Not sure how, but I managed to gouge a good amount of the matte "chrome" paint from part of the steering wheel/airbag/horn trim. Not the rings, but the wide piece that surrounds the rings. Any idea on how to remove and replace, or how/where I can touch this up? It's not bad, but I hate having to look at it everyday.

With my luck it probably can't be replaced without swapping the entire airbag module. Ugh.

 

How did you do that? I went and looked at my steering wheel just to see how that is possible. Do you drive using the airbag as a hand rest?

 

Maybe "a good amount" is an exaggeration. It's a small ding but it bugs me because i'll always speak to me when I drive, and I have absolutely no idea what happened. Maybe my metal watchband hit the trim piece. My first reaction to seeing it is "now how the f- did I manage THAT?"

 

If you have a picture of it we may be able to see the exact problem and give suggestions.
I could see a watch clip take a chunk out. I scratched the leather on part of the steering wheel with the keys I have for work getting out of the car so with a little leather oil and hand oil its smoothed back out, but thats not right in front of you. I can empathise with you.

 

There was someone here or over on fourtitude that painted his a crimson red. It wasn't for me, but it was done well, which suggests it can be painted by an intrepid enthusiast. But over the long-term...ouch!

Do you have a birthday coming up? Maybe use this as an excuse to treat yourself to a S3 flat-bottom steering wheel! Sweet!

 

The S3 wheel is nice, but expensive...and I'm one of those guys that don't want badging to misrepresent what the car really is. There's no palpable damage, just the paint rubbed off down to the bare plastic in a section about 1/2" long. Purely cosmetic. Just in my face constantly [:@]

 

I guess I'll post my own solutions, for anyone else's future reference.

The band-aid solution:


The permanent solution:

Dealer service manager told me to check out http://car-part.com/or http://www.lkqcorp.com/home/home.aspif I ever decide to just replace the airbag cover without paying a fortune.