Base Vinyl to Leather Steering Wheel

[redmulti2014]

I just changed the steering wheel in my 2018 Elevation to a leather wheel out of a 2018 Silverado LT. I tried searching for information on the swap but couldn't come up with much as to which wheels would work. Most people just swap the wheel and keep the buttons from the leather wheel. If you just take the leather wheel and install it, it fits with the vinyl steering wheel clock spring, but the buttons on the right won't function and the backlights won't work. I didn't like that the buttons on the right side wouldn't do anything so I wanted to make sure I could swap the controls from my vinyl base wheel to the new leather wheel. So here's what I found.

 

The base/work truck vinyl wheels use the same button/trim layout as the Chevy leather wrapped wheel, but the GMC leather wheel is different. So it looks like GM made a single base model wheel and two different leather wheels. So if you have a GM or Chevy vinyl wheel, you can transfer everything over to any Chevy leather wheel.

 

Here is the base model wheel, same design for GMC or Chevy.

 

Here is the Chevrolet leather wheel:

 

As you can see, the leather wheel has the same button layout and trim design as the base model wheel.

 

Here is the GMC Wheel, as you can see, the shape of the buttons is a different shape. Both the trim and the buttons are different.

 

So what I did was take the trim and buttons out of the base vinyl wheel and put them into a leather wheel out of Silverado LT:

 

And as you can see, the lights still work for the cruise control:

 

 

 

 

 

[rkj__]

A leather wrapped steering wheel is the only "high end" luxury feature that my 2008 Canyon SLE had, that my Sierra Elevation does not have.  I do miss the leather wrapped wheel, but probably not enough to buy a new wheel and swap it. 

 

Anyway, good work, and thanks for sharing the info.

[Leevon]

I thought about doing this in my '17 GMC but sold it before I had the chance.  What about the buttons on the back of the wheel? 

[redmulti2014]

17 minutes ago, rkj__ said:

A leather wrapped steering wheel is the only "high end" luxury feature that my 2008 Canyon SLE had, that my Sierra Elevation does not have.  I do miss the leather wrapped wheel, but probably not enough to buy a new wheel and swap it. 

 

Anyway, good work, and thanks for sharing the info.

New wheels go on ebay for not a whole lot, I got this one from a local auto wrecker for $50... WELL worth the upgrade in my opinion. The leather is a LOT smoother than the chunky cheap vinyl.

 

10 minutes ago, Leevon said:

I thought about doing this in my '17 GMC but sold it before I had the chance.  What about the buttons on the back of the wheel? 

The buttons on the back of the leather wheel don't function. That's the only thing about the swap that I wasn't 100% happy with. You simply disconnect the harness from the buttons and put them back in place. I suppose you could make a custom harness and wire them to something, like aux lights or w/e down the road. But you would need to make a custom harness off the clockspring... would be a lot more work than its worth.

[rkj__]

Hey, $50 ain’t bad!


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[Zander1]

I own a 2014 Silverado. Would it at all be possible to install the steering wheel from a 21’ year model into mine? Really love the look. 

[Truckboattruck]

I have leather wheel on my '14 SLE as well. It's in need of replacement though, has gotten firm and doesn't provide much grip at all. Dry hands in the winter and sweaty hands in the summer makes it feel like trying to catch a greased pig sometimes. I priced the wheel only at about $250ish new from AcDelco iirc, surprisingly cheaper than new floor mats. Good score for OP getting a take off part, though.