It seems that my steering wheel is contantly shedding small pieces of vinyl

The appear to almost me poped bubbles I have patched one with the heated vinyl repair and it blended very well however is there somthing I am doing wrong causing this?

Also I have leatherette seats and on the drivers side there is the start of 6 or 7 small slits in the material it is only thru the vinyl not the substrate fiber. Any idea for repairing this and what to do to prevent this?

Also is bad vinyl a known issue with 2003 Coopers?

 

sounds more like a Stock Problems/Issues thread topic.

i have a 03 MCS with leatherette. no tears on mine.

 

I guess I was thinking what can I do detail wise to prevent this from happening again.

Sorry for the confusion

 

yah, hard to tell cause your tears could be from defective material.

i use Prima Nero on my leatherette's and dash. but for the steering wheel
i just wipe it down with Griot's SpeedShine cause i don't want it
getting slippery.

www.detailersparadise.com for Nero
www.griotsgarage.com for SpeedShine

 

Have you treated your seats/steering wheel/dash with any kind of protectant over the years? If not, that may be your problem as the sun could have simply beaten down on your unprotected vinyl & ruined it. I have been using 303 Aerospace Protectant since my MINI was new & everything still looks as good as new but mine is an '05 so ask me in 2 more years how it is holding up

 

I have protected it with Prima supplies however I just got the car 2 months ago so I cant speak for the past

 

Ahhh, it sounds like the previous owner didn't regularly treat it

Good luck to you & if you find anything that can be used to repair a leatherette seat nicely keep me posted as I need to fix a small hole in one

 

argh time to hunt the bone yards for a good used one me thinks

 

please elaborate!

 

or get those cool seat covers.

 

Bah I hate seat covers with the exception of neoprene in my jeep (it just makes sense there)

 

I would check ebay and the marketplace for a new wheel....

 

Some idiot smoker that would be me was riding with the top down & the hot rock blew into the back seat when my MINI was only 3 months old. The hole is small & an easy repair if I could just find some good stuff to repair it with

 

Or worse, used Armorall on them.

Without seeing pictures, it really sounds like the vinyl has dried out and is cracking. Replacing the seat covers is the only way I know to fix that.

 

really? minimaybee has some cool seat covers on his MC.



ahhh... sorry to hear that. so you stopped smoking in your car,
right?

 

Actually the disintegrating steering wheel was a known issue on my 2003 Cooper. I had 2 steering wheels replaced before I decided to wear driving gloves and that cured the problem.

It doesn't happen to everyone though--but seems to happen more to those with sweaty palms or who grip the wheel very tight.

Once it's peeling, you're better off replacing the wheel otherwise it will continue to shed. I tried a steering cover for awhile, but I didn't like it over time.

Richard

 

thanks guys looks like I am buying a new wheel then

 

and driving gloves..

 

I actually prefer driving with driving gloves. The wheel is more grippy. Maybe that only applies to us with slippery hands.

 

actually i like wearing gloves as well as it provides consistent grip
in the cold and hot.

i just use the Sparco mechanic's gloves. works great for me.

 

Maybe it only applies to those that drive REALLY FAST!

I'm totally kidding.

 

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/...screening.wbay

check out "LA's bad drivers."