Hi folks

Ive used these before on a couple of 126's i used to do production car trials and autotests in but they had hard plastic steering wheels so damage wasnt an issue
On my (hopefully tomorrow) newly acquired 500 ive got a cream leather jobbie i dont want to damage
has anyone fitted one of these that doesnt crush the material, and if so, what brand/model was it
Ebay is full of these and they vary from £3.50 to £85.00 but none say they wont trash your sterring wheel!

cheap "sacrificial" wheel instead..?

Why do you want a steering wheel knob?

Metalguru3 said:

Hi folks

Ive used these before on a couple of 126's i used to do production car trials and autotests in but they had hard plastic steering wheels so damage wasnt an issue
On my (hopefully tomorrow) newly acquired 500 ive got a cream leather jobbie i dont want to damage
has anyone fitted one of these that doesnt crush the material, and if so, what brand/model was it
Ebay is full of these and they vary from £3.50 to £85.00 but none say they wont trash your sterring wheel!

Click to expand...

In the days of 18" hard, shiny steering wheels, five turns lock-to-lock and no power-steering these almost made sense! Now, in a modern light car with variable power-steering that you can spin lock-to-lock with the palm of your hand while the car isn't even rolling... not so much. I put one on my first car in 1972 but chucked it within a week - bloody useless, even dangerous.

From the various fitting methods I've seen around I'd say there's no way it could be tight enough not to slip yet not damage a leather-bound wheel.

'Course this is all just my opinion .

I Should have have said
my wife had a stroke a year ago and still has very limited use of her left arm and leg

she can operate an indicator stalk, pull the handbrake up but cant coordinate well enough to steer

She has always wanted a 500 and im buying her one so she can become independent again

Metalguru3 said:

I Should have have said
my wife had a stroke a year ago and still has very limited use of her left arm and leg

she can operate an indicator stalk, pull the handbrake up but cant coordinate well enough to steer

She has always wanted a 500 and im buying her one so she can become independent again

Click to expand...

Ah, I see. That puts a very different perspective on it of course. Please forgive me for not considering that there might be such a very good reason for the enquiry.

A company that specializes in such aids might be a better bet than eBay.

No problem

Ill do a bit of research on ebay

Ive just picked the car up and noticed the steering wheel has knobbly bits for finger grips so ill need something to take account of these

Many thanks

Maybe put a piece of foam around it and clamp it down. Might not prevent but it could lessen the damage to the wheel.

varesecrazy said:

cheap "sacrificial" wheel instead..?

Click to expand...

This was my first thought too.

However, how long is the car going to me kept for?
If it's years and years, surely the chance of damaging the steering wheel is of minor importance?

I wonder if a method could be found for wrapping the area with something fairly hard to spread the load of the clamp? Maybe a thin metal plate (aluminium?) bent and formed into shape would be quite a good idea.

Regards,
Mick.