Updated by Mike on 2025-03-10. Reading time 20 minutes.
Installing a steering wheel cover can appear to be much harder than it actually is. In reality it's not very challenging. However, the easiest way to put on a steering wheel cover requires a lot of due care and patience. This guide shows it on a Corvette, however the same principles apply with minor differences to all vehicles.
Warning!
Test-fit the wrap before doing anything else! Pull it on the wheel. It WILL BE TIGHT but don't worry, it will not break if you stretch it evenly around it's perimeter! Refer to the product description of the particular steering wheel cover you had purchased to see whether it replaces the factory leather, or goes over it (which is the case for some wheels especially those which came with the wheel heating option). Then verify, that:
a) The extensions for the spokes fit your wheel.
b) There is gap between the edges of our leather once you pull it on the wheel, consistent in size around the wheel.
The size of the gap depends on options chosen (factory wheel is leather vs plastic/molded - our cover being designed to go over or replace the factory leather, whether you chose our steering wheel padding upgrade).
DO NOT DO ANYTHING IRREVERSIBLE until you are confident the wrap will fit and please do not hesitate to contact us in case of any concerns! We are here to help!
Also, you will have to remove your airbag (if your wheel is so equipped) and if you choose to do this procedure without removing the wheel from the vehicle, you will be working with glue inside your car. Make sure to protect all surfaces from glue stains! On the other hand, completing the installation outside the vehicle, requires you to remove the steering wheel completely, which might require specialized tools (wheel puller or similar). Please consider having the removal part done by a qualified automotive technician. We also recommend considering our steering wheel cover installation service if you are unsure of your ability to follow the procedure explained in this article on your own.
A steering wheel cover will come with needles and spare thread. It will also have two parallel threads running down the edges, which you will lace together using the spare thread. With our steering wheel covers you will receive enough thread to do it three times over, so there is room for trial and error. Keep reading to learn the easy way to put on a steering wheel cover.
Redline Automotive Accessories Corp. will not be held liable for any labor, incidental or consequential damages of any kind. Proceed at your own risk.
How To Install a Steering Wheel Cover: Inside or Outside the Vehicle?
This is a big decision when putting on a steering wheel cover that has both pros and cons. While it is less work due to lack of removal of the steering wheel, the worse access to the wheel from all angles - especially the rear side - means that you end up having more effort trying to do it in the vehicle versus pulling the wheel. Plus, you do have to be careful to prevent glue stains in your car.
Airbag removal warning! If your car is equipped with the driver's airbag you will have to remove it. While the procedure is quite straightforward (see next step) it does require due care to prevent airbag damage. DO NOT PROCEED with airbag removal unless you feel confident that you
know what you are doing!
Disconnect the battery, turn your headlights on and let the car sit for a minute or two so that any residue charge dissipates. This cannot be emphasized enough.
Unclip the airbag – in this car you need to release the springs holding the airbag. It’s similar on most vehicles, however make sure to check with your local mechanic for details if you’re not sure how to accomplish this in your specific vehicle. Push a small Allen wrench through the holes in the rear of the steering wheel bezel – one on each side – and locate the spring with the tip of the wrench. Press the spring towards the center and the airbag will partially pop off – if it does not, you may need to pull it a little. Hold the airbag in one hand and press the spring on the other side and the airbag pops off.
Disconnect the airbag – there are two connectors at the back, secured with small locking clips (again, on your car it might be different, but it will be obvious at this point what to do). Keep the airbag facing away from you while you're at it!Lift the clips with a small flathead screwdriver, pinch the connectors to release the small locks on the sides and pull to disconnect the cables.
Put the airbag aside and release the locking nut with a suitable wrench. Then, pull the steering wheel off. In this Corvette you don’t need a steering wheel puller, in other cars you might. Wiggle the steering wheel a little and it should come off. If it does not, you may need to hit it with your palm, repeatedly sometimes, but do not worry, you will not bend or damage your steering wheel this way.
Inside the vehicle - surface protection
If you decided to do it inside of the vehicle, make sure you have room next to the car to keep the glue. You don't want a can of glue to tip over on your seats, console, or carpet. With low cars - just keep the glue on the floor next to you and reach it through the door. If it's a truck - you might need a table accessible through the door wide open (you don't want to ding your door on your own table!). Make sure the surface is aired (glue fumes), and make sure to protect everything in your interior that could get stained with glue.
Preparing the Wheel for Steering Wheel Cover Installation
Once you have the steering wheel off, remove all trims, buttons, bezels, etc. This gains you more working space and prevents spoiling these parts with glue. They are usually mounted with screws or tabs. Either way, it’s easy to understand how to remove them once you’re at this point.
How to take off steering wheel cover (the old one)
First, make sure that this is necessary. Some covers are designed to go OVER the factory leather. We always indicate this in the description of each steering wheel cover product that can be found on our website.
This is ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT for heated steering wheels! ALL our covers made for heated steering wheels are designed to go OVER original leather! So, if you’re wrapping a heated steering wheel, DO NOT remove the original leather.
Removing the stitching from the factory cover, this is the point of no return. And again - MAKE SURE YOU NEED TO DO THIS BEFORE YOU DO IT!
If you do, simply cut all the threads with a sharp knife like a retractable blade or similar. Pull the original leather off the wheel and throw it away.
Clean the steering wheel of dirt, glue and leather residue with a rough sponge. Wipe it with warm water and soap, scrub with wire brush or coarse sandpaper if water doesn’t suffice. Next, degrease the wheel carefully with solvent or extraction naphtha to help glue to bond properly and make sure the cover lasts for a long time.
Putting On the Steering Wheel Cover
Wondering how to make a steering wheel cover fit tighter and stay where it's supposed to be? Keep reading!
For perfect results you need to cut grooves, or recesses, for leather joints. It requires patience and precision so take your time - the more careful and precise you do this, the better the final result is going to be.
Ideally use a permanent marker – preferably white – with the leather cover still on. Lift the leather a little making sure it doesn’t slide on the wheel, mark the edges of leather joint on the cover. Press the cover back against the steering wheel. The marker will leave a trace on the rubber indicating the location of the grooves.
The grooves should be around 4 millimetres (slightly over 1/8th of an inch) wide. Use a zip-tie to ensure they are all the same width. Put 4mm zipties precisely on the marks and tighten them. Cut the grooves right along the edges of zip-ties. Make sure not to cut too deep – again, around 4 millimetres is just enough on non-heated wheel. If your factory wheel is heated, only cut through the original leather! Do not cut deeper as you can damage the heating element!
Remove the zip-ties and use a small flathead screwdriver to carve the rubber out of the grooves. Use sandpaper to smoothen edges of the grooves so that leather joints on finished steering wheel are nice and neat.
For a basic steering wheel cover without padding or thumb-grips, you can now skip forward, as we will now be showing application of these options.
Thumb grips are typical in sport cars and really improve the way you feel the car. If you opted for them, first mark their location precisely. They should be centred front-back on the steering wheel rim – use the ”seam line” along the inside of the steering wheel to align them.
Then, mark their vertical location. Use the cover as guidance – the tip of the thumb grip should be located exactly where the wrap is the widest. Pin-point thumb-grip position using the bulge on the wrap as guidance and holding the thumb-grip with one hand, draw an outline around it with a pen. Repeat on the other side.
Now, glue the thumb grips to the wheel in marked areas. Most glues dedicated for plastics and rubber will work. It’s important that the glue be thick, otherwise it would flow downwards. We recommend any 2-component epoxy glue you can buy at your local hardware store. Make sure to follow instructions on container in regards to application and curing time.
Once the glue has fully cured, finish the area around the thumb-grips for a smooth transition between them and steering wheel rim. Plastic putty is best for this application - easy to spread and to finish. Apply it around the thumb grip with a bit of excess that you will later sand down to create the final shape. Let the putty cure according to the instructions on the container. Do not speed it up, just let it sit until cured. Putty with a very quick cure time will be difficult to apply as it will harden before you are done. Ideal cure time is around 15 minutes so take that into account while shopping for the putty.
Next, sand it down for a smooth finish with 80-100 grit sandpaper. Make the thumb-grip flush with the steering wheel rim. Once you can feel a nice, smooth, even surface while rubbing it - no ridges, bumps and valleys – you’re done. Now clean the wheel from all the sanding dust and degrease it properly.
The next stage is the padding foam, again, if you configured it while buying your RedlineGoods steering wheel cover. If not, skip to next chapter. It is only roughly pre-cut, so some trimming will be necessary. Since you will stretch the foam while applying it, it was cut with an overage so that you have room to grab with your fingers. The extra play in the material supports the process of applying it, because you can more easily stretch it in all directions.
Start at the sections with the spokes – they will serve as guides for proper alignment. Pieces of foam replicate leather panels. They meet at the seams thus you can use the grooves to help you align them on the wheel. Remove the backing and apply the respective piece of foam to the outer surface of the wheel. Stretch the piece between the grooves, press it to the wheel and close it towards the inside with a small overlap. Spokes will be a bit tricky. First press the foam on the front of the spoke and then massage it along the sides towards the back side of the wheel. This stretches the foam evenly, without wrinkles or bulges. Do not stretch the foam too hard, it won’t adhere properly.
Now trim off the excess foam on the inside of the wheel with a sharp knife or scissors. Press it hard along the edges to make it stick to the wheel fully and draw a line where foam edges meet. It’s easy to see where that line needs to be. Cut along this line to trim both layers evenly. This is best done with a sharp knife, like a retractable blade. Pay special attention to spoke ends, especially if there are plastic trims on the wheel. If so, trim the padding approx. 1/16 (1mm) shorter so that there is clearance for leather. We recommend scissors – it is easier to cut off narrow pieces of stretchy foam with scissors than with knife.
Once the foam is trimmed, start lacing the cover on the wheel.
Wheel is now ready for covering. Pull the cover back on, push leather joints into the grooves. Make sure the edges meet all around with minimal gap or no gap at all. On spokes, make sure the stitching on the cover ends equally on both sides.
On wheels with padding, don't use glue yet. The coarse surfaces of padding foam and underside of leather provide a strong grip. However, if your cover isn’t padded, we advise to apply glue on the whole surface of the steering wheel with a small brush. Just make sure you don’t get it on the outside of the cover! While washing excess glue from leather is easy, that is not the case with Alcantara, so if your cover is made with that fabric, be very, very careful.
Thread the needle. You will start with the upper part of the wheel so measure the distance between upper spokes and take approx. 3 times as much thread for this area – you will need some excess to finish the stitching. Do not worry, you will not run out of thread – we’re sending more than enough. :)
We recommend starting from the top center of the wheel – it is much easier to start from a straight part at the top than at either spoke. This will help you get familiar with the procedure and allow you to practise before reaching more difficult areas. Plus, you will have much more space to move around. It’s really best to leave spokes for later!
Slide the needle from the outside under one of the stitches at the top of the steering wheel, and then under the respective stitch on the other side. Pull approximately half of the piece of thread you’ve cut before through. Slide the needle under the next stitch on the side you started from. Work the thread through every other stitch like shown. You can do it every step of the pre-sewn stitching, but we don’t recommend it. More work, more thread, and in our view it doesn’t look as good. Don’t tighten the lacing yet – just work your way towards the spoke like shown – you will tighten it finally later. Use both hands, one to lace the threads, the other to hold the wheel firmly and occasionally massage leather ends towards each other to maintain consistent stretch of leather. Do not worry about small wrinkles at this stage - you will get rid of them later, while tightening the lacing.
Once you get close to the spoke, pull the needle off the thread, go back to starting point and continue towards the other spoke. Thread the needle on the other end of the thread, and lace in the other direction.
Making the ends meet
Once you have laced the thread spoke to spoke, it is time to tighten the lacing. Go back to top center and use the needle to tighten each loop one by one until edges of leather meet. Use your thumb to hold the tightened loop and proceed to the next one. And the next one. Proceed this way all along the stitching that you’ve just created. At this time make sure you have no wrinkles by squeezing the leather with your other hand and smoothing it. If needed, massage it to make it smooth. Move slowly one stitch at a time for the best possible result.
Helpful tip: When lacing a section that's short between the spokes on each end of that section, you can tie a knot by either spoke as soon as you have laced all the way towards it's tip. You will only tighten the lacing in the direction of the other one. So, on longer sections tighten from the center towards each side, on shorter ones - in one direction only.
Lacing next to wheel spokes
Once you get close to the spokes, apply glue to the area around them – make sure to follow instructions from glue manufacturer precisely. Depending on your choice of glue you will apply it one side or both. Some require time to partially cure before bonding, some require bonded surfaces to be put together immediately. Any good leather or upholstery glue that can be found at a hardware store will do. Choose one that’s convenient for you, follow the instructions on the glue container, and everything will be fine. Spread glue evenly all around – most glues are thick so unless applied evenly, a blob of glue may form under leather and be difficult to get rid of later. Make sure to apply it also in areas that will be covered with trims, horn buttons, etc.
Once glue has been applied (and partly cured, if so indicated on the container), press the leather to the wheel in the middle of the spoke and push it evenly, gradually, towards both sides of the spoke at the same time. Make sure to press it hard against the wheel, as you need the leather laid out nicely all at once, to avoid having to undo it and make corrections later. Pay attention to edges, recesses or ridges at the end of the spoke. Use a hard and narrow tool – such as needle or screwdriver, to press the leather to the steering wheel rubber and make sure it sticks there properly. If you’re using a screwdriver, be careful not to cut the leather with the tip. And of course, do the same at the front and at the back of the steering wheel.
Once glue has set, get back to lacing. On convex areas next to the spoke change the pattern and lace through every step of the pre-sewn stitching. This helps avoid wrinkles and ensures that the cover holds firmly even after years of driving. That’s how most OEM wheels are laced on the spokes, for the same reason.
On some wheels with very acute angles between spoke and rim, closing the gap fully will be a challenge. Making the wrap wider in that location runs the risk of having wrinkles on the visible area of the wheel, so having a small gap in an area that is not normally visible in the car is the lesser evil. Some OEM wheels also exhibit this minor flaw.
Finishing a laced section
Once you reach the end of the spoke, finish the stitching so that it holds firmly. The best way is to tie a knot. Make a few loops through the leather – use existing holes created by the pre-sewn threads on both sides of the cover. Make a tight knot and cut off the excess thread. Proceed to the other side of the spoke.
Before you move to another spoke, dry-fit the plastic trims to make sure the leather is laid out properly where it touches the trims. If it doesn’t, lift the leather and trim out more of the padding from underneath the trim piece until it seats properly.
Completing installation
Once the entire wheel is laced, finished and looks more beautiful than ever before :) proceed to re-install all the plastics, trims, buttons and bezels to prepare it for installation back in the car (if you opted to remove it). Don’t forget any electrical connectors! :)
If you have any evenness (puckers) in the leather after lacing it up, heat the leather with a hairdryer and massage them out.
Put the steering wheel back in the car, make sure you align it on the spline properly, connect all the wiring to buttons. Reconnect the airbag and snap it into the steering wheel. Reconnect the battery and go for a test drive to enjoy the awesome job you have just completed! :)
Mike is the owner of Redline Automotive Accessories Corp, manufacturer of steering wheel covers since 1999 under the brand name RedlineGoods. Mike has participated in installation of numerous steering wheel covers for various vehicles in the almost 25 years of running this website.
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