A mate warned me to be careful when trying to clean up my steering wheel, as you can apparently damage the “leather” (if that’s what it is).
The odd thing is for such a low mileage car I’m surprised at how manky it is. FL2’s with twice the mileage had spotless steering wheels, maybe the valeter just missed it? (just bought...)

Anyway does anyone know the best thing to clean it up with? Seems like its caked in grime.

I'm just hoping it is grime and not a damaged/badly worn one!

Ta... 57 HSE AUTO with H.I.D's - Grey with Black leather. (H.S.E. Heightadjustable Seats Extra )
My Aviation website - UKHelicopterPilot.com

I would suggest using Gliptone Liquid Leather Gentle Cleaner first followed by Gliptone Liquid Leather Conditioner to finish.

I used this to clean and restore the leather seats and trim in our MX5, which was 15 years old. It came up a treat and restored the softness and suppleness to the leather.

If you can't get Gliptone then I've always found that Autoglym Leather Care Cream is a good general usage product.

Remember not to rub to hard and for really ingrained bits use a soft bristle nail brush.

cheers - Andy

Sounds good advice

Wiping not scrubbing let the chemical do the work  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

+1 for Gliptone, you can get it online from the factory shop, well worth it, it really does "restore" the leather.

In all the cars I have driven over the years, I can never understand why some steering wheels get really manky, after 90K miles mine stills looks brand new, yet some with far lower mileage can be really worn and tired looking.

taztastic wrote:

In all the cars I have driven over the years, I can never understand why some steering wheels get really manky, after 90K miles mine stills looks brand new, yet some with far lower mileage can be really worn and tired looking.

Thanks for all the tips so far folks…
The thing is, I sat in a 55k miles car with a good as new steering wheel, and mine with only 24k miles looks like it should be on a 10 year old car… I just don’t get it… I will buy some of the recommended stuff and report on how I get on.
I used auto glym leather cleaner to some effect this affo but it’s not brilliant. I’m beginning to think the wheel covering is actually fubarred which is a total bummer as the rest of the car is basically mint! It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't staring at you in the car! 57 HSE AUTO with H.I.D's - Grey with Black leather. (H.S.E. Heightadjustable Seats Extra )
My Aviation website - UKHelicopterPilot.com

Gus, welcome to the forum, by the way

Were did you buy the car?
The mileage is very low for a 57 plate car, I don't want to alarm, but a sign of a car being " clocked" low mileage, worn steering wheel, worn pedal rubbers, little tell tale signs, hope I am wrong
Does it have full service history with traceability?

Great website by the way, I was fortunate to go up in a Eurocopter recently,fantastic experience

Thanks taztastic, I’m hoping to get round to updating the web site soon, not touched it for about a year!
As for the car, that’s exactly what I thought, that the steering wheel should be on a 100k vehicle! I even wondered if it had been swapped!!! If I’d been buying privately I would definitely have smelt a rat, but it’s an approved used from a main dealer, turns 4 years old in December, 24k miles with 4 main dealer documented services, one owner, oh and I got a 2 year warranty on it as well, just to be on the safe side!
It’s a lovely motor but I know it will throw some niggles up just like my last one did 6 years ago. (However I appreciate the FL2’s are miles better than the FL1’s)
The pedal rubbers are in better nick than the steering wheel!
The dealer is fixing a tiny rip on the side of the drivers seat when I can be arsed driving the hour back there, and if the mirrors don’t start folding properly, when they should, they’ll be looking into that too… Only got it yesterday so still learning!
I was surprised to find that my Samsung galaxy S2 phone paired with the system quite well, so far anyway.
Thanks for your contribution...  57 HSE AUTO with H.I.D's - Grey with Black leather. (H.S.E. Heightadjustable Seats Extra )
My Aviation website - UKHelicopterPilot.com

UPDATE

Gliptone ordered...

Autoglym leather cleaner results mediocre, I think a lot of it is wear. Which is a shame. 57 HSE AUTO with H.I.D's - Grey with Black leather. (H.S.E. Heightadjustable Seats Extra )
My Aviation website - UKHelicopterPilot.com

brand new steering wheel on ebay at the moment £99

Yea thanks for that I had spotted it!
However the Gliptone arrived a few days back so I cleaned and treated the wheel and it does look much better. Some of the wear is indeed “wear” so no amount of restoration will fix that. I think certain things may degrade the wheel but still find it odd that a car that has only covered 24k can have a badly worn wheel. May have been a bad batch but beginning to live with it...I’m just a fuss pot, but when you’re paying such a lot for a car you’d expect a “newer” looking steering wheel... 57 HSE AUTO with H.I.D's - Grey with Black leather. (H.S.E. Heightadjustable Seats Extra )
My Aviation website - UKHelicopterPilot.com

Previous owner could have wore lots of bling on her hands, nothing like a few rings to wear the steering wheel.

ad210358 wrote:

Previous owner could have wore lots of bling on her hands, nothing like a few rings to wear the steering wheel.

there are companies out there that do leather repairs on the worn parts, cost of a decent job thought might be the same as the ebay one  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis