Thinking about upgrading my skinny stock steering wheel for a alcantar sport wheel instead. However, I've heard that they seem to wear worse than the leather ones and can get smelly if you have sweaty hands etc...

Any one have experience with alcantara?

thanks

 

They do wear worse than leather. A friend of mine has metropol blue leather interior with blue alcantara steering wheel. The 9 and 3 spot where the hand rests the most is noticably darker almost grey-ish after years of use. Alcantara was not meant to be something that was meant to wear well.

 

I like mine and just make sure my hands are clean at all times. AFAIK, alcantara is a synthetic material and can be cleaned just like anything else. Haven't tried it but I certainly would try it if I had a smelly wheel with dark spots.

 

Just wear gloves while you drive!

 

I got an leather+alcantara steering wheel from Brabus on my B55S. Here is a pic:



I have never really liked it and would never go alcantara again. It wears badly and, after a while, looks like nothing more than micro-suede. See how it tends to whiten. You have to constantly brush it in the right direction so that it looks really black like the rest of the wheel. Also, after a short time it starts to feel smooth and even slippery. I find myself avoiding the alcantara portion of the wheel when I drive. I also got an alcantara shift boot, gearshift **** and door inserts. I had the same feeling about all of those parts. I would never do it again.

When I got my 997TT I got a new steering wheel from Techart the day after I bought it . I made sure that it was an all leather wheel. I love it. Just look at how much better the all leather look is:



To each his own, but after having had a lot of experience with it, alcantara isn't my thing.

 

I had the opposite experience. The first time I tried alcantara was on OldGuy's 997GT3, I walked away thinking it was freaky and didn't like it one bit. I have driven 2k miles with mine now and love it. Not sure if it's worth $1800 but it is a real conversation piece.

 

lol, i've heard a lot of descriptions for alcantara, but freaky definitely wasn't one of them.

 

I assumed alcantara would be grippy and feel like suede, it doesn't so it's freaky. Since it's standard on the GT3 and GT3RS, I would imagine it's grippy with driving gloves but I don't think it would look very cool to drive around town with driving gloves on.

 

i had a custom one made for my 911 a few years back. it was OK. unless it's oem, i'd stay away.

 

I dont get why people say it wears more. I had the alcantera interior in my S4 and after 30K miles, the seats looked delivery day new. The seats in my CS are already showing wear in the *** area with 17K miles. I have been looking for a pair of OEM GT3 seats with alcantera that someone has removed because they replaced them with the euro buckets.

 

Not the seats, the steering wheel.

All the oil from your hands does bad things to suede.

 

I know you probably already know this, but alcantara is not even a true suede. It is a purely synthetic creation and has no relationship to genuine leather.

Like I say, everyone has different opinions and I respect that. But I just haven't had a good experience with it.

 

Yep, I know... sorry I didn't point that out and I wanted to point out that I don't think that it's WRONG to get alcantara on a steering wheel. Just do as 2thfixr and Trevor suggested and keep your hands clean or wear gloves when driving. Alcantara is cool but it doesn't wear too well. Leather doesn't either.

 

Ive had the 996 GT3RS alcantara shifter, steering and handbrake on my 996 for about 5 months now. No signs of wear adn still holding up fine. It's my daily driver too : )

 

Atomic,
Any pictures of friends car with metro blue interior? I have a white/metro 996tt that i'm thinking og upgrading some interior part with alcantara. my headliner is alcantara wanted to do the streering wheel plus some other bits. is that the correct name for the alcantara "Blue alcantara"?

thanks
Adrian