Sticky Steering Wheel

[Johngartyuk]

Hi again everyone, my 04 HDi VTR Estate is great but has a very minor problem that is starting to get to me after a relatively brief ownership. The steering wheel is covered in some sort of black synthetic leather (I don't think its real leather) that seems to have broken down chemically and has become sticky to the touch, so much so that when I leave my hands in the same place for a while the wheel actually picks up my hand prints - its gone a bit like plasticene!

 

have any of you other owners experienced the same thing? As a stop-gap measure before I find a s/h one on ebay (which may also be sticky!) I have fitted a steering wheel cover, which is fine but makes the wheel rim very fat.

 

I've tried many and various cleaners on the wheel, there was a lot of black gunk came off at first, but its quite clean now, for a long moment I imagined the previous owner ran a sweet factory.

 

Cheers

 

John

[Guest Visa10E]

My 02 C5 2.2 HDi Exclusive is exactly the same, I keep getting little black bits all over my hands and the rim gets very sticky sometimes, its the the only real blemish on an otherwise pristine cabin for it's 75k miles, like yourself I've cleaned mine and rubbed leather wipes on it which seems to half cure the problem, as putting anything on the wheel is out of the question as its already a very fat rim

[kfk]

Steering wheels dont like hand cream.......which is quite a disgusting thought when you think about rolling your thumb over it and peeling it off while sitting at traffic jams.

[Mike - Richmond]

The leather steering wheel on my 2005 C5 estate has degraded. It's lumpy and uncomforatble to hold, plus if one holds the problem area for a while one gets black marks on ones hands! Has anyone else had this problem? Did Citroen fix it? Any suggestions? The car has only done 42,000 miles.

[Randombloke]

Mine suffered this and a fair amount of persistent cleaning with the wipes sold for cleaning interior car plastic and the alcohol based any surface wipes eventually cleared it. Took a lot of doing, and a lot of black grime came off, but it's ok now.

[Johngartyuk]

Mine suffered this and a fair amount of persistent cleaning with the wipes sold for cleaning interior car plastic and the alcohol based any surface wipes eventually cleared it. Took a lot of doing, and a lot of black grime came off, but it's ok now.

 

I tried cleaning the wheel with all sorts of stuff, but I couldn't decide if the actual wheel covering is plastic or leather? If leather it would take a harsher approach ie solvents, but it just kept crossing my mind that it was some sort of PVC and would be damaged

 

I'm getting used to the wheel cover now, I have to because due to the tackiness its actually stuck to the wheel

[pragmatix]

I tried cleaning the wheel with all sorts of stuff, but I couldn't decide if the actual wheel covering is plastic or leather? If leather it would take a harsher approach ie solvents, but it just kept crossing my mind that it was some sort of PVC and would be damaged

 

I'm getting used to the wheel cover now, I have to because due to the tackiness its actually stuck to the wheel

Try using saddle soap that gets rid of most gunk then feed it with a leather conditioner.

[KeithC5]

I have the same problem and have been quoted £165+vat for a new wheel as the Citroen dealer say you cannot replace the leather cover. I bought a standard leather replacement cover from Halfords (£9.99) but it was not wide enough to meet around the thickness of the wheel.

 

Like you I hope someone can suggest a sloution.

[Randombloke]

Hello Mr Moderator,

 

Please can we merge this thread with Sticky Steering Wheel

[KeithC5]

I have the same problem and have been quoted £165+vat for a new wheel as the Citroen dealer say you cannot replace the leather cover. I bought a standard leather replacement cover from Halfords (£9.99) but it was not wide enough to meet around the thickness of the wheel.

 

Like you I hope someone can suggest a sloution.

 

My problem is not the sticky problem that most people here have, but my wheel has become very 'wrinkled' and uncomfortable to hold in places, has anyone with the same problem tried to smooth this out with any success?

[Guest Wac]

I would like to know if there is a fix for the steering wheel mine looks awful.

 

Dealer quoted £267 for new one.