MINI-R32-integrale
Although my car has only covered 26K miles the steering wheel was showing signs of wear and TBH felt a little cheap.
I wanted to keep my original steering wheel in my Trophy as not only did I want to keep the cruise control functions, but also the air-bag as many insurance companies are not keen on there removal.
I then had a look around and didn't find many companies who are either keen, or have experience to re-trim steering wheels, but found http://www.gibsontrimming.com/ who are based down in Chandlers Ford probably about 100miles away from me, so all correspondence was done by email and phone, but he still managed to get pretty much what I asked for, namely a fine grain black leather to try and match the finish on the front Recaro's, with red stitching and red band at TDC. I bought a dog rough 2nd hand wheel which had burst thumb grips and the leather look covering was tired.
It's not going to be to everyone's taste but it is wonderful to use now, thicker, much more tactile, and feels like it is a much higher quality steering wheel. Yes there is a slight colour difference between airbag and leather, but in many ways this reflects the black/grey of the Recaro's and means it still matches the dash, and although Gibson can recover airbags with special perforated leather, I left OEM to keep the wheel looking factory to the uninitiated.
It cost £175 which I thought was very reasonable against Renault's £250+ for a cruise control replacement steering wheel, and even against a new MOMO Tuner £125ish plus boss at £35ish it's not much more for IMO a more refined look.
As I hadn't seen this done before I was going in blind, and maybe changes could be made, ie keeping the thumb grips seperate by buying the carbon or GRP ones, but as with anything made to order, the options are pretty much endless. He did say that if a few folk approached him to do any more now that he has worked on one he would offer some discounts, but that would be purely down to individuals to discuss with him.
I also got my gear gaitor done at same time just as an add on.
I wanted to keep my original steering wheel in my Trophy as not only did I want to keep the cruise control functions, but also the air-bag as many insurance companies are not keen on there removal.
I then had a look around and didn't find many companies who are either keen, or have experience to re-trim steering wheels, but found http://www.gibsontrimming.com/ who are based down in Chandlers Ford probably about 100miles away from me, so all correspondence was done by email and phone, but he still managed to get pretty much what I asked for, namely a fine grain black leather to try and match the finish on the front Recaro's, with red stitching and red band at TDC. I bought a dog rough 2nd hand wheel which had burst thumb grips and the leather look covering was tired.
It's not going to be to everyone's taste but it is wonderful to use now, thicker, much more tactile, and feels like it is a much higher quality steering wheel. Yes there is a slight colour difference between airbag and leather, but in many ways this reflects the black/grey of the Recaro's and means it still matches the dash, and although Gibson can recover airbags with special perforated leather, I left OEM to keep the wheel looking factory to the uninitiated.
It cost £175 which I thought was very reasonable against Renault's £250+ for a cruise control replacement steering wheel, and even against a new MOMO Tuner £125ish plus boss at £35ish it's not much more for IMO a more refined look.
As I hadn't seen this done before I was going in blind, and maybe changes could be made, ie keeping the thumb grips seperate by buying the carbon or GRP ones, but as with anything made to order, the options are pretty much endless. He did say that if a few folk approached him to do any more now that he has worked on one he would offer some discounts, but that would be purely down to individuals to discuss with him.
I also got my gear gaitor done at same time just as an add on.
