how to get smell off a new steering wheel cover?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
May 9, 2003
Messages
9,282
Location
Fayetteville, NC
yeah I bought one today and it has a plasticky smell that is almost smells like gas/kerosene. it's rather strong...

any ideas on how to get rid of the smell? I wonder if simply washing it with water would help ...
Febreez?

it is possible that the smell will dissipate with time...but I am not sure.

After handling it, my hands also smell like gas...certainly don't want the smell to be there always as I WILL be touching it while driving...

I haven't tried anything yet, as I don't want to damage the finish... it has a soft leather like finish, but of course it's some sort of rubber/vinyl thing...

any ideas?
Thanks IA.
 
When I put the cover in my wifes truck, the truck smelled like a cows behind for a month or so. It finally went away after countless airing out sessions and douses with febreeze.
 
hmmm - i might have to do that (Febreeze).
For now, i put it outside in the back porch for the night - will see if it gets "aired out" a bit.

It took me a long time to find one that feels good AND looks plain (solid black with no gimmicky patterns) and nice and thick at the same time...would be great if I can get rid of that smell...

...edit: [censored] - i wonder if it would freeze and be brittle....
frown.gif
perhaps I should take it back inside
 
Last edited:
Would think that being in the sun for a couple of days would probably drive the nasties (and they probably ARE nasty) off pretty quickly.
 
Just a guess, but I would think what you want to do is to heat the plastic to finish curing it, if possible. You have to expose the plastic to a warm environment for a decent amount of time.

If you air it out on a back porch for an entire summer it might do the trick. There are two ways you could do that. You could let the sun hit it, and maybe even rotate it and or flip it over every week or so, so that all surfaces get about the same exposure. Direct sun will dry out some plastics. Unfortunately direct sun will also damage some other plastics. The other way for the back porch would be to insure that the plastic is always shaded. You would probably want it to still get good ventilation.

Another way would be to put it in a temperature controlled oven for many hours (like a week). The question is what temperature?
Too little and you do not have any effect. Too much and you damage it. Something in the range of 120 to 220 F should be the correct temperature, but what the exact temperature is will depend on what the plastic is.

This is assuming that the plastic you are working with can be have the problem smell eliminated by heating.

It would probably be a good idea to contact the manufacturer and ask them what to do. If they do not know, you should ask them for some samples of the same type of plastic so you can experiment to find out what would work without damaging the steering wheel you have. You could also ask them what type of plastic it is so you could do some research on what to do to solve this problem for that kind of plastic.

As for leaving it outside in the winter, if it can stand the cold of being in a car, then it can stand the cold of being outside of your house.
 
Nothing like buying a product that you have to:
- leave lying around outside for a month so as to not induce getting high from fumes in the car and
- make sure it doesn't make your hands smell like they were washed in gasoline
 
I don't think the smell will go away any time soon. I would return the cover and get a new one.
 
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
Just a guess, but I would think what you want to do is to heat the plastic to finish curing it, if possible. You have to expose the plastic to a warm environment for a decent amount of time.



That is what I'd look to do. Nothing like chinese autoparts junk stinking up the air!
 
thanks guys..

Hmmm - i might try leaving it out all day today, (cold but sunny), and then just washing it with plain H20 and then giving it a blast with the hair dryer...i know I can't do it for a long time, but better than nothing...(??)

will update.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top