Cobywheel.com Alcantara steering wheel and shift knob review

[angelr]

I know there is some interest in doing this amongst our members here by the interest generated in my last thread on the subject.

http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthre...ight=cobywheel

With some recent down time available to me and the news that Michael Lemon over at www.cobywheel.com had a suitable core unit available for my z4 m coupe I decided it was time to replace my well worn leather wheel. Not only was it unsightly but it detracted from the driving experience directly because you could feel the pitted and worn leather under your hands. I had him throw in a matching zcp knob as well. I ordered the black alcantara finish on both the wheel and the knob and had the trip color stitching option added to the wheel. Which in a word is awesome contrasting against the alcantara!

Well I don't think I could be any happier with the results, turn around time or overall customer service. Michael was extremely communicative, responsive and candid during the entire process, from my initial inquiries to sending me pics of the core and completed wheel. The wheel arrived very quickly once I committed and placed the order and was packaged well so as to prevent damage while in transit. This same packaging can easily be reused to return your core to cobywheel once you make the swap. I'll give a short run down on how the wheel is removed below. The core charge was refunded to me very quickly upon return of my core as well.

The driving experience is improved as I now have a smooth consistent and very luxurious feeling material covering the wheel and shift knob rather than the deteriorating leather.

Install is fairly easy and straight forward with multiple diy guides existing on the web but I'll briefly outline it below.

Now on to a few pictures. Forgive their relative low quality as they were taken on a phone in less than ideal light conditions and my car is filthy to boot














Quick diy.

Disconnect negative battery terminal.
Insert a flathead screwdriver into the holes just above and behind the area where the upper two spokes join the center of the wheel. It must be pushed in at a slightly downward as well as forwards (towards your self if looking at wheel) to disengage the spring loaded arms that retain the airbag.

The airbag will release and fall forward, unplug the two terminals by raising the tab on the connector with a small flathead.

Remove center 17mm iirc nut, disconnect small ground wire and remove wheel.

There are three torx screws that hold the center trim that wraps around the back of the wheel base. Don't remember the size at the moment however.

Plastic trim is all snap together btw, simply two halves. Mine cracked due to it's advanced age I suspect. Have new replacements here to go on this week when I have a few moments.

[yousefnjr]

Looks great I like the knob too, coby is much better at doing this than I am lol

Side note, it's probably a good idea to disconnect the battery before removing the airbag. And there's a torx screw (T20? can't remember) securing the side plastic trims pieces together, 2 on the bottom piece

[Finnegan]

Looks very good!

[tiltmode43]

Originally Posted by yousefnjr

Looks great I like the knob too, coby is much better at doing this than I am lol

Side note, it's probably a good idea to disconnect the battery before removing the airbag. And there's a torx screw (T20? can't remember) securing the side plastic trims pieces together, 2 on the bottom piece

Definitely recommended to disconnect the negative terminal on this.

Alcantara feels nice but I found myself being WAY too careful to make sure my hands were perfectly clean back when I had an alcantara wheel. I wonder how the shift knob will hold up. Sure looks awesome and bet it feels even better!

[KevinC]

Holy crap, you must have hands like Shaq to be able to wrap around that thing. Looks like a tire on there!

[angelr]

Thanks for filling in the missing steps guys! 100% disconnect the battery. I'll add that as the first step above.

[Vanne]

Thanks for the review.

[angelr]

Originally Posted by Vanne

Thanks for the review.

Cheers buddy

And they are still in great shape 2 years and about 55k later!

[KevinM]

Ha, I was just about to ask you to update us in a year on how the alcantara is holding up when I realized this thread was bumped from 2014!

Good to hear - so no wear on the steering wheel?

[angelr]

Originally Posted by KevinM

Ha, I was just about to ask you to update us in a year on how the alcantara is holding up when I realized this thread was bumped from 2014!

Good to hear - so no wear on the steering wheel?

None that I can note. I'll try and snap a pic the next time I clean them. I've just been using a very lightly dampened microfiber cloth followed by a dry one to clean the wheel and knob. So far so good