[MatosSupra]

I have a bunch of spare three spoke wheels, possibly more than ten, that I have collected over the years. I originally intended to just leather wrap them all and sell them. I was not happy with the quality of the wraps I had purchased from others, so I decided I would make my own from scratch. In a major case of "While I'm in there" syndrome, I ended up deciding that while I was in there I would also reshape the wheel to be a flat bottom and then wrap that in carbon fiber. I also decided to add a push start button, Ferrari style. Needless to say, that escalated quickly lol. Here are some pictures of the process:
20210724_190633 by Jose, on Flickr

by Jose, on Flickr

20210724_203140 by Jose, on Flickr

This particular wheel ended up in my Tacoma. I was not fully satisfied with the leather, so I will redo it later. Here is the final look, for now

 

[MatosSupra]

I documented the process I followed in a series of videos as that would make it much easier to follow:

 

[MatosSupra]

 

[Kris9884]

Hey that's pretty awesome!

 

[vodkaknockers]

This is exactly the type of project I've been interested in attempting. Thank you for helping me realize I should probably just source one! Great writeup. I like the look of the finished leather with the wrinkles as you mentioned, adds some character and fits with the age of the car IMO. Awesome job.

 

[$9ktt]

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY !!! Non Lexus wheel though.

 

[MatosSupra]

Hey that's pretty awesome!

Thank you!

 

[MatosSupra]

This is exactly the type of project I've been interested in attempting. Thank you for helping me realize I should probably just source one! Great writeup. I like the look of the finished leather with the wrinkles as you mentioned, adds some character and fits with the age of the car IMO. Awesome job.

Thank you! I think the next leather I do on it will keep the wrinkles, I will just make the fitment in some areas a little better. It's stuff that's really most noticeable up close.

 

[MatosSupra]

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY !!! Non Lexus wheel though.

Lol, I definitely plan to build more of these and I have quite a few non-Lexus three spokes. I've been...ahem...hoarding them for a while 🤣 I actually finished one without carbon recently, just making my own leather wrap from scratch. It's a non Lexus wheel, although I added a modified Lexus airbag cover because I like the look. I 3D printed a Toyota emblem the right size for the bag (the Lexus emblem sticks on) and filled it with resin and blacked out the plastic bar on the bottom (normally silver).

 

[kyleammo]

Wanna do that to a JDM 3 spoke wheel? 👀👀
Looks great!

 

[MatosSupra]

Wanna do that to a JDM 3 spoke wheel? 👀👀
Looks great!

Thank you! I love doing this kind of work, so I would be down to do that. Is this the one you are referring to?

 

[kyleammo]

Thank you! I love doing this kind of work, so I would be down to do that. Is this the one you are referring to?
View attachment 273985

Yes exactly

 

[MatosSupra]

Got another steering wheel done. This one with red stitching. Will probably do some more carbon ones soon.
IMG_20220727_173122302_HDR by Jose, on Flickr
IMG_20220727_173142612_HDR by Jose, on Flickr
IMG_20220727_173205383_HDR by Jose, on Flickr

IMG_20220801_211803044_HDR by Jose, on Flickr
Disregard the silver marks, that's left over leather pen which I remove with a q-tip afterward.

 

[iwantablackRZ]

I know you're using the IS300/IS200/Altezza wheel but another top tip is to use the airbag center from a 1998 Starlet or 98/99 model RAV4. You can't use the RAV4/Starlet steering wheel as they don't have the notches on the back for your turn signal cancellation BUT the center piece (if you can find the dark grey wheel as pictured below) is the same part number as what was found in the late S2 JDM Supra's. This fits up into the Altezza/IS steering wheel like a factory fit and with a leather retrim (such as you have done) it will be indistinguishable from the original (and somewhat rare) S2 tri-spoke wheel.

The more common light grey color wheel found in the RAV4 and Starlet can easily be painted in a vinyl paint to a black or dark grey too (which is what I have done). I've seen S2 tri-spoke wheels sell for nearly 1k. A black leather re-timmed IS200/IS300/Altezza wheel with a RAV4 centre is 99.99% the same wheel for a fraction of the cost.

RAV4 interior with tri-spoke centred wheel below:

 

[MatosSupra]

I know you're using the IS300/IS200/Altezza wheel but another top tip is to use the airbag center from a 1998 Starlet or 98/99 model RAV4. You can't use the RAV4/Starlet steering wheel as they don't have the notches on the back for your turn signal cancellation BUT the center piece (if you can find the dark grey wheel as pictured below) is the same part number as what was found in the late S2 JDM Supra's. This fits up into the Altezza/IS steering wheel like a factory fit and with a leather retrim (such as you have done) it will be indistinguishable from the original (and somewhat rare) S2 tri-spoke wheel.

The more common light grey color wheel found in the RAV4 and Starlet can easily be painted in a vinyl paint to a black or dark grey too (which is what I have done). I've seen S2 tri-spoke wheels sell for nearly 1k. A black leather re-timmed IS200/IS300/Altezza wheel with a RAV4 centre is 99.99% the same wheel for a fraction of the cost.

RAV4 interior with tri-spoke centred wheel below:

I've actually got quite a collection of IS/Altezza and RAV4 steering wheels built up along with an original S2 tri-spoke wheel. I was not aware the S2 was worth so much, thank you for the heads up!

 

[iwantablackRZ]

I've actually got quite a collection of IS/Altezza and RAV4 steering wheels built up along with an original S2 tri-spoke wheel. I was not aware the S2 was worth so much, thank you for the heads up!

Sorry, my mistake. I forget this is a US forum sometimes. 🤦‍♂️ . $1000 AUD. But still around $700 USD. Certainly still a pretty penny though.

 

[MatosSupra]

Sorry, my mistake. I forget this is a US forum sometimes. 🤦‍♂️ . $1000 AUD. But still around $700 USD. Certainly still a pretty penny though.

No worries, I realized from the flag on your profile picture. It's still a good bit more than I thought it was worth!