Issues with leather steering wheel

[mystic_monkeyman]

As the title says, after many years with what a believed to be a very serious case of eczema on my hands a recent trip to the docs reveals that it is actually contact dermatitis. After a long hard look at what could have caused it, I believe it started with the first car a bought that had a leather steering wheel. Cut a long boring story short I bought some crappy cycling gloves to wear while driving my car and it has seamed to cure the problem after a couple days.

Now I want to get some proper gloves designed for driving/racing, has anybody got any good recommendations for some gloves that are not made of leather, as I don't want to put a stupid looking cover on the steering wheel.

Thanks.

[Gumby]

Is it just the leather from the steering wheel or leather in general? Most racing gloves are made of leather too i think.

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[Ootohere]

How about a box of Latex disposable Medical/Engineering gloves kept in the car,

maybe just not Blue ones or you might find yourself being stopped quite often.

[mystic_monkeyman]

I'm not sure if it's leather in general or a chenical used to treat it, as I'm not a big fan of leather (interias/ furniture) and only have leather shoes and a fake leather belt.

[Gazbull17]

You can get synthetic leather bicycle gloves and golf gloves which would probably do the trick.

It's probably the chemicals they use in the tanning process of the leather that's causing the problems, it contains ammonia.

I'm an upholsterer and leather technician by trade, although I'm haven't done it for over 5 years now and have seen former colleagues suffer from contact dermatitis and this was the cause.

It wasn't practical to wear gloves so the used to apply barrier cream before they started graft to help it.

Edited 8 May, 2014 by Gazbull17

[PhilTheGeek]

Good luck finding nice gloves that have neither leather or suede.  My wife is allergic to chromates which are used in the tanning process. We absolutely failed to find any despite a very thorough search.  

 

I had my steering wheel retrimmed in Alcantara (synthetic suede used widely in high end performance automotive trimming) which it turns out I prefer over leather and my wife no longer ends up with red itchy hands. From memory it cost £140 earlier in the year from Royal Steering Wheels. It does take around 10 days so you'll need a spare steering wheel if you don't have another car to use.

Edited 8 May, 2014 by PhilTheGeek

[PhilTheGeek]

Just noticed your car and location.  If you want to go this route and you're not a smoker/don't smoke in the car, I can lend you my spare leather VRS estate wheel whilst your one is retrimmed.

[fabiamk2SE]

Cant you just change your steering wheel to a plasticy one off a different specced model of the same car?

[mystic_monkeyman]

I've just noticed that it's also the gear leaver causing problems to as a rest my hand on it would need to change both steering wheel and gear shifter. Do skoda actually do a non leather multifunction steering wheel with paddles that's not in leather? I wouldn't get the wheel retrimed as it could affect the warranty and the car is on finance, so skoda could get funny about it. And after all the trouble I've had with them the last thing I need is the warranty being invalidated.

[fabiamk2SE]

Oh. Do you have a dsg?

What does an se or elegance have if you spec it with MFS And dsg?

My se is a plasticy (not cold to the touch though, and quite pleasant). However i dont have multifunction steering wheel, and mine is a manual.

[Official Ferris]

What about alpine star gloves theyre not leather? Should be some on demon tweeks:

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/race-gloves

[PhilTheGeek]

I couldn't prove that any of the available gloves had neither leather nor suede.  Certainly of the 4 alpine star gloves that demon tweeks sell, 2 have leather and 1 has suede and the photo of the fourth makes me suspicious.

 

I couldn't find a Skoda OEM non leather MFSW with paddles (trust me I scoured the parts catalogue across all the possible vehicles). I haven't looked at the gear lever or handbrake cover as they haven't affected my wife. It's sweat that brings out the substances and generally you don't touch either the gearlever or the handbrake for very much time at all.

 

Changing the steering wheel should only affect the warranty on the steering wheel and its controls. Check with the dealer.  

 

Alternatively get hold of another one and retrim it, keeping your original. I can now change the wheel in around 10 minutes so even if there are issues you just swap back to the original one. To change the wheel requires three tools: a 10mm spanner to disconnect the battery, a shortish flat blade screwdriver to release the airbag and a tri-square bit with a T-bar to remove the steering wheel bolt( although I guess that's two tools, the bit and the T-bar making four in total).

Edited 9 May, 2014 by PhilTheGeek