MK7 Steering wheel wrap

I purchased a steering wheel wrap off aliexpress, took a few months to arrive partly due to most things ordered from aliexpress do take a long time and more importantly Covid-19. This is a wrap in that you need to sew it on, its not just a loose dangerous overlay held on by pressure that you get from Autozone. There are a few type of steering wheels that come on the MK7 models and each need different wraps as these are custom fit, it also matters if you have DSG paddles or not. The one I linked is for my MK7 GTI steering wheel style and I let them know I had DSG paddle shifters per their request. They also may request a picture of your steering wheel to make sure you are ordering the correct one. You also get a choice of stitching color, I went with just red like my OEM wheel has.

The actual process of stitching the cover on the wheel takes time. Most estimates are 4-6 hours to complete for someone who has not done it before. There is a lot of trial and error involved with it and making sure its tight and lined up correctly. You will want it to be tighter than you think it should be, almost everyone makes this mistake when starting. Here is a guide I found and followed for stitching the wheel wrap on, it has some great tips in it.

Its much easier to take off the steering wheel to do this as it will take a while to sew it. Here is a video from ShopDap on how to remove the MK7 steering wheel. The video doesn’t show the same type of wheel as my MK7 GTI has but he procedure is similar. If you have Kessy (wireless keyfob and push button start) then you need to do a couple more things not mentioned in the video. To turn the wheel on a Kessy car, the car must be powered on. So you will want to turn the wheel all the way clockwise, pull the battery, unclip one side of the airbag as shown in the video then reconnect the battery and turn the wheel counterclockwise, disconnect the battery and then remove the other airbag clip. Since we cant put our key in the ignition like the older style we cant move the wheel while the battery is disconnected. Its VERY DANGEROUS working with air bags when the battery is connected, make sure the battery is disconnected when ever working with airbags.

Here is how mine turned out:

As you can see its not perfect, its loose in places like corners where the wheel buttons. It was worse initially but I went back and redid it a few times trying to get it as even as possible. This is not a task for the impatient, I sat on the couch for hours and just worked at it. Had to take breaks due to fingers hurting from how tight you need to get the stitching. Thankfully I did this during COVID and didn’t need me car so I stitched it over a few days. I am pleased with the results and like the feeling of the wheel a lot.