Steering wheel uncomfortable!!

[loonymoon]

R u female?

Uh- huh!!

I quite like all the guys instantly assuming I'm male and calling me mate - it's funny! Scotty found out the truth yesterday.....

 

[minxycov]

Uh- huh!!

I quite like all the guys instantly assuming I'm male and calling me mate - it's funny! Scotty found out the truth yesterday.....

Probably explains why ur moanin about the steerin wheel then and not the lack of power only jokin hun

 

[Triple D]

You know you probably could.... but your wouldn't hit a girl would you?

I didnt instigate any violence did i?

 

[loonymoon]

Probably explains why ur moanin about the steerin wheel then and not the lack of power only jokin hun

Well the lack of power was something I moaned about already. But I did buy a 1.4 because I couldn't afford a more powerful one... so had to give up moaning about that. (75bhp ....harumph......grumble).

Maybe one day....

 

[loonymoon]

Hello again

Well I've had no luck trying to find out if a SEAT sport steering wheel is a straight swap for mine (i.e. whether I have to buy an airbag...ouch costs lots) and SEAT would charge me £60 just to find out.

SOOO I've decided to leave it for now and try a Simoni Sport custom leather steering wheel cover. http://www.scarbro-racing.co.uk/simoniwheelscovers

The cover looks nice and is supposedly shaped to fit and costs about £50. I've ordered one today - have to wait 6-8 weeks though as apparently the Italians who make them are on holiday!! I'll let you know what it's like once I get it.

 

[loonymoon]

Hello again

Well I've had no luck trying to find out if a SEAT sport steering wheel is a straight swap for mine (i.e. whether I have to buy an airbag...ouch costs lots) and SEAT would charge me £60 just to find out.

SOOO I've decided to leave it for now and try a Simoni Sport custom leather steering wheel cover. http://www.scarbro-racing.co.uk/simoniwheelscovers

The cover looks nice and is supposedly shaped to fit and costs about £50. I've ordered one today - have to wait 6-8 weeks though as apparently the Italians who make them are on holiday!! I'll let you know what it's like once I get it.

ahem What was the date on the above post.... I just got the cover today!!!!!!!! Nearly 4 months later, So fast shipping not an option (the italians holiday was longer than expected!!.

Well.. first impressions are that it's good quality but of course I have to sew it on. (I don't know what I expected really...) Could be difficult. when I get round to giving it a go I'll post about how I get on with some pics (possibly). Incase anyone else is interested in these covers.

 

[tommmineh]

4 months! You have to sew it on.....

I hope it's comfy

 

[loonymoon]

4 months! You have to sew it on.....

I hope it's comfy

Bloody well better be!!

Problem is I couldn't afford a new steering wheel plus the cost of replacing the airbag (pockets aren't that deep I'm afraid).

 

[rashcupra]

beezer bird eeh? ;-) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Seat-ibiza-le...8QQihZ012QQcategoryZ40195QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
heres a cupra style sterring wheel if you still interested origional airbag fits into it aparantly if so keep keys out of ignition when removing yellow airbag connector then simply swap steering wheels over and rewire airbag as before.

 

[RichieRich]

oh and you would have to wait 10 mins with the ignition off before removeing the airbag... my Se has a leather or fake leather steering wheel and dont look or touch too bad at all..

 

[loonymoon]

beezer bird eeh? ;-) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Seat-ibiza-le...8QQihZ012QQcategoryZ40195QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
heres a cupra style sterring wheel if you still interested origional airbag fits into it aparantly if so keep keys out of ignition when removing yellow airbag connector then simply swap steering wheels over and rewire airbag as before.

Thanks for that but the problem I have is that apparently Ibiza's made int he year mine was had two different standard steering wheels, one would be a straight airbag swap the other wouldn't - problem is they look the same. So I decided to give the cover a try rather than fork out and then find that I actually needed to buy the airbag part tooo.... More than likely it would be a straight swap, but I can't afford to take that risk.

Sewing the cover doesn't look too difficult and (hopefully) it'll look like it's always been leather wrapped...

 

[EdButler]

Well just in case its your driving posture - the Seat Test Drivers (who are all female incase you didnt know) told me this on a track day to get the perfect arm position and ive always been very comfortable driving at 6' 3" in most cars.

Set your seat at a neutral height so you can depress the pedals fully and comfortably.

Sitting fully back in your seat, at full stretch you should grab the 12 o clock position fully. Therefore when you move to the 3/9 o clock positions your arms are slightly bent.

TILT the steering wheel with your hands on the 9/3 o clock points. Your upper arm should be tilted slightly downward. Your fore arm should be tilted slightly upward.

That will hopefully help!

 

[loonymoon]

Thanks Ed. I shall have a good look at how I'm sitting. Unfortunately I don't have a height adjust seat.. I probably need it as I am a real short arse when I sit down (short body long legs...!) I bought padded seat covers and they seem to have made a slight difference- perhaps I need a booster seat!!

 

[rashcupra]

long legs eh im six foot and ive got my seat set at the highest but in my beezer i still feel like im down low the doorcards are pretty high for the car or is this just me going nuts ?

 

[loonymoon]

long legs eh im six foot and ive got my seat set at the highest but in my beezer i still feel like im down low the doorcards are pretty high for the car or is this just me going nuts ?

Yeah it's the design of the car, the door sides are high (I guess smaller windows make it look sportier somehow... It's not too much of a problem except when trying to pull tickets out of the machine at multistorey carparks.. it makes you wish you had an extra joint in your arm!!

 

[loonymoon]

Well I got to trying to put the Simoni steering wheel cover on. It wasn't too difficult once i got it sussed. The hardest part was getting it lined up right. At first I wasn't convinced it was the quite the right size.

Sewing it wasn't too bad as you just had to pass the thread between stitches sewn into the edges of the leather. My problem was I started it too late in the day and the light got very poor. My advice to anyone is to allow 2 hours of good light. It took me 2 hours in poorish light so that should be plenty when you can see what you're doing.

Here's the final thing. I'm pretty happy with it except for the slight wrinkling on the top 2 spokes but I think it'd be difficult not to get this and it is just a cover.

Not too bad a job really. Now I'm wondering whether I should have gone for one of the covers with the top (non-perforated) leather section in blue......

 

[davels]

nice job, how did you get the sewing machine in the car? long extension lead maybe?

 

[loonymoon]

nice job, how did you get the sewing machine in the car? long extension lead maybe?

yeah that was the difficult bit. I kept sewing my jeans to the steering wheel!!!

 

[davels]

no sereoisselly (spelling may be wrong?) very nice job if i didn't have an FR steering wheel i definatly think of ordering one. and only 16000 miles on the clock on a 2004 plate thats impressive.

 

[loonymoon]

no sereoisselly (spelling may be wrong?) very nice job if i didn't have an FR steering wheel i definatly think of ordering one. and only 16000 miles on the clock on a 2004 plate thats impressive.

It's a nice sew by hand job really (ooo err)!!!!

Yeah it is a Dec '04 though so not much of that year to put mileage on. The previous owners were a security firm and for a fleet car it seems to have been well looked after, excepting a couple of small dents on the door and a broken parcel shelf (which the dealer swapped for another one for me). The interior was immaculate when I got it in March with 10k on the clock.