When I bought my car 18 months ago, it had a very oily, nasty looking thing on it that I steered the car with. Disgusting.
So I went at it with some tips I found on the net and decided I'll post a semi-competent DIY for restoring the ZHPs smexy Alcantara steering wheel. Sorry I did not take pictures while I did this, it was a while ago.
Materials:
- Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (Original version only)
- Damp bath towel(s)
- Suede/Alcantara shoe cleaner (optional)
- Lint Remover (optional)
Before:
1. Survey your steering wheel. Mine was very, very oily but the fabric itself was not deteriorating (on first glance it looked like it was). If your fabric is deteriorating, it may be best to not do this DIY.
2. With warm tap water, get your bath towel damp, and wring it out. Using almost no pressure; wipe the steering wheel. I preferred to go in a circle following the wheel. This should get the heaviest, grossest stuff off.
*3. Spray with Alcantara cleaner, let it foam, then use the included little plastic brush to rub the Alcantara in a circular fashion (again following the steering wheel). This will cause raised nubs of Alcanatara to form, so wipe very lightly, and pay attention to your fabric while you are in progress.
*4. Use the lint remover to buzz off and catch the little nubs you made with the Alcantara cleaner. You can also use a blade if you are very careful.
5. Use the Magic Eraser- dampened as per the directions, and again rub the steering wheel in a circular motion, with little to no pressure. Go back and forth on the areas near the buttons, trim, etc. When the wheel is dark grey and satisfactory looking, let it sit for 1-2 hours before driving it, wet Alcantara is very fragile.
*Optional steps. I would recommend doing steps 1, 2, and 5 first. I'm not really sure if 3 and 4 did anything. Maybe they did... no way to know.
After:
Still slightly damp:
~One year later
What it looked like when I sold it- hadn't been wiped down for ~20k miles.
I recommend doing just the wet rag every 10k or so miles, or when you see a slight oily base starting to form again.