As the title states, the leather on my steering wheels is starting to fade and discolor. Some parts are blotchy, others are almost gray-ish. Its mostly where I hold the wheel, obviously, and when it is humid outside, the steering wheel gets sticky, and if I rub my hand across it, little black shavings come off, and my hand turns black too.

The car just turned 3 years old, and just over 60,000 miles.

Any ideas?

 

sounds like degrading leather (beginning to fall apart)-
not good signs... i will forward this to our leather expert to get his input-
does sound to me like you might not have been using a leather preservative on the steering wheel. if this is the case, it is likely that you have not been using one on the seats either- they are much more expensive to fix than the steering wheel.
so my comment is to use a good leather cleaner on the leather in your car and then follow that by a good preservative.
couple ideas of products that i like:
townsends (my first choice)
lexol

 

I have been using leather cleaner and protectant. I use the meguiars just because its easier to get in stores. The seats are fine, and so are the dash, doors, and everything else. Its just the steering wheel which is why I am confused.

 

it simply could be past the time of leather cleaners. If it was never done from day one, sorry but it won't be able to be re-surrected. After market wheel ? re-wrapped by a dealer ? replacement wheel by honda ? you do have choices, but expensive ones

 

Well, I got the car, it already had the leather and paint protectant on it (its a rip off I know, but they used the car as a demo for the application, so it was not something I added) and they already replaced the leather on the drivers side seat for me because it cracked and faded. I use leather cleaner and protectant at least once a month, especially during the summer, since the car doesnt get driven in winter.

I'm tempted to just get an after market wheel, but how much would something like that cost?

 

You will most likely need to have the wheel refinished, you have worn through the protective top coat, penetrated into the color coat (which is the weak layer) and you hand oils, etc are causing it to come off. If you get to it soon you can probably salvage it, it would just need to be stripped and refinished properly.

 

Well, I think its beyond salvageable. I will try to get some pics for you to see.

How much do you think it would cost to get refinished?

 

unless the leather itself is severely frayed it can most likely be fixed...probably around 100 to get it done.

 

some samples of new ones and prices:

http://www.modacar.com/products/Honda/S2000/MODASTW/

(these do not have airbags in them, like the stock one does)

 

Thanks wanabe....I know non of them will have airbags, not too worried about that though.