I'm finding out that it's not easy to find an XJ these days with an impeccable steering wheel. Mine is no exception:


It has the wonderful black tar seeping in, and the top portion of the wheel is just gone... So I ended up using a cover but I hate it:


Problem is, it's way too thick and uncomfortable. So on Saturday I took a ride down to a local parts yard and pulled a semi-decent wheel:


Being that this one is intact, but has some shredding going on on the top, I'm inclined to use it. Is there anything I can do to condition this wheel or fix the shredded part on the top? It's really not that bad (and why do these wheels all seem to break and fall apart at the 12:00 position?). Anyone who knows about this stuff, please give me some hints. Is the material even leather?

 

Go to an auto upholstery shop I bet they can do q recover pretty affordablebly

 

They fail on top because that is where most of the UV damage from sun is.

Ebay can be a good source for hard to find items like this...sometimes a little patience is requires till the right item pops up.

If you don't mind a little project, ChrisFix has a fairly comprehensive video regarding recovering a steering wheel yourself. I'll link it:

 

I remember seeing a lot of steering wheels in the quadratec catalogs, but that may be wrangler specific. I think your best bet is to check out the auto upholster shops as others have suggested.

I am pretty unconcerned with cosmetic and minor sort of things (at least to me that would be minor - everyone's different of course so take no offense), but reading this post as I sit in my 95, I looked at my own steering wheel and the wheel part of it seems to be in perfect condition. I believe it's original (with over 300k) on it - and thinking back to my last Jeep (a 00 TJ) I seem to remember that it had wear spots on it like your pictures... it's sad that it sems that something so basic should take a step Backwards in quality from the old style to the new...

Sorry for my lengthy post, just my random thoughts on the subject.

 

Ive seen some nice ones on ebay. Leather ones. Or you can just strip the leather off the wheel and run vinyl. The reason why steering wheels crack at 12 o'clock is because thats where the sun hits it most while driving. Turn the wheel so its upside down and/or use a sunshade when parked to give that part of the wheel a break. Or even a steering wheel cover, if you can find one you like. If you run leather, keep it clean, and keep it conditioned.

 

I've used leather sew on covers they sell on ebay before on other cars and they look and work good . you mite want to try one you can start with a cheap one and if it works out when it starts to go bad you can get a better one .

 

Most of what Quadratec seems to carry is grant replacement wheels for the non airbag XJs. I think Omix or Crown make replacement wheels that are just like the early three spoke XJ wheels and they had and also carry the 95-96 XJ wheels (minus the airbag, they only used that steering wheel design for 2 years and used mechanically actuated airbags).

The wheel in my 95 XJ is in pretty bad shape and I couldn't find anyone in the area willing to recover it for me without driving for a few hours to get to the business so I sprung the 230 dollars for a replacement wheel. I'm still waiting on it lol.

 

Jeez - $230 for a freakin' steering wheel!?! For that price it aught to come with a new steering column, airbag and a happy ending!

 

Any used or JY options I was finding were just as bad or worse than my current wheel it doesnt help this wheel was only used for 2 model years

once I factored in travel time/fuel and cost for having it recovered somewhat locally I'd be pushing the cost of the new wheel anyway

I'm ok with this cost as I'm wanting to keep the jeep looking nice and mostly stock

I love the older 3 spoke wheels but it wouldn't have matched up right with this steering column and I like having the airbag there for its DD use