Wheelskins with Airbag & Silver Panels Removed

I've been debating if I should buy one of the more expensive steering wheel replacements or have an upholstery shop cover the steering wheel. I got the eco-leather factory option in bisque and really wanted leather steering cover to match. I didn't like how wheelskins would cover up the lower silver trim on the steering wheels so I almost didn't consider it. However looking through the post of how easy it was to remove the steering wheel I though maybe I could pop off the airbag and the silver parts and customize the wheelskins to fit. So I took on the project yesterday and am very happy with the results:



Removal of the airbag and trim was super easy (very important that you disconnect the battery). I was surprised how easy it was - it was a piece of cake compared to sewing up the wheelskin. There are plenty of discussions on how to remove the airbag so for this post I'll just show how I installed the wheelskins leather wrap.

I laced up everything with the airbag and silver panels off and left the bottom part for last.



I thought I would have to cut a lot away and glue pieces down, but while I had the steering wheel apart I could see that if I only punched a small whole to make room for a block shaped protrusion that I could actually use that protruding block to hook the wheelskins over to keep it in place without having to glue anything down.



Made holes for both sides. My cuts are really ugly because I just had a big pair of scissors, if I were to do it again I'd use an exacto knife. But doesn't really matter cause it gets covered up anyway.



I fit the silver panels back on to make sure they would fit, and would lay flush again with the steering wheel. I had to press down on them so they would lie flush, but once down they fit perfectly.



I finished lacing with the panels off.



Put everything back and looks great. I was real happy with the fit of the wheelskins. One thing I did to try to reduce sagging or bunching is I put the wheelskins on the steering wheel and left it on without lacing it up for a whole day so it would get stretched out while getting acclimated to the humidity and temperature of the inside of the car.



Matches my leather interior perfectly.

 

Thanks, I ordered the "Sand" color wheelskin from the Priuschat shop. It was a perfect color match and the perfect size.

No special tools. I used pliers to remove the battery terminal, should have used a socket wrench or a spanner but I did it at my office parking lot and pliers was all I had. I laid the pliers on top of the latch for the rear hatch so it wouldn't lock when I lowered the hatch. I sat and checked some emails while I waited to make sure any stored charge in the car was gone before I tried touching the airbag.

The only other tools I had was a 6-in-1 screwdriver so I could use the flat side so I could reach in to push the pin holding on the airbag (the airbag is held on by a spring and just by pushing on the pin a little there is enough spring force that the airbag will snap out a few millimeters, do it for both sides, then slide the whole airbag off and remove the connectors - see the Japanese instructions) and the phillips to remove the silver spoke trim, and pair of scissors to cut away the leather.

To get to the pins for the airbag I thought I would need special plastic pry tools to remove the side covers behind the steering wheels, but thought I'd give it a shot with the flat side of the screwdriver. Turns out didn't even need it. The plastic around the undersides of the steering wheel are so flimsy that you can push and pull around it enough to grab a hold of the covers and pull them out without damaging or distorting anything - you'll see when you try.

I followed the instructions to remove the airbag from this thread:
JDM Prius Steering Wheel | PriusChat

Scroll down to see pictures and brief instructions , also they posted links to a Japanese website that had some instructions. If you use google translate it makes enough sense to understand. I recommend you read both over.

One thing I'd recommend though is to take your time and not to manhandle the sewing part. Yes you need to pull a little tight but I'd say just tight enough that the leather meets together and that's enough. Then press down on the leather on the seem so that it lays smooth and flat. Pull it too tight and it can bunch up, and it's really hard to maintain a consistency that way.

 

I thought about that before I got started but I was afraid I'd have to trim away a big chunk of leather and there'd only be a small sliver of stitching holding the wrap together so I didn't chance it. I pretty much waited till the last moment to figure out how I was going to do the cut, because if I messed up that could mean I'd have to buy another wrap. I first tried cutting the smallest opening I could make and worked my way up till the cover laid down fairly flush, and it turned out I didn't have to trim a whole lot to where it was flush enough that I was satisfied.

The leather at the seam is pretty bulky so I don't know if my technique of punching out a small whole would work, maybe if you lined it up just right so that you could punch a whole just beside the stitching and was able to conceal the stitching under the spoke. Then again the leather is so bulky at the seam I don't know if it would lie flush. Maybe someone could try and post the results. It'd be worth it, not only would it be aesthetically better looking but that bulky seam is not really pleasing to the touch either.

 

The plastic silver plates have mounting brackets that screw down into the steering wheel frame and the only way to access those screws are to remove the airbag. There is no other way to remove them.

Some people actual prefer to cover the silver trim at the bottom of the steering wheel to give it a softer feel, so they don't even bother with removing the plates. If the lacing is done well I think it could look fine either way. I just wanted mine to look as close to factory as possible without spending hundreds of $$$ on a leather wrapped steering wheel replacement.