There are many things in life I’m not confident about. I wouldn’t be confident handling an engine swap and I doubt my own abilities. But one thing I’m sure about is the encyclopedia of knowledge I have built up about the Smart Fortwo over a full two-thirds of my life thus far. Yet, something just happened that I’ve never seen before and it sent me into a panic.
Recently, I’ve written that I have decided to reconfigure my fleet, selling everything that isn’t a dream car. This has also brought me back to my roots. I’ve been daily driving Volkswagens and other cars for more than three years, forgetting about the adorable Smart Fortwos I’m known for. However, now that I had sold off almost all of the Volkswagens and other assorted junk, I went back to my favorite cars. I bought a dream Smart and now I’m driving Smarts daily again. I’ve almost forgotten the happiness these cars bring me.
Most of my Smarts are special to me in some way, so I don’t subject them to harsh Midwestern winters. That’s why I bought a high-mileage 2008 Smart Fortwo Passion Coupe for $1,400 back in 2020. This car isn’t special and has been roughed up by city life and by a deer, so having it as the hard-working off-road project and daily doesn’t hurt. This car has even proven itself on the Gambler 500 at least once already.
Sadly, it’s also the car I’ve neglected the most. I parked it in 2021 after getting distracted by numerous Volkswagen TDIs. It’s been sitting in one of my secret storage lots ever since. Thankfully, I’ve ended this car’s stay in purgatory. Last month, I brought the little guy back to life.
Look how filthy it was!
Sitting in outdoor storage did cause some issues. The rear brakes were seized, locking the wheels in place. I didn’t have enough muscle or leverage to free them with my hand tools, so I got creative. Yanking the car with my Touareg a couple of times freed up the wheels. They haven’t caused a problem since. Next came a new battery, plus teaching the transmission that it’s still a transmission, which is a simple enough process. Just put your foot on the brake pedal and listen for the clutch actuator and transmission shift motor to wake up.
From there, I gave the car its first wash in years. I still have a lot more cleaning to do and a couple of maintenance items to take care of, including removing the stickers from the defunct business I bought it from. But it was all deeply satisfying. The car drives just like it did when I parked it. That was until today.
My Steering Wheel Is Doing What?
This morning was supposed to be simple. I was just supposed to drive to a polling place, do my duty, then get back to write. But my car had other ideas. The first bit of weirdness came when my steering wheel was sticky to the touch. It was so sticky that my hands felt glued to the wheel. It felt like my steering wheel just partially “melted” in my hands.
I thought to myself: “Did I forget to wash my hands or something?” I cleaned my hands with hand sanitizer, but that didn’t work. Worse, my hands were beginning to turn black from touching my steering wheel. The longer I drove the car, the more it felt as if the steering wheel was converting into a different substance in my hands. What the?
Remember, I started driving this car again a month ago. This wasn’t happening then and it didn’t happen on Sunday when I last drove the car. Just to be super thorough, it was raining on Sunday, too, so it was wet and humid then, too. Anyway, by the time I got near home, my hand was fully black with something sticky from the steering wheel, and the wheel continued to transfer the sticky stuff to anything unlucky enough to touch it. It got on my hoodie, my pants, and even my legs. Even worse, this crap came off only with a good scrubbing.
At some point I couldn’t take it anymore, so I pulled over and decided to take action. I broke out an interior cleaner plus some towels from a gas station and just started cleaning the wheel over and over. The steering wheel transferred dark black something to several towels while the surface of the wheel appeared to have brown soap-like wet streaks. After about 20 minutes or so of cleaning the wheel finally stopped transferring and thankfully, it was no longer sticky.
Still, what gives?
I once wrote a guide on how to inspect a used second-generation Smart before you buy it. I won’t link it here because it desperately needs an update, but anyway, one way to get a gauge on mileage accuracy is to look at the steering wheel. A pristine Smart wheel from a low-mile car will have a matte pebble effect in its leather. The 28,000-mile convertible I bought last month shows what that’s supposed to look like:
It’s pretty well-known in the Smart world that Smart cheaped out on the standard leather in its second-generation cars. Both the steering wheel and the seats get low-grade leather with what appears to be a plasticized outer coating. Only special editions like the Brabus Tailor Made have the kind of leather you’d really expect to see in a luxury car.
As second-generation Smarts age, the coated matte leather turns shiny from your grubby hands grasping the wheel. Then, at some point, and it’s usually in cars with tons of miles of hard use, the “pebble” surface wears away, revealing a smooth surface with pits and other imperfections.
My 2008’s steering wheel still had most of its pebbled surface, but it was beginning to come apart. I just thought that over time, the steering wheel would just become smooth from friction or something, you know, just normal wear from turning a wheel for over 100,000 miles.
However, as I seemingly confirmed today, there has to be some sort of chemical process happening here. My steering wheel was basically molting its outer coating into my hands. Then, it continued molting into several towels as I desperately tried to clean it up.
Sure enough, my wheel is now smooth like most of the other high-mileage second-gen Smarts I’ve seen out there. The sticky feeling is gone and my hands aren’t turning black from touching it. My steering wheel’s surface basically came apart like the radio buttons in a car from the 2000s.
I’ve seen a lot of explanations for this phenomenon, from the oils in your hands wearing down the steering wheel surface to years of UV and ozone exposure causing the plasticizer in the leather to weep. Then, one day it hits you by making your steering wheel gooey. This, apparently, is also what causes your car’s buttons to feel “gummy” after two decades. Still, I’ve never seen this turn a whole hand black. Yuck!
We’d love to get a real explanation from an expert in this field. If you know what’s happening here and with those notorious interior buttons, we’d love to hear from you and write a follow-up article. Drop us a line at tips@theautopian.com or me at mercedes@theautopian.com.
As for my car, this is the first time I’ve seen this sort of failure in my nearly 17 years of being addicted to Smarts. And I’ve seen everything from engine failures due to burned valves to mysterious rust. This car has mysterious rust! I guess I’m now adding “steering wheel melts into hands” to my list of things that can go wrong. Oh well, I’m still stoked to be daily-driving a Smart again.
That reminds me of the bonded leather furniture that everyone fell for a few years ago. Because it had bits of leather bonded together it kind of qualified as leather. Stitch a nice leather cover over your wheel and hide that rotting carcass.
This happened to my Focus ST, though I think all the damn hand sanitizer during covid might have been the main initiator (still not an excuse). Ended up using rubbing alcohol and ruining a shocking number of microfiber towels to get it off. In the end, it looked almost new except that the black was now more like a 90% gray and was more of a matte finish that I found appealing. I don’t know what causes it, but I have always hated cheap and over-processed leather. I guess it’s good if it at least comes from slaughterhouse food cows and it would otherwise go to waste, but I really hope they’re not killing cows specifically for this shit. Decent vinyl is better in every way than this level of trash they try to sell as some kind of upgrade.
When I was a kid, a friend of the family had a MB dealership and he asked me to guess which of two otherwise nearly identical cars had leather and which had vinyl. I can’t remember if I got it right, but it doesn’t matter as it was a total guess after a good amount of deliberation and his point was that they looked and felt the same and he said that, in 20 years, the difference would be that the leather interior would probably need to be replaced unless it was well cared for in ways most people did not bother with and the MB Tex would still look about new with virtually no effort.
Old school MB-Tex is what the cockroaches will make homes out of after the nuclear apocalypse. Sadly, modern MB-Tex is nothing like as good, though still better than actual leather. Sigh.
The “vegan leather” on my 2010 Jetta wagon was magical.
My old Kia Sorento did something kind of similar with the silver coating on the door pull, but in my case I’m pretty sure it was due to sun screen.
It was a hot, bright sunny day at the soccer fields so we were applying generously. Then came the long drive home, and where my knee rested on the door, all of the silver coating sloughed off.
Not sure if I just got more careful with the sun screen or my leg placement, but that was the first and only time something like that has ever happened to me.
It happens on a lot of German cars with rubberized plastics as they age. BMWs are notorious for having melting inner door handles, Audis and VWs have melting center consoles, etc.
It seems to happen more to owners living in hot and humid climates so that definitely plays a part but contact with skin oils and acidic sweat is also a must.
For door handles the Chinese have you covered with covers (pun intended) that clip over the sticky ones. For other plastic bits it’s usually just a matter of grabbing a scotch brite with degreaser or WD-40 and wearing down the rubberized surface. The plastic underneath will be cosmetically fine.
Supposedly, hand creams are a major cause. Every BMW I know owned by a woman is a horror inside, but mine are like new as a dude who doesn’t mind having dry hands.
This happened to my civic. I just ended up selling it
Had this happen to one of my cars. And, yes, it just started one day with no warning.
Ironically, the exact same thing happens to the ‘is it leather’ hardcover of The Lexus Story. This book, which covers Lexus’ pursuit for perfection with full access to Lexus/Toyota staff, dealers, and technical experts, has a cover that will rain shed black flicks if exposed to any humidity. Lexus – no corners cut, except for our autobiography.
While we are on the topic of steering wheels, and almost steering wheel covers….
I want to repair/replace the one on my BMW. Amazon has one. Comments seem to suggest they fit great and are worth it.
Question: Do I remove the stock/existing one before I do? I think I can put the new one over the old one?
It makes me nervous to remove, cause you can’t go back. But, going over the old one allows for that.
Has anyone done this?
I’ve installed a couple of Wheelskins and can confirm that they go over the existing wheel and are a huge upgrade. Takes some patience to get them installed, but worth it if your car doesn’t already have a nice wheel.
Excellent, thanks for the feedback. I’ll get one on order soon. Right now the wheel heater can burn your left palm if you run the heater with no gloves on.
I’ve had the same with with a car too – that one had a leak in the trunk so the interior of the car was always pretty moist, and I think it was a combination of that and heat cycles (it was fall so it would get pretty chilly in the evenings and then I’d turn the heater on when I started driving). One morning on the way to work it just started turning to goop.
Considering how leather is made you probably don’t want to know what was on your hands.
What an awesome excuse to go to the local parts store and pick up a whimsical steering wheel cover!
I had one made of “genuine quasi lambswool” in my ‘74 mustang ii. Fit the rest of the car perfectly.
Not surprised given the weather around here. I remember when 100% humidity would make the wheel on an old work Ford Ranger do the same thing. Really Icky!
Can confirm, my 98’s wheel still feels sticky on a hot day. Doesn’t turn my hands black though….yet
I remember unwinding a turn, letting the wheel slip through my fingers, and the stickiness made my wedding band spin like a gear.
Have had more of this type of issue with the rubberized plastic wheels to be honest. My 1999 Grand Cherokee Laredo had a wheel that would start ‘pilling’ if you rubbed the worn spots. Have not seen on the ‘leather’ wheels on older my Toyotas or Acura.
Only wheel I wrapped was the hard plastic on the ’78 LTDII coupe I had in high school. It was not cracked but super thin and slippery.
That’s so fascinating! That’s why we want to learn more about the chemical process that causes this. This is the first time it’s happened to me, but clearly it’s not limited to cheap German cars. 🙂
Mechanical engineer, not chemical. Guessing that once the ‘hard’ outer wear layer is compromised the substrate is very vulnerable to UV, chemical, mechanical wear, etc… As is said, the smooth ‘leather’ on my current cars has not degraded (the newest is 10 years old). They also do not have moulded in texture which may be your issue.
The pebble texture may be an elastomeric coating that is now wearing off. Same with other ‘soft touch’ plastics. I worried about this on my 2010 Acura TSX. Many interior touch points had a ‘rubbery” coating that I feared would start to wear/delaminate/etc… under use or cleaning. I was very careful about the cleaning chemicals I used in that car.
Toyota may get a bad rap for dynamics, but is untouchable on durability. I could probably clean the interior of our Camry or Corolla with EZ-OFF and not harm it.
You didn’t buy this car in Wisconsin did you? I hear they sell a lot of cheese wheels there.
I did. LOL! 🙂
This is why god invented steering wheel covers. I just put them on my cars new, otherwise this eventually happens.
It was actually God’s old buddy Lucifer who invented the steering wheel cover as his fire spewing hands were screwing up the resale value of his Jag.
This happened on my old Mazdaspeed 3. Every time I drove it I’d have dust in my hand. Eventually found a used good steering wheel and that solved it.
As someone who collects film cameras I’ve seen this a LOT, especially on ’80s models. The cheap padded plastic reacts to skin oils and general life and starts to turn into goo. I think the absolute worst for it are ’80s Ricohs.
I had this happen on my ’90s Nikon F90X too.
My Spitfire had a wooden steering wheel. It looked amazing, even worn out… even with danger of a splinter or piece of polyurethane stabbing your hand.
But, and I can’t underscore this enough, a wooden steering wheel in a car with no power steering and a shaky everything is a BAD IDEA. If I drove it for more than ten minutes my hands would go completely numb. Twenty minutes and they would still be vibrating after I left the car.
I guess the lesson for all of us here is wear gloves.
Oh, and you should see the horrifying skinny plastic beneath the steering wheel cover in my 1968 Olds.
I really hope this is why the driving glove thing is so closely connected with British sports cars!
Yep. Covered the wheel in high school Ford for the same reason. Skinny slippery bakelite?.
Yep. With finger contours that assume your hand can clench down to a circumference of half an inch.
Malaise era land barge – yep. Part of me misses it.
I had a car with a sticky wheel once. No amount of cleaning made it go away. I can’t remember which car it was but it was a leather steering wheel too.
Plastic wheel on my 1999 Grand Cherokee.
For what it’s worth, my old 911 had the same issue – after it sat in storage for years, the wheel and hub became sticky/tacky.
Took me multiple cleaning attempts to get it so it wasn’t unpleasant to touch, at the cost of a more matte finish now.
I have had so many otherwise nice things in my life suddenly depolymerize and melt away. It’s so frustrating because there’s literally nothing you can do to stop it.
My 2009 CLK has done this – but mine is Stone leather.
So now it has dark, rough patches where the leather paint has worn off.
It’s not a good look.
At least I can use the “wood” sections when I’m backing into my parking space.
I’ll order up some of that leather refinishing cream sometime…
I’m not an expert, but my work has parts made so I get to see how some things are developed and how they fail, maybe it could possibly be something to do with whatever they would add into the material for UV protection and it eventually breaks down, the glove box door in my 05 Acura RL was originally a padded vinyl, and like all other RLs that generation, had turned into a bubbly, sticky, occasionally drippy mess. I stripped it all down to the foam layer and spray glued new “leatherette” onto it, but it was so bad it stained a few passenger’s jeans if they weren’t careful.
Yeah that’s most definitely the polymer coating degrading after the cleaner removed the outer layer of dirt and oils. The coating more than likely contains black pigment to help hide any defects in the black leather.
I for one don’t like leather steering wheels, or vinyl ones for that matter.
An aluminum steering wheel would be pretty awesome though.
Unless you live in Phoenix.
Reminds me of the special edition SN95 Mustangs that came with the cool-looking but not well thought out aluminum ball shift knobs.
Yeah I think the Civic Type R had these too (maybe some others) and you just wonder if they were never tested in a hot climate or what.
You end up looking like Toht from Raiders of the Lost Ark with a 6 speed diagram burned into your hand.
You win the comments today.
“Give back one gear to honour the Hebrew God whose car this is.”
or a convertible in the summer in Phoenix 🙁
I used you use beach towels to cover the seats LOL
Or Maine or other northern climates. I cannot even begin to imagine how horrible it would be to have to hold a metal wheel on a -10F morning. Plastic is bad enough when it’s that cold.
Any steering wheel at -10 is terrible. Wood, plastic, pseudo leather, or real leather.
Metal is WORSE, as anyone with a metal shift knob will tell you. Winter or summer. The thought of a metal steering wheel in a FL or TX summer is horrifying. I have a scar on my hand where I got burned by the seat belt buckle of a rental car in Dallas about 15 years ago that sat in the direct sun all day.
At -25-30 C here, it doesn’t matter what it’s made of. Seats also turn to blocks of ice. In the summer at 40+ C it’s the opposite.
Metal is worse, it does matter.
I had a billet aluminum shift knob once. It was uncomfortably hot in the summer and uncomfortably cold in the winter. I didn’t keep it very long. It did look good though.
I hope you like wearing gloves in summer.
Didn’t James May put a silver (actually made from silver) steering wheel on his car in the last Grand Tour special and found it unbearably hot?
SPOILERS! Yeah, metal can get very hot compared to plastic, however I normally take a water bottle with me everywhere, just wet a towel, wipe, and you got a cool steering wheel.