Premature Wear

[Roy124]

We use handgels that are high alcohol anti-viral on the car and also supermarket provided ones.  I have also used disinfectant cleansing wipes. I have not noticed any deterioration. 

Regarding Cyker's post above, I used cleansing wipes on my 15 year old Mercedes wheel and they definitely felts sticky until repolished with a natural lubricant - my skin😁

[BazzerH]

tbh i only found that my steering wheel went smooth/shiny and ive done 84k in mine as a taxi, however whilst my car was poorly (see other posts) i had to rent a replacement and that had a steering wheel cover on it then when i got my corolla back it felt like i was steering with spaghetti lol so i quickly bought a cover from Halfords and its perfect now.

[Cyker]

Did you get one of those bright neon-pink fluffy ones?   

[TonyHSD]

I just had a pack of new wet wipes and decided to go around the steering wheel, lol what a results. They made the leather look like new again, cleaned very nicely and removed that  shiny worn out appearance. It must be exactly these pampers baby wipes ✅👌You can try on Corolla and see how it will work. 👍

[Hornet3D]

Leather, being a natural product, needs to be fed to stop it from cracking with age or becoming dry hence the use of saddle soap and other such products.  The flip side of this is it can also often be restored with a product designed to do just that.  There are also many different types of leather depending on what part of the hide is used which is why it is probably unfair to compare the Corolla steering wheel with one on a vehicle that is much more expensive.  

New leather should also be protected with a product designed for the purpose as you really do not want the steering wheel to become slippery.

[Hybrid21]

 Being used for business I feel that as your car has so many drivers all probably using so many different products on their hands, and all with different skin conditions, goes against you in terms of a warranty claim.

Although it still points to the leather wheel not being fit for purpose.

Personally if the warranty don't cough up I would have it recovered which wouldn't cost that much and would be as good if not better than new 👍

Iain

[davidif]

If Toyota wont cover it under warranty you could look to having the wheel re-trimmed by one of the specialists. This would be much cheaper than a new one and would probably be a far better quality leather and stitching to boot!

I have no personal experience of their work although a company called 'Royal' seem to be well regarded on various forums etc.