What's under the leather?

[IMHungry]

Has anyone ever removed the leather from their steering wheel? If so what was under the leather? Glue? Colour?

[Urq]

Has anyone ever removed the leather from their steering wheel? If so what was under the leather? Glue? Colour?

Why would you want to do such a thing

[IMHungry]

I want to give my car to my wife who is a vegan but she doesn't want it with the leather.She won't let me put a cover on it so my only option is to cut the stitching and remove the leather (if I ever want to get my pick up truck).Though I work for Nissan, nobody there seems to know what's under the leather so I was hoping someone on the forum would.

[DejaWiz]

I want to give my car to my wife who is a vegan but she doesn't want it with the leather.She won't let me put a cover on it so my only option is to cut the stitching and remove the leather (if I ever want to get my pick up truck).Though I work for Nissan, nobody there seems to know what's under the leather so I was hoping someone on the forum would.

Let me get this straight... your wife says and approves that you can get a truck, but she won't take the Versa because it has a leather wrapped steering wheel since she's a vegan?

It's fine she has the choice of what she puts in and on her body, but c'mon.. really... a STEERING WHEEL WRAP?

She does realize that almost everything plastic, leather, petroleum, and many more materials (including the plastic in and on the Versa) are an animal by-product in one form or another, right?

Did she ever watch the episode of Mythbusters where they test the emotional capabilities of plants? They got some interesting results....

Anyway, enough ranting. Your best bet, imo, would be to take it to a body shop or auto upholstery specialist and ask how much it would be to swap the leather out for pleather or some kind of cloth, and they keep the leather.

[viet510racer]

i thought the leather was synthetic leather?? no??

[Urq]

Yes I would bet it is fake.

[Scuba Steve]

It's real leather!!! Jesus guys!

[ziadc]

you will get real leather only in cars above 40000 $ . not in entry level car !

[biggie]

you will get real leather only in cars above 40000 $ . not in entry level car !

Incorrect. Should be real Leather on the steering wheel. On 40k cars you get dash/seats/steering wheel/door inserts/etc that are real.

My best advice for the OP is to tell the wife its fake or tell her to walk.

No wonder your SN is "IMHungry", she probably doesn't let you eat anything.

[Knightro2]

I have an inquiry into Nissan about if the leather is real or not.We'll see what they say to conlude this dispute. I think it's real.

[ziadc]

Before i baught my Tiida I was about to buy Hyundai Tucson 4x4 full options (actualy I did I mistake not to take it) i read many articles on the net about this car and the faux leather on it even the salesman could not deny that the leather could be fake I e-mail one reputed firm here specialzed on test driving cars and asked them about the matter they repley not to worry a lot about the faux leather because it's still a leather but not pure 100% ,they add that the pure leather i wil find it only in luxury & expensive cars.
Modified by ziadc at 9:16 AM 10/20/2008

[biggie]

I have an inquiry into Nissan about if the leather is real or not.We'll see what they say to conlude this dispute. I think it's real.

If not, they are false advertising.

Nissan USA Website:

Quote »Leather-wrapped steering wheel

Part of 1.8 SL Convenience Package [/quote]We are talking about a Canadian model though, not sure of the differences, but would think that would be the same.

[ziadc]

Leather-wrapped steering wheelPart of 1.8 SL Convenience Package

Of course the advertising could not be : Man made leather wrapped wheel or cow leather wrapped wheel they only say : leather (in general).

[Andrews Chalmers]

the cow is already dead - might as well use it

[biggie]

Of course the advertising could not be : Man made leather wrapped wheel or cow leather wrapped wheel they only say : leather (in general).

The word "Leather" without any other description implies, from a dead cow. Something else would have to be in the discription if it were fake.

[Visaversa]

I have a black urethane one with cruise if you want to trade.

[feloniousmonk]

you will get real leather only in cars above 40000 $ . not in entry level car !

Incorrect. There are however different grades (in terms of quality) of leather. Leather isn't expensive. It's a byproduct of the cattle/beef industry. To the OP, whether your wife likes it or not, there will be others who will continue to eat beef, is it any more ethical to let any part of the cow(s) to go to waste?

Ridiculous solution to a ridiculous problem: leave the leather alone, tape or wrap the steering wheel with a more agreeable material but do it right for obvious safety reasons.

[Ginsu]

This is a funny thread. I have the leather-wrapped wheel and shifter and I've never been able to get a whiff of that "real" leather smell. Then again, I wouldn't even know where to draw the line between real and fake anymore. As someone has already said, even "authentic" hides are so highly processed these days that they probably come out with just as many chemicals as the synthetic materials.

Also, if you Google this question you'll laugh at how many other car forums are arguing about it as well. People are swearing on their lives both for and against real leather on the wheel.

[marleyfan]

I think it is real leather....but the plastic is fake. And I have my doubts about the glass too.

Tell your wife if she wants the leather off to do it herself and live with whatever is underneath. Man up.

[IMHungry]

I think it is real leather....but the plastic is fake. And I have my doubts about the glass too.

Tell your wife if she wants the leather off to do it herself and live with whatever is underneath. Man up.

I have no doubt that it's real leather but I also subscribe to the old adage, "Happy wife, happy life."It's worked for me for the last 26 years.

[scar]

Tell her it came from organic fed cows that died from natural causes.

[frankoV]

Tell your wife if she wants the leather off to do it herself and live with whatever is underneath. Man up.

Give and take, man, give and take . . . he wants to give her the V so he can take a pickup truck . . . in order for her to take the V he has to give in to her whim

[Kolk1]

I would tell her its fake. If she still bishez about it, tell her to fix it herself, its not your fault she has a eating disorder.

[frankoV]

Hmmmm . . . I think he wants to stay married.

[iluvmyVersa08]

you will get real leather only in cars above 40000 $ . not in entry level car !

Mine is real leather, maybe it depends on the model and features you got. I paid for the sport and technology package with included a "leather wrapped steering wheel". It says it right in the features section of the car!

[grogman]

maybe the regular s model has no leather steering wheel. go back to the dealership with your wife(of course) tell hime to swap out the versa sl with the versa s. kindly sign the check and walk out with your honey. after a couple years you will forget this ever happened. unfortunately for you it sounds like you have a wife that will want some other kind of change in the meantime and so on and so on and so on. i feel for you man but you are getting a piece right now and i am not. i should have bought that used murano. chicks get negged for that car.........WOO HOO!!

[BBISHOPPCM]

Her values and principals are valid... somewhat... but what she is doing is wrong in itself. The cow is long dead, the circumstances of its death are immaterial... what matters is that every part of that cow was used for some purpose. The skin is used for clothing and other purposes; the bones are ground for industrial applications; the meat is eaten by humans and other animals. It's not like someone slaughtered a cow to make ONE steering wheel and threw the rest into the Hudson river. What she is proposing is totally wasteful. Removing a functional steering wheel wrap is utter waste and is why many of these so-called "vegans" have ruined the image of real vegans. If it were my wife whining about a damn steering wheel, I'd sell the car and buy her a 1950's Cadillac with seal-skin interior, no emissions controls, and a turbocharged V8 engine that gets 4 MPG. I know, I'll probably be thrown off the board for this... but seriously, that is totally ridiculous.

[marleyfan]

Hmmmm . . . I think he wants to stay married.

Been married 25 years myself. At some point you have to refuse ridiculous demands. After 26 years I doubt that she's gonna leave him cuz he wont take a steering wheel cover off.

[BBISHOPPCM]

This is a classic example of what happens when activists take something too far. For instance, when a PeTA member throws red paint all over someones fur coat, and shouts "Fur Is Murder," he/she is, in actuality, causing greater demand for fur coats; the wearer of that coat will simply buy another one.

When a tree-hugger torches SUVs in a dealership's lot, the toxins released from the burning vehicles causes more environmental damage than those vehicles would have released in their lifetime if driven normally.

Many vegetarians lead unhealthy lives as they lack protein and other vitamins that are found in meat and aminal products.

Tree huggers and vegetarians often lack one thing; common sense.

For the time being, I'm going to continue using whale oil in my Versa's engine, and making my own toothpicks from ivory tusks.

[frankoV]

Her values and principals are valid... somewhat... but what she is doing is wrong in itself.

In your moral system, Bish [if I may be so personal], but not hers. She has [rightly or wrongly] decided that animals are on par with humans [in fact there is a court case in Switzerland right now for animals to have the same rights as humans]. In fact, she is standing up for her belief system that says because cows should be treated with respect and not killed for human purposes, that she will have nothing to do with anything that is animal-oriented, including leather.

For that I admire her [no matter how I might disagree with her]. Far too many people are protesters of convenience; that is, they will protest until it inconveniences them, then participate int he activity they up-till-then disagreed with.

Quote »many of these so-called "vegans" have ruined the image of real vegans. [/quote]Hmmm . . . what is a real vegan?
Modified by frankohabs at 11:31 AM 10/22/2008