ive got the boss 302 steering wheel in my GT, and now that ive had it for a while, im wondering how do you clean alcantara?? lol

after seeing the amount of crap that comes off of the leather steering wheels in my parents cars, i imagine theres a similar amount on my wheel... but i cant see it like i can on the tan leather.

so, anyone have any experience with cleaning alcantara or suede?

 

Oh boy... you're in a world of hurt.

Alcantara and other synthetic suedes have better wear characteristics than natural suede, but that doesn't mean it doesn't wear. The reason for the switch to Alcantara type materials in car are for the beneficial properties like they stay cooler in heat and warmer in cold, provide good grip (important for steering wheels and seats), wick away sweat, resist staining, and it's lighter than leather. The downsides are the wear affects.
On a standard leather or vinyl surface, debris and grime will lay on the surface. General and light cleaning will remove this debris and grime, but for synthetic suedes, each "fiber" that sticks up can have grime in and around it. In short, there's a lot more surface area to trap gunk, and therefor there's a lot more surface area to have to clean. In addition, those moisture wicking abilities now play against you at the material absorbs and traps additional grime and gunk rather than allowing it to just sit on the surface for easy removal.

Now that you can see the pro's and con's of such a material, you can see why it's used when/where it's used: in racing applications when it's all about performance and a team knows they're going to be frequently replacing various parts and components, and in exotics / supercars which won't see much use (how many Ferrari's are expected to hit 100k miles versus Mustangs?) but want those same benefits that actual race applications get.


This is something you're going to have to stay on top of, and even if you do, it's going to degrade much faster than a standard leather steering wheel. Get yourself some quality Alcantara / suede dedicated products. I'd recommend Leather Master Foam Cleaner: http://www.detailersdomain.com/Leath...ara_p_213.html

and Leather Master Nubuck Protector: http://www.detailersdomain.com/Leath...0ML_p_254.html

You'll also need some towels and a light brush. Like many things detail related, less is more - you're best bet it to try 2-3 ultra light applications of the cleaner working very small areas at a time. Use too much cleaner or try to work too large of an area at once, and you have the potential to do more harm than good as you allow dirt and grime to penetrate farther into the material. You instead want to gently brush the surface to loosen things up and then use a very small amount of cleaner so that it may further loosen up dirt and grime so that it may be removed from the surface with a towel. If this doesn't sound very quick going or time effective - you're absolutely right, and that's part of the problem in having to work on this type of material.

After multiple ultra light applications and cleaning, allow the wheel to thoroughly dry, and later come back and apply a super thin layer of the protectant product which will help future cleaning sessions. Depending on how the vehicle is used, you might want to do this once or twice a year, quarterly, or even monthly.

Good luck!