Good morning,

I purchased a 2003 MCS and the steering wheel leather appears to have fallen apart, either in the hands of the previous owner or the prior. The last owner said some kind of cleaner or solution was put on it, which caused the top layer to fall apart. Has this happened to others and is there a remedy for it?

Thanks

 

Have seen it on older Gen 1 MINIs. Hand cleaner ( alcohol based ) and the wrong leather cleaner.

Do you have a pics ? You can rewrap it ( Leather shop), get a new wheel or convert to the three spoke steering wheel which will take the newer style airbag.

 

I will try to take pictures during the weekend.

I was seeing if there was another option other than replacing it. But I guess I will have to find someone w/ one they took off their gen 1. I purchased the newministuff steer wheel control adapter for an aftermarket head unit, so I dont want to lose that.

 

To prevent such a situation I installed http://www.wheelskins.com/ and couldn't be happier.

 

Thanks for the help guys! I ended up finding a very good used one.