After many many tries of trying to get my steering wheel color matched....I finally stopped relying on those dumb color matching machines which are never ever right and I picked a couple of swatches and had them make samples for me. I have done this several times before but swatches are also very difficult to judge. Well this time I nailed it. This color is a perfect match for my steering wheel. My car color is Cypress Pearl and I have the tan leather not the white.....so my wheel looks like a dull brown for lack of a better word.
I will copy pics to this post of the paint info. The tricky part is applying the paint and achieving a OEM finish using a brush or foam brush. Ultimately I would prefer spray paint but simply could not find the right color. I will let u guys figure out how to apply to meat your own standards. The guy with ADD will brush on quickly and be happy with results. The DIYer will do some prep cleaning...light sand...apply....sand....apply...clear coat. The DIYer perfectionist guy ( me ) will do all of the above and even try to re create the pattern in the leather vs leaving smooth. Note ...during my color match experiment I already just did a quickie paint on with paint brush and it looks great...but it does have some small brush lines that I cant live with....I am thinking foam brush will eliminate the brush strokes..as well as a light sand. I will finish with a matte sp? finish clear for OEM look vs shiny. The paint by itself has a slightly sticky feel...I am hoping the clear coat will not have the sticky feel.

Good luck...

 

If you're talking about the leather on the steering wheel, than you can get a perfect paint match by removing the gear shift **** and having a paint match made to it. No guesswork required. Even Home Depot is able to match the color. Just be sure you get the right texture.

 

I think he said he tried that already

 

Yes.....I should have said.....after many many tries of taking my shift **** into Home Depot and Lowes ....5 times total I finally gave up. Those machines are thrown off by the shiny sheen of the **** according to the paint tech. Not sure what to do with all of these samples laying around...maybe I will paint a dog house or something. Problem is I dont have a dog.

Anyway.......I am tellin ya folks......the sample I included in the first post is a perfect match...it just blends right in and you wont believe your eyes. Like Jay said though....u must copy exactly what I posted...paint brand....sheen....type.....etc.

So for me.....finally have my GPS bezel and my steering wheel looking great. Still working on my road rash wheel project...havent found a wheel paint match yet.....close but not perfect.

 

Ok...today I finally had some time to actually paint the steering wheel vs just color testing. This color is 99.5 percent on the money......I will include several pics of my wheel....one will be the before pic which is laughable. You can see all of my testing and sanding marks. In the past I used a paint brush but wasnt happy with brush marks. So today I sanded down the brush marks and applied new paint with a foam brush. With foam brush I had 2 options.....I could spread on smooth or purposely create a textured look. I decided to try to re create the leather look...so i used a dabbing or blotting technique so the wheel would have a little texture. Ultimately a spray gun is best case scenario though.

Note I painted the entire wheel section on the left side and only a couple of inches on the right......I didnt touch the center air bag area.









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When I first read that you were painting your steering wheel leather with some paint from Home Depot, I was skeptical. But that looks really good. Like new.

 

Thank you Bob. It certainly is not a professional job...its just a band aid to keep my OCD happy. My next step will be to spray a clear coat on it........prob choose a matte finish for the clear...and I hope that doesnt screw the job up. If I dont use a clear coat I would imagine the paint would scrape off with a fingernail. Ultimately its a $3.00 fix that I can continue to re apply when ever needed

 

Here is the proper way to resto a wheel.....this guy is good. The tough part would be getting the color match but after that this kit would be the way to go. And now I see how he applied his clear coat...I will try to order some of that from them for sure.

 

Won't the color rub off fast?

 

isfdude......yes the paint would be suspect until I clear coat it as discussed in my posts. The clear coat will protect the paint. There is nothing worse then a shabby looking steering wheel in the car that you love.....had to do something. And at 3 bucks...I can slather on new paint anytime I want.

 

I just wanted to say "Thanks so much!" for your detailed instructions. I stupidly used scotchbrite and spray cleaner to try and clean black greasy stains on my 2001 Lexus es300 steering wheel and exposed the rawhide leather. I purchased the forest black Glidden paint from Home Depot and it looks great. Just have to clear coat it now. Thanks again

 

I've been messing around with cars as a hobby for 20+ years and this is the first i've heard of anyone painting a steering wheel. I think it's a bad idea - the oils in your hands will eventually break down the paint and leave you with a mess. It would be best to have your steering wheel recovered or replaced.

 

You guys have to keep things in perspective here. The leather on my steering wheel was in perfect shape and the OEM paint or dye had just rubbed off via harsh chemical cleaning or just normal use. If you read my post I dont drive that car very often it is my garage queen and I like it to be spotless and ready to cruise. I chose to " touch up " my steering wheel with normal latex paint from Home Depot and it freakin worked and looked great. I dont drive the car with dirty hands....I dont use the car to commute......its just a go out to dinner car so the paint in 3 years time never wore off. Even if the paint did wear off all I would have to do is clean it.....and re apply which takes all of 2 seconds. If it were my daily driver I would have clear coated my work but in this case there was no need.
Again....I touched up the wheel.......I didnt paint the whole thing......I matched the paint perfectly and only painted some areas that needed it........the paint matched so good I couldnt even tell.

 

Like I said in Post #2. No problem, still looks perfect.

 

I think it looks pretty good and is a good cheap fix to keep you happy. If you're ever interested in going further, you can send that paint to a leather dye company like Colorplus and they can mix leather dye that can be used on the steering wheel as well.