Sim Racing: Cleaning Your Alcantara Steering Wheel

Alcantara steering wheels are really cool, but they seem to wear really fast. Here you can read advice extract from Porsche expert on how to clean your steering wheel or rim. Finally you can watch a couple of videos with real and simracing steering wheels.

This is the question I get asked more than any other. Alcantara is a man-made product that consists of lots of tiny ‘piles’, or fibres, of material. These piles get flattened by constant use, as well as the sweat and grease off the driver’s hands. Over time, it looks like the fabric’s been worn away, but in fact it’s just congealed grease, lovely thought that that is … What we need to do is remove that grease and fluff the pile back up.

Step by Step

• Use any fabric cleaner, although preferably an automotive one. Spray it onto the wheel, concentrating on a single quarter at a time. Don’t spray too much – if you soak the wheel, it’ll make the Alcantara brittle when it dries out. Then take a warm, damp microfibre cloth, wrap it around that quarter and then start to work it by gently twisting the cloth: you’re trying to transfer the dirt onto the microfibre, so imagine you’re twisting a motorbike grip.
• Now move onto the next section. If there are any particularly bad areas such as the thumb grips, use a single finger wrapped in the microfibre to concentrate on those.
• Next use a dry microfibre cloth to absorb as much of the damp as possible, again rubbing the wheel to try to bring the fluffiness back.
• Then walk away – leave the wheel for a couple of hours to really dry out.
• Once it’s dry, and to really bring the softness back, take a clean toothbrush and gently brush the material.
• You can use the same technique on other areas of Alcantara, but beware of using a plastic vacuum nozzle. It can score lines into the material.
• One final tip – sniff the fabric cleaner before you use it. Make sure you can live with the smell before you spray it all over the interior of your car.

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See you on the track!