here is the skinny from my dealer service manager. as dealer was doing the oil change yesterday i had him look at steering wheel. per chrysler this is not unusual and they will replace wheel one (1) time during 36/36 everything covered warranty period. so now i will wait 9k more miles and then have the work done. happy forth to all.

tim

 

I am missing something here....

<<as dealer was doing the oil change yesterday i had him look at steering wheel. per chrysler this is not unusual and they will replace wheel one (1) time during 36/36 everything covered warranty period. >>

Is there something wrong with your steering wheel that we should watch for or what ?

 

He is referring to the famous Dodge steering wheel "molt". Check back about a week or two in the threads here on this site and you will see a discussion.

I have had 6 Dodge trucks over the past years and every one of them "molted" for lack of a better word.

Ed

 

Is this just the leather ones?

 

All of mine were. BUT, all of mine were in work trucks that rarely ever got cleaned nicely. Usually, just on special occasions. Probably had something to do with it.

 

Nothing is worse than a steering wheel made out of gummi bears.

Can't beat a rubber wheel on a work truck.


Jason

 

sorry to scare you, it is the molt i was refering to. several have had same problem and were wondering if it was warranty item.

tim

 

Is this leather "molt" you are referring to only in one spot in your experience? I'm getting this in the 10-o'clock position only. Surprised that it's only in one spot as I hold the wheel at various spots depending on what's going on so it shouldn't be wearing more than any other. Getting real bad now so it's time to visit the dealer...hope Dodge - Canada also will replace under warranty.

 

Would something like Armor All applied to the steering wheel help to stop this "molting" thing?

 

try a steering wheel cover from day one, and it wont happen

 

I don't know how Armor All would soak into the leather, but for safety, I urge people not to try it. The bottles have warnings not to use it on any surface that requires a desireable grip. Makes things too slippery. I Armor-all'd a shift **** once, and missed a shift while being stupid one night. Hand slipped right off the **** pulling 3rd to 4th, wound up back in 2nd. Ouch. Having the steering wheel slippery doesn't sound fun.

My '87 LeBaron steering wheel molted, too. I wound up pulling off the leather cover, and found a correctly colored urethane wheel underneath! Yes, it was a factory leather wheel, but it worked fine without the cover. I don't know if DC still specs. parts like that.

 

Armor All is NOT good for stuff like that.makes it WORSE.It also DRAWS heat from the sun.stopped using it years ago on ANYTHING.A few manufactures(HONDA for one)had TSBs out that IF the dash was greasey and cracked it WOULD NOT WARRANTY IT.Armor All was mentioned.

 

Kinda defeats the purpose of having that nice looking factory leather... that's why after mine gets trashed, I'll end up with something like this:

 

Wow! Thanks for the warnings. I'll keep that in mind about Armor All!

 

I wipe mine down with 303 about once a month. Leave it five minutes and then wipe it dry. So far so good.

Casey