So I have the problem shown below with my steering wheel. Started quite small but now spread to the whole top half of the wheel. Seems to get worse when exposed to sunlight. Easiest way to repair this? Replacement steering wheel or retrim? Also is it possible to flock a steering wheel?

Common problem with the 100HP... mine is doing that too.

Mine's started doing it as well, just on the right hand side of the top section. If there's a way to fix it, I'd love to know.

A new wheel from Fiat is about £500, which is a total rip. There are several versions of 100HP wheel on ePer and I can't for the life of me work out which one is correct one for a standard, no optional extras 2008 (on an '08 plate) car.

Considering a retrim depending on the cost. It's getting annoying now and letting the inside of the car down

Let me know how much a retrim is, I'd be very interested to know. I'd imagine the car will be difficult to sell with a knackered steering wheel, so I guess you'll have to get it fixed at some point. I can't see a retrim costing upwards of 500 quid, so it's cheaper than a new wheel.

Btw, it's nice to see it's happened to another low mileage car, not just mine .

I'm currently retrimming my grande wheel for exactly the same reason

It seams fiat 'leather' isn't leather at all and the layers of the plastic they've used separate

I bought some leather from eBay carefully removed the old trim so I could use it as a template, marked out a new cover on the leather it's now a process of putting it all back together, but I need to get some decent glue as the old cover was glued on well to stop it moving

They probably use bicast (leather) which is the very thinnest slice of leather bonded to some plastic type backing. The thin coating peels easily - more so if you're a gent that likes some aftershave on your hands. Happened to my son's Citroen.


I can imagine a retrim being difficult. The alternative is the classic 1970's cover or a replacement wheel (Demi stuck an Abarth wheel on his car).


Will be interested to see the retrim with proper leather (Ebay is great for these offcuts - great to recover a swivel chair as it's easy).

I have been quoted today between £100 and £120 to fix but they will have to remove the steering wheel. They also said the airbag light may be on afterwards as they are removing the steering wheel and it would have to be reset at my expense. Anyone know how hard it is to do this?

Reset can possibly be done with FES/MES. As long as you don't switch the ignition on, no fault will be created IIRC.

gr J

Disconnect the battery, remove the wheel and airbag, have the wheel retrimmed, refit the wheel and airbag, reconnect the battery.

If you do it in that order surely the car wouldn't have any way of knowing that the airbag was ever even disconnected? No battery = no power, no power = no error code recorded.

Disconnecting the battery can mess up the stereo though, IIRC...

My wheels also in need of some tlc, I'm hoping that someone local can do a retrim, although it looks poor I can't actually feel the rippled leather so doesn't bother me too much - the silver trim round the airvents annoys me much more!

I hope you all get sorted soon!

MattV said:

I have been quoted today between £100 and £120 to fix but they will have to remove the steering wheel. They also said the airbag light may be on afterwards as they are removing the steering wheel and it would have to be reset at my expense. Anyone know how hard it is to do this?

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I forgot to ask earlier, where did you get your quote for retrimming from?

Matt100HP said:

I forgot to ask earlier, where did you get your quote for retrimming from?

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It was from a company called Bolton Car Interiors (in Bolton suprisingly!). Tempted to get another quote to compare prices

Have a look at this thread.
https://www.fiatforum.com/bravo/351579-royal-steering-wheels.html
Looks a super job. Am considering getting my plastic wheel made into leather.

portland_bill said:

Have a look at this thread.
https://www.fiatforum.com/bravo/351579-royal-steering-wheels.html
Looks a super job. Am considering getting my plastic wheel made into leather.

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That's really nice work. I've seen Royal Steering Wheels mentioned on several forums across the interwebs during my research into wheel retrimming; the vast majority of the feedback appears to be very positive.

It's not too badly priced either and they can send you a wheel to use whilst yours is being fixed, you just have to pay a refundable deposit (presumably so absolute scrotes don't nick the temporary wheel they send you).

My view is, if it's good enough for people with BMWs, Porsches etc, it's good enough for a Fiat hatchback which costs less in total than some of the optional extras on certain Porsches.

Now I know there's a good company out there, who are charging reasonable prices, I can wait for the 100HP's wheel to get absolutely wrecked, safe in the knowledge I can get it repaired to better than new .

Matt100HP said:

Disconnect the battery, remove the wheel and airbag, have the wheel retrimmed, refit the wheel and airbag, reconnect the battery.

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Wait at least 45 mins after disconnecting the battery before removing airbags or unplugging associated connections

I think around £120 is the norm for a steering wheel retrim, I've seen others mention the same price when talking about re-trimming different cars too.