Isotta Spoke Fix - B Dizzle Fizzle
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Disclaimer: By reading this, the reader accepts full responsibility in performing the following work at his or her own risk. B5one cannot assume responsibility for any damage, injury, dismemberment or death, as a result of you the reader, following our instructions. We supply this information freely, for those interested in knowing what is involved with such modifications. If you find you would like to perform a similar modification to your vehicle, we urge you to first seek the advice of a qualified mechanic prior to undertaking any of the work. Some work will require physical strength that may be beyond your ability to perform.

I got the Isotta leather wheel cover in the awesome GB JonnyTurbo put together, and sewed it all up a few weeks ago. As many people know, the spokes aren't done too well...there are these leather flaps from the corner of the two pieces that meet, and, when you let the wheel spin back to center, they hit your hands...very annoying.

So, after talking it over with others, and seeing some ideas on the boards (glue, cut them off completely, sew them, etc), I figured the best thing would be to cut the leather back, and sew it together. But, I wanted to wait for someone else to be the guinnea pig, but no one has done anything, so I jumped in.

Let me put the disclaimer in...I in no way condone doing this. You could very well ruin a $50 leather cover doing this, and cut yourself to boot! If you screw up the spoke, you could always cut off the part covering the spoke, but I'm no suggesting you do that either. Just be careful, and don't do it if you think it won't work out well.

Tools:
-Leather sewing needle (2 included with wheel from New Dimensions)
-1-1.5 feet of thread per spoke (this is way more than you need, but you want some extra to work with here because of having to contort your body...you'll have more than this amount left after doing the regular sewing on the rim)
-Mini screw driver (roughly .2 cm diameter)
-VERY sharp and strong scissors (like kitchen scissors)
-Needle nose pliars to help pull needles through

What better day to do it than Thanksgiving? I redid just the top two spokes, cutting out about a half inch of leather so that I got the snaps off. I cut the leather at an angle since the inner portion (the corners by the hub of the wheel) barely met, while the outer portion (by the rim) overlapped. See pics of cut off pieces:

I took one of the two needles, and made 5 holes in roughly the same spots on each side, then took a mini screw driver, and made the holes a little bigger by punching through. The holes are evenly spaced, and about 1/4 inch in from the edge, basically how Isotta did it on the rim piece. The key is to get very close to the end (not edge of the seam, but the sides by the hub and rim which are what turn into annoying flaps) so that you don't have flaps. I did a better job on one than on the other, but they both came out really well.

I didn't do it to the bottom two spokes because I don't have time right now, and I need to look at how much leather there is left over once I cut off enough to get rid of the snaps.

I may be doing a crappy job writing this up, so be sure to let me know if you're confused.

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