Wheelskins single color leather steering wheel cover

My new-to-me Subaru Forester had a pretty comfortable steering wheel but I wanted a better feel and started looking for steering wheel covers.  I didn't want the chintzy slip-on covers but I couldn't seem to find a high-quality leather, lace-on cover anywhere locally.  Most of the covers available at the local shops had multiple seams, didn't fit the circumference of the grip and were of poor quality.

After searching online I found www.wheelskins.com and decided to give their product a try.  I ended up ordering it from www.jcwhitney.com since I had a discount code.  It came very quickly and I was very impressed with the quality.  In the box was the steering wheel cover, some waxed thread, a needle, and the instructions.  The leather feels like high-quality stuff - much better than the cheapo stuff at the local speed shop.

I read through the instructions and went to work.  I stretched it over the steering wheel and started lacing.  The instructions tell you to start lacing basically anywhere except at the spokes or the seam.  I chose the top center to start my lacing.  The lacing wasn't particularly difficult.  I used the straight stitch shown in the instructions. 

 The instructions give you two options for lacing around the spokes.  I chose to lace the front side only and I'm satisfied with the result.  The picture on the box shows another style laced through all the holes - but I don't like the look.                                                                        

I like the final product.  It fits perfectly and wraps all the way around the grip.  Make sure you measure your steering wheel and order the correct size.  I ended up ordering size AXX even though the website says C is the correct size for my application.  My steering wheel was exactly 15" in diameter and had a grip circumference of 3.75".  In my opinion, the C would have been too large (see http://www.wheelskins.com/measure.php).

There are a couple of things I would do differently. 

1) Poke out all of the hole plugs.  I didn't do this, and a couple of the little leather plugs ended up in between the steering wheel and the cover.  You might be able to see them in the large version of the finished product picture near the lower left spoke.  Most people wouldn't notice, but they bug me.

2) I think I would stitch from the front rather than the rear.  The instructions show the thread being pulled through from the back to the front.  I found this pulled the leather around the holes a bit.  So around a couple of holes it is a little discolored.  I think if I pulled from the front to the back this would be reduced.

3) I would probably use a different stitch - maybe a 2 needle stitch as shown on this page: http://www.dccarcare.com/tipowk/tipowk19.html (which unfortunately I didn't find until after I was done!)

Bottom line?  I am totally satisfied with this steering wheel cover and will likely buy another for my other car.