Model 3 Steering Wheel–Vegan Leather Wear

[Carolinian]

Hi everyone.

As of last Saturday, I've placed my order for a Model 3 LR in Midnight Silver with the black and white interior. It's a big purchase and I'd like to do what I can to take care of it so it serves me for years to come and looks nice while doing so.

I am wondering if anyone who has owned a M3 with the vegan leather steering wheel can comment on how that material wears over time since it is in near constant contact with your hands. One of my biggest pet peeves on my wife's synthetic leather steering wheel and my natural leather one has been the way they wear over time, with the finish either wearing off or "gunking up." In both cases, no amount of cleaning will help so I've had to resort to wheel covers, which I don't like. If you all indicate that they get irreversibly worn in the first few years, I'd be more likely to buy driving gloves than get a wheel cover.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

[TypeRx]

I only have 15K miles on my model 3 and take effort to wash my hands before I use my car if possible. So, I can't speak to a 3+ year old wheel with many many hours of use.

Best advice I can provide to reduce wear on synthetic or real leather steering wheels is to avoid wearing rings or other jewelry (that can knick up the material), wash hands before use, let antibacterial gels fully dry on your hands before handling the wheel, and make cleaning the steering wheel a normal part of your routine car clean-up. All it takes a swipe weekly with a wet microfiber -- even better if you use a very mild all purpose cleaner or the like to pull oil/dirt out of it.

Anyways, the point is that if you can avoid scratching the wheel cover as well as keep it reasonably free of grease/oil, it can look new for years to come.

 

[lightlyflavord]

For me, cleaning my steering wheel is at minimum a weekly occurrence. I generally enjoy cleaning my car's interior anyway, but if you're going to only clean one thing religiously, it should be your steering wheel.

I just use a Meguiar's all purpose cleaner and a microfiber towel. Easy enough!

 

[jjrandorin]

I have had my model 3 for almost 2.5 years and 26k miles and the steering wheel still looks fine. Note, however I am a person who does not like the feeling of lotion on my hands so after I shower and lotion, I wash my hands to remove said lotion from my hands.

I dont make any real effort to wash my hands any more than normal before driving or anything, but I am also not a person who "loads up" on moisturizers and such (my wife is, but she doesnt drive my car hardly at all).

So this likely depends on what products you put on your hands, how much you put on, etc. I have never had any problems with any steering wheel discoloring etc, but I usually have leather steering wheels, not vegan leather like this one. Still looks the same, though.

 

[mhanauer]

Hi everyone.

As of last Saturday, I've placed my order for a Model 3 LR in Midnight Silver with the black and white interior. It's a big purchase and I'd like to do what I can to take care of it so it serves me for years to come and looks nice while doing so.

I am wondering if anyone who has owned a M3 with the vegan leather steering wheel can comment on how that material wears over time since it is in near constant contact with your hands. One of my biggest pet peeves on my wife's synthetic leather steering wheel and my natural leather one has been the way they wear over time, with the finish either wearing off or "gunking up." In both cases, no amount of cleaning will help so I've had to resort to wheel covers, which I don't like. If you all indicate that they get irreversibly worn in the first few years, I'd be more likely to buy driving gloves than get a wheel cover.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

After one year, the steering wheel is coming apart.

 

[UncertainTimes]

After one year, the steering wheel is coming apart.

After one year mine still looks new <shrug>

 

[stopsucking]

After one year, the steering wheel is coming apart.

Mine looks identical but not torn yet...just "bubbled" I guess but it's stretched. Have you checked on getting it repaired and if so did they do a good job? I'm researching this now. I found someone who specializes in car leather repair but when I said "Tesla" he hesitated and wanted me to confirm if it was leather or vegan. Mine is a Model 3, manufactured date of 7/2019 so not sure.