The shift knob cover with your own hands: experimenting with leather and other materials
For every car owner a car is an object of admiration and adoration. Comfort and convenience of the interior play a huge role: gear lever and steering wheel should be pleasant to the touch. Many car owners resort to interior tuning, making a retouch not only the steering wheel, but also the gear knob. The material can be anything: leather, alcantara and others. The decorative procedure is simple and can be done with your own hands.
The choice of material for retouching: leather, leatherette or textile?
Wear resistance, attractive appearance, comfort and pleasant texture are the main requirements for the material for tightening. Moreover, the driver will constantly be in tactile contact with the lever: the sensations should be pleasant. The choice of a particular material is influenced not only by the taste and preferences of the motorist, but also by his financial capabilities.
Different materials are used for wrapping gear lever. More often for such purposes leather is used – it is an ideal option in terms of price to quality ratio. Natural automotive leather is considered the most popular: in terms of its qualities and characteristics it is much better than haberdashery or furniture analogues – it is notable for its wear resistance, moisture resistance and durability. The average life of automotive leather is at least five years, while the usual, haberdashery leather will last no more than two to three months.
Car leather is the most commonly used leather for gearbox lever refinishing
Automotive leather is covered with a layer of polymers that protect it from damage and increase resistance to ultraviolet rays, chemical attack, paint abrasion and stretching.
As alternative materials are often used leatherette and eco-leather. The latter consists of 70% polyurethane, while the basis of leatherette is PVC. Thanks to the polyurethane eco leather is able to “breathe”, which is its advantage compared with leatherette. Eco leather is more popular than natural materials, because the cost of artificial materials is lower.
Material for gearstick upholstery One of the materials for gearstick upholstery
In addition to leather and leatherette, synthetic suede is used to cover the gear lever. This material has a nice, rough surface that won’t slip under the palm of your hand. Handles, covered with this fabric, aesthetically look and keep warm, which is especially important in the cold season.
The gearboxes are often reupholstered in faux suede.
An inexpensive option is a rubber material on an adhesive basis – it is easy to cover the handle, it has a long service life and wear resistance.
The best option is perforated automobile leather: it is soft and supple. It is advisable to choose a material whose pores are small, otherwise dirt and debris will accumulate in them. Smooth leather is more resistant to wear and tear. The thickness of the material for lever re-stitching varies from 1.2 to 1.4 mm. The color can be any and is chosen under the color scheme of the interior and according to the preferences of the car owner.
The best material for tightening the gearbox lever is perforated leather
The gearbox lever overstitching with your own hands
Such small interior tuning can be carried out as by the own forces of the motorist, and in special workshops. If the car owner is not sure that he will cope on his own, he can turn to specialists, who will perform all the work quickly and qualitatively.
Necessary tools
The retouching of the gear lever is impossible to implement without the following materials and tools:
The optimal material for retouching the knob – natural leather of high quality. All work should be carried out carefully and carefully, so as not to damage the leather and not to redo everything several times. You can combine smooth and perforated leather to create an attractive cover.
Step by step re-stitching
The first step of the retouch is to remove the lever itself along with the cover. The old cover is used to create a new one: it is carefully cut into parts and molded. The new cover is sewn either by hand or with a sewing machine on the wrong side only. In the case of manual work, the parts are pierced in advance with an awl to facilitate the sewing process, because the needle may not pierce the skin. The finished cover is attached to the frame with superglue.
The handle sheathing can be done in several ways. One of them is carried out according to the following scheme:
The second way of retouching the gearbox handle is almost no different from the first, only to create a new cover, parts from the old one are used as cutouts: it is carefully cut along the seams. The individual parts are used as templates for the new cover. The finished product is stretched on the handle and fastened. The gear chart, if any, is set in place.
Gearshift diagram is installed in the lever Gearshift diagram is installed in the socket on the gearbox lever
Video: gear shift lever replacement
Car interior tuning is one of the most popular and demanded procedures. Small changes in the appearance of the car interior can be made by retouching the gear lever. The procedure of tightening is simple: it is enough to have the necessary materials and tools at hand to create a new cover for the knob and give the interior a fresh and aesthetic appearance.
Pouch for shift knob by our hands
While I am waiting for the spring warmth to fix the body bug, I decided to do the interior. The gray gear shift knob cover did not fit the style of my car. I decided to replace it, in addition it was already a bit worn out in places. I decided to change it by making a new cover with my own hands. Then the whole process from A to Z.
In the morning began the search of materials. For my new one needs black leather + a good thick white thread for beautiful stitching. At home the search was unsuccessful on any of the items and I went in search of a fabric store.
In the first nothing, in the second 1300r. per linear meter, of course did not take, and the leatherette there was wellooooooo thin. What I needed was found in a store of fabrics for upholstery. The same black color as the covers of mine and a slight matte. So, 500 rubles per meter of black “ekodermantin”))) with a width of 1.5m. Took 0.5m, with plenty of reserve for future alterations. Thick threads as necessary bought in Ashan. It is written to peculiar strength, to check.
These are the threads from Ashan + needle + thimble included Thread 3 colors: white + black + gray. Took 97r. Also included with them needle and thimble. Today they are not needed, but I think in the future will be useful.
Took my old bag and went home to make a new one))
Pulled off the old frame, it was glued to the frame, pulled it off easily, all the glue left on the frame.
Next, I ripped the seam. And cut the old cover into two equal parts and then one of them again cut in half. I did this because the idea to sew a new one is not whole as it was, and from the 4 parts with stitching. One of the quarters I circled on the new material.
And of course added 5 mm on each side for the seam (on the long sides). I multiplied the whole thing to 4 pieces and cut them out.
4 black ones… Then I used a good old sewing machine with a foot drive. She already helped me with making a sledge. Sewed the first 2 parts.
Here they are the 5mm left for the seam And immediately processed them with stitching.
With white stitching Stitching did almost manually, that is, accurately and slowly twisted the drive sewing hand, turned out quite smoothly and neatly.
Result Well and so on, sewed the 3rd part + stitching.
The back side The last stitch was the most difficult. I mean not the seam, but the white stitch. It was done entirely by hand. The precision of each stitch is almost jewel-like)). But this stitch will still be facing the side of the torpedo, slightly different from the previous ones.
As a result of almost 3 hours of work this is the result:
I attached to the handle itself with duct tape and slightly twisted the cover on top. I glued the frame with this glue:
Cosmophen This is cosmophen, glues in seconds. It is well known to those who work with stretch ceilings. The price is something like 120r. but I had at home. And here is ready for my new cover.
Immediately installed in the car
In the photo is not so good to see, but now the shift knob in the same scale as the seat covers and the braid on the steering wheel. + to coziness in the car.
And I also want to note one more thing, if you need to issue a policy kasko or sasko, you definitely need a technical inspection. And you know that it is quite legal to just buy a vehicle inspection right with home delivery. Come in and make an appointment.
