Anyone Wrapped a Sport Wheel?

It rained today so I had some time to get the wheel ready and started the baseball stitch. I'm not so sure I like it. It is harder to get tight since the thread goes under the cover instead of over to help hold it down. I hit on the idea of using velcro strips to keep the cover wrapped around the wheel while I'm stitching it.

It will definitely need a drop of glue to get the fake stitch on the spokes to seal the gap.

Opinions?

 

I think the 1st wheel stitch looks better. I also think it will look great with red stitching and I am looking forward to seeing that as well.

 

I like the first variant of stiches better. Compliments to your curiosity and your get go attitude. Keep on going.

 

I think the problem with the WheelSkin is the holes are too far apart to make the baseball stitch look good. I think I'll unlace it and do the cross stitch and see how it looks.

 

Oh man, I was looking forward to seeing it completed. I think that pattern has a cleaner look to it than the cross stitch does, kinda like a less is more kind of thing. Oh well, thanks for your efforts, maybe some day i'll play around with a spare wheel i've got around here.

 

I had an old 1963 MGB steering wheel adapted to my wife's 1979 MGB. Not supposed to fit, but it does now...


Anyway, I might want to try what you are up to, as it currently has one of the old school cheap-o wraps.



So I am following this intently...

 

If the holes were closer together, it might look better. As it is, I think the stitch is too big to look as clean as I was going for. I'm tempted to punch holes between every factory hole since a baseball stitch is pretty tight and close together.

I'm going to go to the first spoke and reassess what it looks like before I decide. It's only time I'm wasting.

 

OK, I've laced it the 1st quarter way around, from bottom spoke to right spoke. I've pulled it as tight as I dare. I'm still not convinced the baseball stitch is the way to go on this cover with this hole spacing.

The cross stitch takes almost twice as long but I think it makes a much tighter cover.

Thoughts?

 

I think you may be right Greg, the cross stitch will probably look less "lumpy" between holes. The wheel skins cover has that thick edge where the two halves meet and when it gets pulled real tight, it tends to gather up and get a little lumpy. I think it looked better when the laces weren't pulled so tight, but of coarse you can't leave it that loose. Keep up the good work tho!

 

I may get energetic and redo the first wheel cover I did and try a baseball stitch on it since I think it definitely will lay down better, being not doubled over on the edge and with tighter hole spacing.

It is a learning experience, to say the least.

 

Looks great! It's got that nice new car wheel grip, with the comfortable, padded feel instead of those old stock skinny 1965-72 wheels.

I like it!

 

OK, pulled out all the baseball stitching and went with the cross stitch on the WheelSkin cover. I think it is looking better. I'm not sure I think it is better than the other cover but I'll post them side by side when I'm finished with this one. I think part of the issue might be that the double layer is not uniformly consistent. Whereas the cheaper cover was more consistent as it was a single layer.

Update pic for your perusal.

 

Double layer & cross stitches are my favorite. Maybe some moderate heat from a heat gun will help equalzing.

 

OK, the second wheel is finished. It looks pretty good now that it is finished. It isn't quite as smooth as the cheapy wheel cover. I'm going to let it settle for a bit, maybe put it in the sun tomorrow and see how it does.

A few pictures, one with my hand for reference.

 

Greg, you did not work hard enough, can't see any blisters on your fingers
Seriously, the steering wheel looks good and the idea with the sun is good, also.

 

It sat in the sun for several hours and was quite warm to the touch. It might have smoothed out a little. If I do another WheelSkin cover, I will definitely check the backside and trim any of the wrapped around leather that is longer or fill in if any is missing to get the most consistent finished product.

Here are some pics comparing it to the cheaper wheel cover as well.

 

@knucklebusted both wheels look great! Which do you like better? Wheelskin or the cheaper version?

Nick

 

It looks like the Wheelskin is a "finer" material and therefor small imperfections underneath go thru and are much more visible. Maybe the foam should be a tad thicker. I guess 3 will be the lucky number. Do you have another wheel at your disposal already?