The magic number
Charlie fits a sportier steering wheel to his 306
2000 PEUGEOT 306 16V
They’re Goldilocks things, steering wheels. On cars from roughly 1980 on, from when steering wheels became bulky and plastic, a four-spoke wheel almost always looks overly massive, while two spokes look a bit bargain basement. That’s what I thought at least when I first laid eyes on the hulking great steering wheel that came in my recently purchased 306.
It was a shame, as the wheel was in fantastic condition – given my 306’s low mileage – and looked virtually box-fresh. I was keen to only replace it with something in pretty good condition too, so I kept an eye on various sources for something to come up, but I was struggling to find anything in the condition I wanted.
This story doesn’t progress how you might think, though. I never did find a three-spoke wheel in great condition. Instead, I made my own steering wheel worse. No, not on purpose – in fact I was extremely upset with myself.
On looking to give the wheel a clean, I’d heard ‘magic sponges’ work well on leather wheels. Well as it turns out, that tip was only intended for the sort of spongy matte leather you get on some modern steering wheels (and even then, I’d be careful), not the harder, glossier leather on mine. After just a few wipes over it had ripped off the top surface of the leather.
Much swearing later, and I decided I needed to get the wheel out of my car as soon as possible. Not only was it an ugly shape, but it was now a constant reminder of my selfinflicted vandalism. I sourced a decent condition, but far from perfect, threespoke wheel within days and got to fitting it a week or so after it arrived.
It was a pretty simple job, especially as I had the long-neck T30 screwdriver I’d used to do the same job on my old BMW, although I was briefly halted by a huge T50 bolt that I wasn’t expecting. Getting the steering wheel perfectly straight is the hard part of job, as the steering lock doesn’t act on dead centre – I think I’ve got it off by one spline and will have to move it over when I can next be bothered.
Still, I think it looks better and it certainly feels much sportier. Marque aficionados will no doubt recognise that I have fitted a Phase 2 306 wheel to my Phase 3 car, but it’s just a case of swapping over the airbag to update it, and for now I actually quite like the older greyedout Peugeot lion emblem, rather than the chrome badge it should technically have.
It doesn’t constantly remind me of my incompetence either, which is nice.