MBTC

At the bottom of the steering wheel, the leather is starting to "scale" a little bit, small cuts that are like fish scales in the sense that if you rubbed them in one direction, its smooth and the little scales lay down against the wheel, but rub in the the other direction and it feels rough.

I have no idea how it happened, I only noticed a couple of days ago. There's a full service car wash I took it to, maybe they had something abrasive on them that rubbed the bottom of the wheel?

Good thing is I only notice it when I turn a corner. Bad thing is it bugs me.

Is there anything I can do? It seems like something simple that just seals the scales down, like a soft glue would do the trick. Should I try to warranty it? It seems too small for that, and I just have a feeling it's not from normal wear and tear.

vinconist

iTrader: (9)

its covered under warranty, dont worry about it, Lexus gets it leather from several different places and no cow hide is the same, had my passenger seat replaced for free when it started to crack

davyjordi

as long as it's under warranty they will replace the seat? won't they most likely claim user neglect or regular wear and tear?

BinaryJay

Try Lexol to attempt to keep it from worsening.

MBTC

Its funny, I actually use Lexol and it was treated with that prior to the scaling.

vinconist

iTrader: (9)

Ya they'll try to neglect ur claim, that's y u got to try out a number of dealerships, I went through two before one accepted it and replaced it...leather isn't suppose to crack when our cars are this new

JoshIS408

iTrader: (11)

You should buy a new aftermarket steering wheel. Alot of nice ones out there.

Check this thread : https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...ing-wheel.html

YoungMoney

I noticed this exact same thing on the top of my wheel after having the dealership install new gauges in my car.

As soon as I noticed them (like 5 mins into driving) I brought it back and basically just told them that I was sure they were not on there before. No one could figure out what it was ... I suggested that it looked like a tech had set something (the cluster or plastic cover) on the wheel and scraped it.

Pretty much no hassle, they did some "leather repair" and it was as good as new. I think that it was like $80 worth of work from the leather place, so not too bad if you have to fix it yourself I suppose.

MBTC

Thanks for all comments.. Not interested in aftermarket wheels, and the problem is small enough that it only bothers me because I've only got 8k miles on the car.

I came up with a temporary solution.. when I started to think about the way the leather was flaking, I wondered what would happen if I took a razor (i.e. shick) and just shaved against the grain. It worked in the sense that it got rid of the most annoying part (i.e. instead of little flakes of leather, it just feels like a scuff mark), but at first it seemed like a bad idea because the area in question sort of turned white. I went back over that area with Lexol, which improved the color, and overall it is in better shape than it was before, but I think I will still try to warranty it. I might wait until a little later in mileage to bring it up though.

vinconist

iTrader: (9)

wow, please dont do that, if you only have 8k on the car, its shouldnt be doiung that and ut dealer would replace it free of charge, i got my seat replaced at 45k and tbh, it half of the problem was my fault, go to the dealer, lexus is know for their customer service, thats y u paid a premium for your car

MBTC

Its not meant to be a substitute for warranty work, I just wanted to smooth it a little bit until I get take it in for some other service. I don't want to go to the dealer for this one thing (better to wait until the 10k service interval) and I didn't want to feel the little pieces of leather scraping my hand on wide turns in the meantime.

Johnny5274

I just had the same issue with my is250, brought it in, still under warrenty, and they will not honor the warrenty, and says it normal wear and tear. Didn't realize a 30+k car's leather was suppose to be so crappy.

Also their customer service was horrible. Never called me back to tell me the status of my vehicle, had to call them multiple times, and get a run around. This was at longo lexus, so just a little review on them, bad customer service...

Keppie

Getting leather covered under warranty is hit and miss. I have the grey interior and the the part of the seat where my waist hits the leather turned blue. People on this forum said it was from my jeans. Probably was because I wear jeans quite often. I tried to get the dealer to cover this under warranty. Because it wasn't a defect I paid $100 to have the insert dyed. I am sure I could have it done cheaper elsewhere but I wanted a perfect match. I am more than happy with the work they did. I figured for $100 I would not push the issue and save the favors and goodwill for more expensive items.

iRock

iTrader: (12)

yea i had this problem twice.... the first time they covered it under warranty and the second time they said i did it.... this happen in two different cars and 2 years apart.... not sure if i did or not so i didnt put up a fuss plus i was trading in the car anywayz lol

MBTC

Meant to update this thread.... they did warranty my wheel, so kudos to them. Meanwhile I'm paying a lot more attention to things like whether my the top of my leg rubs the wheel when I slide into position (I frequently wear jeans).

Even if they are, the leather should never be so fragile that it starts to scale or fray like this, but it did make me wonder if frequent abrasions on my part were part of the problem, because I had the wheel positioned pretty low and as vertically angled (parallel with the road) as it would go. I've got the wheel tilted up slightly, and dropped the seat a little more just to be sure. I thought about what you said iRock about it happening in 2 different cars, and I thought that it might be 80% leather-too-soft issue and 20% driver preventable. Either way if I can keep the current wheel pristine, then I should make a best effort. I doubt they will warranty it more than once.