Wheel Skins Wheel Cover (possible group buy?)

I thought I could live with the monotone steering wheel, but then I broke down and bought a wheel cover

I'm going to email Wheel Skins and see if they can do a custom job. Fit is a problem again, and coloration, although coloration isn't a huge problem.

The feel of the wheel skin is great. The extra thickness and softness is much appreciated. It makes the car feel richer and more sporty. Definitely a "touch surface" improvement.

I was doubtful about the two tone rim, based on my photochops. I thought it would make the hub and spokes stick out and look like K.I.T.T.'s steering wheel, not exactly what you want in a Riv. I was glad to find that isn't the case at all, it looks really good. With the dash kit, the interior starts to look and feel like an upscale interior (from the 90's at least)



There are two problems with fit. The first is this -

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The foamy part of our wheel is too thick for the wheel skin. The section covering it needs to be wider.

The second problem is, the black areas are too small (circumference wise) for our wheels. They don't fully cover our leather sections, which means the split between the black and grey sections doesn't line up with our spokes. That's not so good.

Coloration - The black isn't dark enough to match the shift knob leather, and the grey is a couple shades too dark to match the wheel's grey (it matches the dash cap's grey, so it works well enough).

Anyway I will email Wheelskins and see if they can make a custom wheel cover for the Riv. Anyone interested in a group buy if they are?

i one of these on the stratus, it fit good on that. let me know when u get a email back, that will determine my answer someday

Yeah i might be...not sure if i just wanna dye the leather on the steering wheel though.

Jack, you should make a poll.

these wheel covers...i don't think they look slylish.it's just not me.

TonySmooth89 - I thought about dyeing too, but this was a less permanent way to test the look, which I wasn't sure would work. Dyeing also seems difficult enough to be worth having a pro do it, which means leaving the car until they're done with it. Bit of a hassle.

It won't give the improved feel the wheelskin does either.

It will look factory. In my case I think the wheel skins color blends well enough for it to look close to factory, but I've seen others that don't.

Corey - I emailed them earlier.

1998 Riv - poll added!

stan - usually they aren't stylish. If we can get a custom fit on these though, the only place they won't look factory is where they go around the spokes. Provided you match the colors well, maybe even have the wheel skin dyed to match your interior if it's necessary. I think the improved feel makes up for the spoke problem. The wheel skin really feels good, and you know the steering wheel is your prime interface with the car.

Guess I'll toss out an opinion as well. I would only use a steering wheel cover if my stock wheel was in bad shape. And I'd probably just find a replacement wheel instead. That's my .02. Where's that 2 cents smiley when ya need it?

Now that's a strong dislike for wheel covers.

1998 Riv wrote:

That's my .02. Where's that 2 cents smiley when ya need it?

we dont have a 2cent smiley

i have a cover, but my wheel is in near perfect shape...wonder if there is a correlation?? i didnt get it to be stylish or to cover up imperfections, i got it to protect it from grease when i worked as a mechanic. i grew used to it, so it stays
i will say that 90% of the covers out there are tacky as hell
some of the cars i drive at work (customers cars) have pink fuzzy covers, or ones that dont fit right, or super think "plush" covers... like trying to grip a pillow wrapped around a twig
the one i have on mine now is imitation leather outlined in plastic wood. looks ok from far, but a little on the cheap side up close (maybe b/c i paid $10 for it) it stays in place and doesnt hinder aggressive driving. no need for another one at this time, unless you can find a way to swap ours out for a nicer one like on the new Lexus's and Mercedes benz.

Wheelskins are 100% cow. No plush, no pillow, just cow.

Jack the R wrote:

Now that's a strong dislike for wheel covers.

Me? Probably true. I've had covers on a couple vehicles, were on them when I bought used. They were falling apart, took them off and found the wheel was crappy as well, so I put on new covers. So I've used them, and simply found I didn't care for them in general. If a bare wheel is halfways decent in design and condition, I'd rather go w/o a cover. Again, just my .02. I DO hope you can generate enough interest to do a buy, always nice to have Riv specific options.

I got a reply to my email - they say they don't do custom covers. This is strange because in the size field of the order form it has the option "special order, please measure." Oh well. I guess I will send this back for a refund and have an interior guy custom make one for me. At least I know the colored sections work.

I'm with dave on this one. My wheel is worn and I got the most fitting cover I could.



I definitely don't like the added girth. I like thin steering wheels. It also has an unusual characteristic of absorbing filth from my hands over a little time, if say I don't wash my hands every time I drive. I actually do enjoy the wood appearance because it does match the interior remarkably well. But as soon as I find a replacement wheel thats in good shape at a reasonable price, I'm gettin that booger.

I'll be hunting for one in Indiana this Saturday actually, along with a buttonless airbag.

turtleman wrote:

I'm with dave on this one. My wheel is worn and I got the most fitting cover I could.



I definitely don't like the added girth. I like thin steering wheels. It also has an unusual characteristic of absorbing filth from my hands over a little time, if say I don't wash my hands every time I drive. I actually do enjoy the wood appearance because it does match the interior remarkably well. But as soon as I find a replacement wheel thats in good shape at a reasonable price, I'm gettin that booger.

I'll be hunting for one in Indiana this Saturday actually, along with a buttonless airbag.

I've got the same cover on my '98' . It would be nice if it matched the color of the wood trim better, but it looks pretty good. I had a softer fabric like a chamois feel that was nice in the winter, but prolly would get dirty. My brother Tim found a custom made cover for his Cadillac that was the same color as his wood trim and it fit right over the front of the wheel with adhesive inside of the cover. It looks really good. It kind of feels like and looks the wood trim and is kind of shiny. I think it was around $50. I don't know if they make one for the Riv.They do fit his wheel perfectly and looks factory. I'll try to get more info. if I can...

i've found a spot, you can mail in your wheel, and they recover it woth leather and wood, let me find the link again.

here it is http://www.exoticwooddash.com/SteeringWheels.aspx

$250?! Yeowch!

I wish I could remember the very nice wheel cover I put in my old car. It was leather, and I had to stitch the insides together. It stretched a little bit and was a perfect fit. The color was off a bit, but it was so nice I didn't mind. My OE wheel is getting to be in kinda tough shape, not too bad yet, but I can see where it will be in a few years.

It would be nice to figure out what to do with it. Maybe $250 isn't that bad considering the finished product...

Someone needs to get a junkyard Riv and send the steering wheel from it in and have them do this. I would, but I don't trust fiddling with the steering wheel seeing as it has an airbag in it. I don't trust one at a junkyard to have a good working airbag either.

Shintsu wrote:

Someone needs to get a junkyard Riv and send the steering wheel from it in and have them do this. I would, but I don't trust fiddling with the steering wheel seeing as it has an airbag in it. I don't trust one at a junkyard to have a good working airbag either.

i was thinking the same thing, but instead of sending in the jy wheel, i was thinking of sending in my wheel and just using the j/y wheel as a temp while mine was being finished

deekster_caddy wrote:

$250?! Yeowch!

I wish I could remember the very nice wheel cover I put in my old car. It was leather, and I had to stitch the insides together. It stretched a little bit and was a perfect fit. The color was off a bit, but it was so nice I didn't mind. My OE wheel is getting to be in kinda tough shape, not too bad yet, but I can see where it will be in a few years.

It would be nice to figure out what to do with it. Maybe $250 isn't that bad considering the finished product...

yes but also a potential group buy would set the price back maybe?

I'm planning to use Leatherique and SEM to refinish my wheel.

how sweet would it be to send in your wheel, and get a dash kit to match sent back, that would be an awesome group buy

No big deal on the airbag - you take it out before you remove the steering wheel, and keep the same airbag. No reason to send it away or worry about it's functionality when you put the new wheel in. It's just a wheel. The airbag is a separate piece.

Looking at Snowdog's wheel cover today got me to thinking, which produced an idea , which might not be a bad solution. So I spent a couple hours stitching on the Wheel Skin to see if the was worth bothering with.

Here's what a Wheel Skin looks like sewed on -



It fit better than I thought it would. The Wheel Skin will even cover the thicker sections on the side of the wheel if installed right -



There's a bit of a ridge where the skin sews together because the Wheel Skin is a little too wide for the Riv's unusually skinny rim. I don't like it too much, but oh well . . .

The top black section matches the wheel o.k., but there's a big problem with the bottom black section. Not only is it not wide enough, it isn't even centered.

My big is to blow more $ on a 2nd solid black wheel skin, cut it up and replace that bottom black section with one of the right size. Only two seams need to be sewed.

I'm going to live with the Wheel Skin for a while before trying, but I think it'll look good.

What do you guys think?

It looks sort of tacky. Since the colors don't match perfectly it just seems out of place. It also makes the steering wheel look too big - something I was afraid one of these would do. It doesn't look as bad as a slip over steering wheel cover but I'm not a fan of it and I don't think I'll be doing this now. Thanks for taking the time to do it and let us see what a finished product would look like.

How much are Wheelskins?