the knots are
still sticking up.
Are you ready for some magic?
Here on the left I take a flat blade screwdriver and poke the
knots and thread ends into the seam. Go easy, you can cut the thread if
the screwdriver is sharp. The reason to leave some extra string at the end
after tying the knots is that the knots can sometimes pull a bit loose. If
you leave a bit of thread, they won't come all the way apart.
MAGIC TRICK! Hereis the finished seam with the knot gone and no
bunching at the start/finish point. Over the course of the next few days,
the cover will smooth out more and any small stretch marks usually almost go
totally away.
The picture above shows the finished product. Without
knowing, I bet you could not really tell where the stitching started and
stopped. The Oak color here goes very well with the Mocha interior of
this SHO and a lot of other tan interiors.
4. Make a mistake?: As mentioned, start over, or
go back to where you have a good seam. The most important thing is to keep the seam
straight as you go. If you get a knot, try not to pull at it, use the needle to undo
the knot. If you can't fix it, then start over. There is almost twice as much
thread as you will needs, so if not half-way through yet, you can still cut off the knot,
take the longest thread and start over. If there is not enough thread, call DC
CarCare or e-mail us and we will send you some new thread kits free.
3. Cross stitch, idea and pictures
courtesy of John S. of Texas. Thanks John!
Above is a picture of John's wheel with the stitch he came
up with. Note the neat "dashes" where the thread crosses the
spokes. Very nice idea that could work with the spiral or baseball
stitches too.
Here is John's drawing of how to do the stitch. He
shows first one thread then the other, then both. By studying the
drawings and pictures, it should be easy to figure out how to do it.
This close-up shows the transitions between the spokes and
the rim.
Another shot of the transitions between spoke and rim with
the dashes that cross the spoke in closer detail.
Good job John! Thanks for sending in this neat
idea. As usual, DC CarCare will be happy to supply extra free thread
to help you try this method or any other. Send us pictures of your
completed installations.
Your new Wheelskin will be a joy to grasp every time
you drive, and your friends will probably comment on how nice it looks. Clean it
with Lexol and it will look and feel good for many
years.
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