Steering Wheel Leather

[Brandonguarrasi]

Is anyone else having issues with the durability of the steering wheel leather? I'm on my second steering wheel and the area i rest my hand at (12 o'clock) is disintegrating after only 5000 miles. Do I have toxic hand sweat or something? Our Yukon has held up just fine after 45,000 miles. My 2005 Laramie did fin as well with over 120,000. China.....?

Mines a 2019 rebel 8k and this is my steering wheel ‍

 

[brian42]

Mine started to peel around 28K miles. I'm careful to keeps my hands pretty clean and have only used leather cleaner and conditioner on the wheel.

 

[Dookie]

Seen enough...Ordered a Wheelskin. I have 9100 on the odo. right now and have been using a slip-on cover for most of that time. It works and looks okay, but just doesn't sit right with me, seems half-a$$ed, so now I'm going full a$$.

 

[Bigjimbo]

I am having the same issue, the leather is peeling off at the 12 o'clock position at 18k miles. My local dealership had me text them pictures and said they would contact FCA to see if they would cover it.

 

[Damion]

Mines discolouring as well. Dealer is replacing it for me, but the wheels are on backorder.

I should see if I can manage an upgrade to the limited wheel with carbon fibre at the top.... hmm

 

[Jus Cruisin]

Mines discolouring as well. Dealer is replacing it for me, but the wheels are on backorder.

I should see if I can manage an upgrade to the limited wheel with carbon fibre at the top.... hmm

The new Limited has carbon fiber wheel top? Mine's wood.

 

[Damion]

Some have carbon, the 1st 5th gen I drove was a limited with carbon wheel / interior trim. Either way my parts girl said shed love to do the upgrade for me, but being a warranty issue theres no way to make it work via the FCA system so no upgrade for me

 

[MacDuff]

I had a problem with mine, top of the wheel became sticky and looked terrible. I was very cognicent about keeping my hands free of chemicals, etc. Did not have this problem with my 2016 Limited.
I replaced the steering wheel this weekend with a Limited steering wheel with wood at the top. The new wheel came as a stripped down assembly and EVERYTHING had to be transferred over. Not for the faint of heart as it's fairly time consuming figuring out how to take apart the god knows how many different connector types, routing wiring, transfer of switches, etc. I'd say it's easier to find a spare/used take off if possible. The dealer wanted at least 3 hours labor to do it, so obviouly I saved some coin but it did take some time and patience.

 

[mikeru82]

I had a problem with mine, top of the wheel became sticky and looked terrible. I was very cognicent about keeping my hands free of chemicals, etc. Did not have this problem with my 2016 Limited.
I replaced the steering wheel this weekend with a Limited steering wheel with wood at the top. The new wheel came as a stripped down assembly and EVERYTHING had to be transferred over. Not for the faint of heart as it's fairly time consuming figuring out how to take apart the god knows how many different connector types, routing wiring, transfer of switches, etc. I'd say it's easier to find a spare/used take off if possible. The dealer wanted at least 3 hours labor to do it, so obviouly I saved some coin but it did take some time and patience.

Just curious, if you don't mind my asking...how much did the new Limited wheel cost? Do you have a part number? I've looked but it's tough to tell which wheel is which on the websites.

 

[MacDuff]

The parts ran around $420 with a "wholesale discount", I'm in the automotive industry. Sadly the wood insert at the bottom of the wheel was actually MORE than the steering wheel itself which seems strange??
Sam at Koons Dodge in Tysons Corner Virginia is my go to guy and the part numbers were as follows:
Steering wheel: 6XR9827X7AA
Insert: 7AW00TX7AA
Definitely give a call and ask for him as he will be familiar with what you need. FWIW, I don't work for Koons, he's just always been very helpful.

I have a Laramie which seems to be one wire short for heating the wooden upper part of the steering wheel.
Other than the wood, good to go on heating the leather portion of the wheel nicely.

 

[Nails]

Def a upgrade I plan to do

 

[mikeru82]

The parts ran around $420 with a "wholesale discount", I'm in the automotive industry. Sadly the insert was actually MORE than the wheel which seems strange??
Sam at Koons Dodge in Tysons Corner Virginia is my go to guy and the part numbers were as follows:
Steering wheel: 6XR9827X7AA
Insert: 7AW00TX7AA
Definitely give a call and ask for him as he will be familiar with what you need. FWIW, I don't work for Koons, he's just always been very helpful.

I have a Laramie which seems to be one wire short for heating the wooden upper part of the steering wheel.
Other than the wood, good to go on heating the leather portion of the wheel nicely.

Appreciate the response. I already swapped a Longhorn steering wheel into my Laramie last spring. I bought it off ebay for $160 complete. Only problem with it is that it's brown, and my interior is black. I was curious how much I could get a black one for.

Not sure what you mean about the Laramie being one wire short though. My Longhorn wheel works just fine in my Laramie. The wood section takes longer to warm up, but eventually does. The leather section definitely gets warmer than my Laramie wheel did though. How long did you let it warm up?

 

[Nels]

My wheel shows peeling/wear from 10 to 2. Just bought the truck a month ago, don't know what the previous owner may have had on his hands.

 

[MacDuff]

Interesting, my new steering wheel had a 3rd wire leading into the wooden section. My original steering wheel only had 2 wires on it and my Laramie did not have any additional wires from the steering column to connect to the 3rd wire on the new steering wheel. I've driven a fair distance with the heat on and no heat in the wooden area at all. The leather area heat is great, and I much prefer the new wheel to the old one with the sticky/delaminating leather.

 

[duke2001]

Interesting, my new steering wheel had a 3rd wire leading into the wooden section. My original steering wheel only had 2 wires on it and my Laramie did not have any additional wires from the steering column to connect to the 3rd wire on the new steering wheel. I've driven a fair distance with the heat on and no heat in the wooden area at all. The leather area heat is great, and I much prefer the new wheel to the old one with the sticky/delaminating leather.

Just a guess but third wire may be for sensor that detects if hands are off steering wheel when using “lane sense” function?

 

[securityguy]

Just let the dealer keep replacing it under warranty until the warranty is up

 

[mikeru82]

Interesting, my new steering wheel had a 3rd wire leading into the wooden section. My original steering wheel only had 2 wires on it and my Laramie did not have any additional wires from the steering column to connect to the 3rd wire on the new steering wheel. I've driven a fair distance with the heat on and no heat in the wooden area at all. The leather area heat is great, and I much prefer the new wheel to the old one with the sticky/delaminating leather.

What exactly is the insert? (p/n 7AW00TX7AA)
I bought a used steering wheel, which was complete with everything except the air bag. So I didn't reuse anything from my original Laramie wheel. Maybe that's got something to do with it?

 

[MacDuff]

What exactly is the insert? (p/n 7AW00TX7AA)
I bought a used steering wheel, which was complete with everything except the air bag. So I didn't reuse anything from my original Laramie wheel. Maybe that's got something to do with it?

The insert is the riduculously expensive small piece of decorative wood at the 6:00 position on the bottom of the steering wheel. Unfortunately, the steering wheel leather is unfinished at the bottom so you HAVE to buy and install it otherwise you have unfinished leather/metal exposed.

 

[MacDuff]

Just a guess but third wire may be for sensor that detects if hands are off steering wheel when using “lane sense” function?

I have lanesense in my Laramie and tested it this morning driving in to work. Lanesense is still fully operational including detecting hands off.
I'm still thinking it's a wire to heat the wooden top section at this point, but I'd love to know for sure.
The wheel has a rubber insert to guide the wiring and there is a specific spot to tuck in both the wire and the connector if unused.

 

[MacDuff]

Just let the dealer keep replacing it under warranty until the warranty is up

I wish this was an option for me, but I was out of warranty based on mileage before the problem was bad enough to worry about. I'm at 53k now.