I recently took ownership of my Crossfire from my father, and it is in otherwise perfect condition. Down side is that the steering wheel looks like crap. I have attached a picture, but I'm pretty sure it's worn as I have tried to clean it with various cleaners and haven't gotten anywhere.

Any advice / suggestions, or am I stuck with buying a new steering wheel or a cover?

 

I see a black steering wheel every so often on eBay. Go for it.

I believe the newer white interiors have black steering wheels.

James

 

The color coat is worn off. Stop cleaning.

Go to several used car dealers and ask them how to contact their LOT WIZZARD that details their cars. These guys can repair , recolor the wheel to make it look spiffy again and probably without too much $$$.

Woody

 

Woody is right on as usual. I sell cars and this can be fixed easily. I would add to Woody's recommendation and tell you to go to a high-end USED dealer that sells clean, newer MB and BMW s. They know a great guy that does this work. If you car is clean like you said then you want the best job---it will only cost you $50-75 more. My wholesale price assuming that the damage is equal all the way around would be $150 or so. Good luck and stop scrubbing.

 

Thanks all. I may have given the wrong impression by bringing up the cleaning side of things. When I got it, it was quite dirty, so I wasn't sure how much was dirt and how much was physical damage. The photo shows only the physical damage, as you've all detected. Great advice on going to a used car shop, I will call around tomorrow to see what I can learn!

-Kevin

 

Don't forget to post up afterward pics.

 

Ditto on the above feedback. The high-end used car dealership is a great recommendation. You can also checkout the higher end new car service and/or collision departments. We've recently purchased a 2006 VW New Beetle Convertible 2.5 and the synthetic leather (VW's leatherette) on the driver's side bolster had some wear. A Service Tech at local VW dealer gave me the name/number of a guy they use to 'fix up' interior issues. Can't even tell there was any wear, now.

And about a year back, I was seriousy considering the purchase of a low mileage 2004 Porsche Boxster. The interior was that cream color Porsche uses. The local Porsche dealer had taken it on trade and had just put it on the lot. The driver's seat had the typical wear you see on the side bolster. I mentioned that to the salesman before I left. I went back a couple of days later to take another look and the driver's seat looked like new! There was no sign of the wear. The color match was perfect to the naked eye. I got that interior guy's name/number after going back to talk with Body Shop Manager.

The same can be said for finding a local 'rim fixer'. These guys are also out there. Got my contact when I saw them performing rim repairs on used Land Rovers at local dealers. The work these guys were performing that day was awesome!

And the nice perk is that nearly all of these services are mobile. That means they come to you and do the work. I've even had them do the work while the car was parked in the lot at work.

Later,

 

Chrysler wised up on this during the last model year. A lot of late 2007 and most 2008 XFires with the vanilla/slate interiors had the dark colored steering wheels instead of the vanilla ones.

 

Definately post after pics. I wanted the vanilla interior SOOOO badly before I bought mine, but all of the steering wheels looked horrible. They wised up '07 model year.

 

WOW!! this is cool to find out, I too have the vanilla steering wheel on my 05 roadster and I damaged mine by placing a steering wheel cover over my factory pristine wheel. The cover I used stained my wheel and so I will need to have mine dyed back to its orgional color as well. I didn't know these where repairable, another helpful tip from the forum. Thanks guys!

 

is that like a LOT LIZZARD????

 

No Rob, that is what wakes me up when I am trying to sleep at a rest area...and usually you can't tell if they are male or female....lol....the Glock usually makes them go away....J/K....but they do go away....I think I am still doing fine with the free stuff at this stage...lol

 

If you think any of it is free, you are delusional. LOL

 

Hi. I give my apology for the late response. This 1 year old thread seems not yet solved though i could give a community that discusses steering wheels. Crossfire Forums, Galleries - CrossfireCommunity.net > Home. Probably, you need to replace it man or could call for service and let it be fixed.