Distalero

Everybody has read, and some have posted, that the C300 interior is sorta trashy. I can't say I really agree, except for one issue, and that's the steering wheel rim.

I did a quick search, so I might have missed any past thread on this, but does anybody know of a decent (read: high-end) leather steering wheel cover that's commercially made?

I'll probably eventually have a local interior guy do a one-off, but in the meantime it would be nice to have something on there just to make me a little happier (even the Hondas I've had in the past had leather steering wheels).

Carsy

My steering wheel rim is already leather & I cannot see any problem with it.

C300Sport

All C Class steering wheels are leather....admittedly a little hard and dry feeling, but leather none the less.

Distalero

Interesting. Mine isn't. It's an 09 and there's no way I would call it leather. I'll have to check out some others, but if I find that other examples are what I have, then I'm gonna freakin' laugh............

Distalero

Ok, I've only been able to check out one other C-300, which also has a MB Tex interior/aluminum trim, and his wheel is also plastic, not leather. So maybe those who have leather interiors are actually seeing leather, but if you have the wheel my new friend and I have, it's plastic with faux stitching.

Are you telling me folks think that the faux stitching is real?

jstaneff

My C300 sport, 2008, came with a "leather multi-function steering wheel,' and it is leather, no question about it.

When I "scratched" it, then rubbed it out, it 'healed" properly, just like leather should. Not easily possible with plastic.

The stitching is real, this is real.

Has this changed for 2009?

mac911

I think the leather on the steering wheel just isn't super high quality.

C300Sport

It is leather, not the finest in the world but leather none the less. If you still don't believe us, try putting some leather conditioner on it...plastic or vinyl will not absorb the conditioner, but leather will. And yes, the stitching is indeed real.

SebringSilver

Let's see some pictures of your "faux" leather steering wheel?

Use macro mode, if you don't mind.

C300Kid

Yeah, I have an 09 with MBtex too, most of us do, and the steering wheel is definitely leather....and my stitching is real.

It's not overly soft and luxurious, but it feels similar to what BMW is using on the 3 series wheel imo.

TRauppius

When I picked up my 2009 C350W at the factory in Sindelfingen this past September, MB offered an excellent factory tour. The tour began with a 15' intro minute film that included a few seconds showing a few jobs that were still done by hand in what is other a very automated component manufacturing and assembly process. The over-narration noted that the finishing of the wood veneers and the fitting and stitching of the steering wheel leathers just could not be done to MB standards by machine.

The steering wheel may feel a bit dry and scratchy (as compared with many squishy and slickery feel covers) but be assured that it is real leather, and hand fitted and sewn at that.

C300Sport

So is the feel of the leather part of the design? It seems to have pretty good grip. Maybe it will age better than most leather wheels I have owned, which although had a pretty good feel, would begin showing wear at 10 and 2 within a year or two...

jstaneff

Or at 4 and 8, given that with airbags this may be a safer place to grip the wheel. The RCMP did a safety video on driving cars with airbags, they did not like the standard 10 and 2 position.

Um, holding the wheel at 4 and 8 also makes that turn signal stalk "fit" much better.

C300Sport

Good Points....10 and 2 would indeed give you some pretty bad airbag burns on the inner arms if not even making you punch yourself in the face...and never even thougt much about the classic Benz positioning of the signal/wiper stalk. Food for thought indeed.

Derspeed

The leather on the gear stick in my 6MT feels fishy. I haven't taken it apart yet, so it's hard to tell if it's leather. I love the feel of the leather on the steering wheel. I just wish it was fatter.

Distalero

Well there's a consensus here, but I have to say I'm not completely convinced, mostly because it's so bad. The material used makes a decent plastic, but if it's really leather then it's more like taxidermy, not tanning: it was from a steer on it's way out, from sickness, long before somebody got to the hide

Now I REALLY want a one off cover; just to hide (no pun intended) this poor excuse for "leather".

C300Kid

Hmm...I like it. I don't think its "poor" quality...its just stiff and pulled extremely taught. A lot of high end cars have similar steering wheels. The softer, looser leather steering wheels are look like crap after a year, as others already said. The C300 wheel may be hard, but I don't think it feels anything at all like plastic. I even made a point to look at the stiching today and it in no way looks faux...how could you think that? I'm kinda perplexed..haha.

Having said that, I'd probably get it recovered professionally if I were you. those covers never look right.

Distalero

Not to beat this thread to death, but under the heading of Anything For Science, I took a bottle of leather conditioner out to the car to see what would happen. It soaked in to the wheel covering. I had to wipe some off because I mistakenly put a bunch on, but the rest soaked in.

So ok, it passed this test but this isn't conclusive.

But you know what sold me that it's leather? The wheel happened to be in a position where one of the seams was at 12:00, and in sillhouette against the light I noticed that you could see the turned under ends of the leather, either side of the seam. Nobody, and I'm guessin' even MB, would fake the set up this much. If they did then they went the extra distance, so in honor of this, I'll call it leather.

So if anyone else posts a thread about the wheel being plastic, point out to them the area on either side of the seams.

I'm STILL going to have it redone, though.

AsianML

The steering wheel leather on the W204 doesn't have a grain, does it? I've noticed Lexus is using leather that doesn't have much of a grain to it.

C300Kid

It has a little bit of a grain. It's just pulled really tight so it feels hard to the touch rather than soft.

TheDarkSide

I like the leather on the wheel. My lexus's wheel got super oily after the first couple months of use. This one has not.

RabbitDad

It's definitely leather. I sat in 3 C-classes today, two with the comfort/4-spoke and one with the sport/3-spoke steering wheel. To start with the latter, I thought it wasn't really worth the name sport, as it doesn't really have any added curvature for grip (rim is pretty much the same size everywhere). For the comfort wheels, strangely enough one felt pretty uncomfortable (hard, no give), while another felt great (leather seemed nicer and there was a little more give - actually it felt very similar to an Audi steering wheel). The car with the nicer feeling wheel was a C200 CDI Avantgarde, the bad one was a C250 CDI (both 2009 models AFAIK).

Regardless of the above, Merc C wheels (any of them, except C63) aren't a patch on the sports steering wheels that BMW offers.

limited

All Canadian 2008 and 2009 C class brochures says " Leather-wrapped multifunction steering wheel and shift knob".