GuardianDesigns Custom Steering Wheel Review

[dead_inside]

I have had this wheel installed now for a couple weeks and thought I would do a review thread. I first heard of GuardianDesigns when they posted here on 6g. I had long been considering a steering wheel upgrade but hadn't found the perfect option for me. I checked out their site, reviews, the customization options, and was impressed at the level of customization offered. I noticed features offered that I didn't see offered with other wheel options like the smaller diameter, choice of thumb rest, and varying material types and designs in addition to the usual customization options. Although they offer alcantara, I didn't want it or carbon fiber as that wouldn't visually match my pretty much stock GT interior well in my opinion. Plus I didn't want the hard plastic feel in my hand of the carbon fiber. I optioned my wheel out to give an OEM+ look that blended well with the leather Recaros and crossed my fingers that the color choice I wanted for the stitching and noon marker matched the stitching in the interior. It was a tough choice though as I strongly considered the perforated leather with the red accent underneath. However I ultimately decided on a more subdued look. I reached out to GuardianDesigns via PM and inquired about how long it would take from order time to receive the wheel. Tomas let me know it would be about 5-6 weeks and I pulled the trigger on a Corsa-D GT wheel with perforated and smooth leather. I have large hands, so I was excited for the larger diameter but also for the visual enhancement.

Flash forward and the wheel arrived. It was packed well with foam barriers and a cloth bag around the wheel for protection inside the box. I installed the wheel with the CJPP video and tips from threads here. The install process was straight forward with no surprises. Having the wheel installed and stepping back to take a look at how it fit in, I was very happy. It looks to me like it could have easily came from the factory. I will let the pictures below do the talking for how it looks. The thick oval wheel fits my hand really well and gives that little bit of "something is special here" touch that the OEM wheel lacked. The stitching is excellent, the fitment is excellent, and overall I'm really happy with the upgrade. The smaller diameter of the Corsa-D wheel didn't have much of an impact on overall steering feel but that along with the flat bottom, now my leg doesn't hit the bottom of the wheel getting in and out of the car. So that was a nice perk. I just wanted to post this in case anyone may be considering a steering wheel upgrade. I received nothing for this review, I am just a happy modder sharing an experience.

Now for the pics. The top photos are the feature photos taken by GuardianDesigns. The bottom 3 pics are my installed photos.

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[GuardianDesigns]

Many thanks for your honest and extended review of Corsa-D.

My name is Tomas and I am the owner of GuardianDesigns, company established and based in Poland.

At present, when almost every "custom" steering wheel has Chinese origin and they all look like clones made by one factory, we take pride from our in-house limited quantity bespoke production, which started back in 2015 and since then received many cool and useful features:

- slightly or significantly reduced diameter
- true flat bottom
- flattened top
- thumb rests
- custom grip thickness
- reshaped oval motorsport grip
- descreetly integrated Ferrari style customizable shift light / this option has nothing to do with Chinese product (see photos below)

What truly differentiates our product line from others is deeply analyzed are carefuly selected steering wheel ergonomics, variety of options to choose from and professional and friendly customer support.
Used by us materials (leather, Alcantara, threads, etc.) are all genuine automotive grade, which guarantees their quality and durability often exceeding oem.
We are pure car enthusiasts like you, which guarantees a proper level of mutual understanding.
This way you have 100% assurance you always get what you want, you get what suits your car scheme and you are not limited to "fixed" standards.
Steering wheels customization is our bread and butter. All used by us cores are genuine/oem, which guarantees trouble free fitment and installation on every stage.

As a reference, GuardianDesigns is the biggest and most reputable maker of customized steering wheels for the mx5/miata community.

Below you can see just a few photo examples that show our capabilities.

More information about us under sponsors section here:
https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/mk6-oem-steering-wheels-by-guardiandesigns.161392/

Our official webstore:
https://guardiandesigns.eu

And most importantly don't forget to follow our Instagram for daily news:
instagram.com/guardiandesigns.eu/

Questions - please send them directly to:
[email protected]

We look forward to hear from you!
Tomas @ GD Team

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[Cobra Jet]

Many thanks for your honest and extended review of Corsa-D.

My name is Tomas and I am the owner of GuardianDesigns, company established and based in Poland.

At present, when almost every "custom" steering wheel has Chinese origin and they all look like clones made by one factory, we take pride from our in-house limited quantity bespoke production, which started back in 2015 and since then received many cool and useful features:

- slightly or significantly reduced diameter
- true flat bottom
- flattened top
- thumb rests
- custom grip thickness
- reshaped oval motorsport grip
- descreetly integrated Ferrari style customizable shift light / this option has nothing to do with Chinese product (see photos below)

What truly differentiates our product line from others is deeply analyzed are carefuly selected steering wheel ergonomics, variety of options to choose from and professional and friendly customer support.
Used by us materials (leather, Alcantara, threads, etc.) are all genuine automotive grade, which guarantees their quality and durability often exceeding oem.
We are pure car enthusiasts like you, which guarantees a proper level of mutual understanding.
This way you have 100% assurance you always get what you want, you get what suits your car scheme and you are not limited to "fixed" standards.
Steering wheels customization is our bread and butter. All used by us cores are genuine/oem, which guarantees trouble free fitment and installation on every stage.

As a reference, GuardianDesigns is the biggest and most reputable maker of customized steering wheels for the mx5/miata community.

Below you can see just a few photo examples that show our capabilities.

More information about us under sponsors section here:
https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/mk6-oem-steering-wheels-by-guardiandesigns.161392/

Our official webstore:
https://guardiandesigns.eu

And most importantly don't forget to follow our Instagram for daily news:
instagram.com/guardiandesigns.eu/

Questions - please send them directly to:
[email protected]

We look forward to hear from you!
Tomas @ GD Team

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Those are definitely some really nice looking steering wheels. The black trim bezels in the S550 steering wheel pics look really sharp, clean and better then the factory silver trim bezels.

Excellent craftsmanship and it’s nice to have you on the site.

I checked out your website and unless I missed it, is there a core charge in the pricing or does the Customer need to send a core back to you?

 

[GuardianDesigns]

Thank you

All prices already include core (excluding trim which you can order even custom painted at extra cost) = you don't have to send us anything (before or after) unless you really want to.

Another benefit is driving down time which in this case is non existent.

We have access to all 6g cores: pre and post facelift.

Let's not forget about introduction 15% discount on our website which is valid only for the next 3 order slots.

 

[Inthehighdesert]

Very, very nice product line.

 

[luc]

Great workmanship

 

[galaxy]

And quite the competitive price! Nice!

 

[GuardianDesigns]

I agree.
In our opinion there's no other product like this for gen6.
Our wheels are not only significantly smaller

but most importantly have reshaped grip into motorsports oval which makes them extremly ergonomic and guarantee spot on driving feedback

Besides tons of customizable options are nice added value which make your specified wheel very unique.

Genuine Alcantara comes from Italy, high quality leather from Germany and Austria and Italy.
Even thread origin is the same as used by premium brands like Audi and BMW.

 

[GuardianDesigns]

It was a true honor to be part of SEMA 2021 with heavily modified Mazda MX-5 equipped with our steering wheel Corsa 330 Pro

Spec:
diameter reduced to 13" (14.4" stock)
oval shaped ergonomic grip
genuine charcoal Alcantara allround
Lexus blue Alcantara time attack stripe matching Endless calipers and Sparco harness
Motorsports XXXX stitching
Ferrari style configurable Pro shift lights

 

[GuardianDesigns]

One more complex conversion completed for Jeep Wrangler:

true flat bottom
smaller diameter
oval grip
thumb rests
custom wrap

 

[galaxy]

@GuardianDesigns When/if ordering a Strada wheel for GT350, is the Strada going to have a flat bottom since the stock GT350 is flat bottom? Or does someone need to order a Corsa-D to get the flat bottom?

And the stock 350 wheel is already a small diameter wheel; will the Corsa-D for the 350 still be the 20mm smaller than factory?

Are you guys aware that the factory wheel for 2015-2017 and 2018 and up are not interchangeable? Your wheels accommodate this?

Thanks for the help!

 

[GuardianDesigns]

@GuardianDesigns When/if ordering a Strada wheel for GT350, is the Strada going to have a flat bottom since the stock GT350 is flat bottom? Or does someone need to order a Corsa-D to get the flat bottom?

>>> Strada = round.
If you want to "unlock" true flat bottom (stock GT350 is just flattened) Corsa-D is the way to go.

And the stock 350 wheel is already a small diameter wheel; will the Corsa-D for the 350 still be the 20mm smaller than factory?

>>> What is the diameter of GT350 measured from 9-3 o'clock position? Corsa-D = 352mm (13.85")

Are you guys aware that the factory wheel for 2015-2017 and 2018 and up are not interchangeable? Your wheels accommodate this?

>>> Sure, for this reason we always ask to provide customer's car production year.

 

[GuardianDesigns]

To make things transparent here is a side-by-side comparison of GT350 and Corsa-D

Corsa-D main features vs. stock GT350:

- smaller overall diameter (pay attention to the distance between trim at 9 & 3 o'clock
position and outer diameter)
- extended legroom (pay attention to the distance between trim at 6 o'clock position and
outer diameter)
- true flat bottom vs. "flattened" on the GT
- extended thickness
- improved ergonomic thumb rests
- oval grip shape vs. "roundish" on the GT
- full color and material customization
- customizable stitching patterns
- customizable noon marker aka time attack stripe
- built-in shift light option
- full attention to all production details / limited handcrafted production made in Europe
(pay attention to uneven material transition between Alcantara section and red noon
marker on GT350 where you can see obvious dale, whereas Corsa-D is perfectly flush)

It is not without reason that all our steering wheels are tagged OEM+

 

[galaxy]

Great info! Thank you.

At 3 & 9, the stock wheel is right about 373mm (14 11/16”) (measure to outermost rim of wheel)

 

[Michael_vroomvroom]

- descreetly integrated Ferrari style customizable shift light / this option has nothing to do with Chinese product (see photos below)

Hi, not sure if something went wrong with the photos, but can you say something more about the shift light?

I saw some photos on your sponsor thread here, but would like to know and see more. Perhaps there is a section on your webpage about it that I did not see?

Discreet sounds nice.

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