Is it time to replace your race suit? Let’s get you track-ready. The MOMO Prototipo Family, And Why You Are Really Only Choosing A Diameter
Steering wheels, the whole Prototipo range
MOMO has added a tobacco brown version of the Prototipo Heritage, and it is a lovely thing. Distressed Italian leather, brown stitching to match, silver aluminium spokes with the cut-out detail and the laser etched Prototipo logo on the bottom spoke, and a leather horn button in the same hide.
Every time a new Prototipo appears the same conversation starts, and it is usually the wrong conversation. People ring up trying to work out which Prototipo is the right one, as though the six of them are meaningfully different wheels. So I went through the whole family properly, and what I found changed how I sell them.
- Six Prototipos in the range, and the dish spans just two millimetres across all of them
- Dish is what sets how close the wheel sits to your chest, so on these wheels that is not the decision
- Diameter is the decision: 320mm for quicker steering and legroom, 350mm as the default, 370mm for leverage
- The new Heritage Tobacco is 350mm in distressed Italian leather with brown stitching, from £248
- Your reach is set by the boss kit, not the wheel, so get the hub right before you order either
The dish barely moves, and that matters more than you think
Here are all six Prototipos we stock, with the two numbers that actually determine how the wheel sits in your hands.
| Wheel | Diameter | Dish | Finish | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prototipo 320mm | 320 mm | 37 mm | Black leather, white stitch | £227.99 |
| Prototipo 350mm | 350 mm | 37 mm | Black leather | £217.99 |
| Prototipo 370mm | 370 mm | 37 mm | Black leather, white stitch | £247.99 |
| Prototipo Heritage | 350 mm | 37 mm | Black leather, white stitch | £237.99 |
| Prototipo Heritage Tobacco | 350 mm | 39 mm | Tobacco leather, brown stitch | £248.00 |
| Prototipo Black Edition | 350 mm | 39 mm | All black | £337.99 |
Prices ex VAT. The dish figures are our own measurements: MOMO list these wheels only as shallow dish.
Look at the dish column. Six wheels, and the whole range spans two millimetres. Dish is how far the rim sits back towards you from the mounting face. It is the number that decides where the wheel ends up in relation to your chest, and on most aftermarket wheels it varies enormously. On a Prototipo it does not vary in any way you would feel. Two millimetres is about the thickness of the leather.
So the thing people worry about most, whether the wheel will sit too close or too far away, is not a choice you are making here. It is set by your boss kit, and it is the same whichever Prototipo you buy. Which leaves diameter. That is the decision, and it is the only one that changes how the car drives.
Choosing between 320, 350 and 370
Smaller wheel, less leverage. That is the whole of it, and everything else follows from there.
320 mm, the quickest
A given amount of hand movement turns the wheels further, and the steering feels sharper. It also takes more effort, so I would only put one on a car with power steering, or a light front end, or both. The upside people forget is legroom: 15 mm off the radius is 15 mm of clearance between the rim and your thighs, which in a low car with a bucket seat can be the difference between comfortable and awkward.
350 mm, the default
The one that suits most cars. If you are replacing a standard wheel of roughly the same size and you have no specific reason to go up or down, buy this and stop thinking about it. Four of the six wheels in the family are this size, which tells you something.
370 mm, more leverage
If your car has no power steering and a heavy front end, or you have gone to a wider or stickier tyre and the steering has got heavy with it, the extra 20 mm of radius is genuinely felt at low speed and when parking. The catch is clearance: check it against your thighs and against the instrument binnacle before you commit, because on some cars a 370 either touches your legs or hides the dials.
The new one: Prototipo Heritage Tobacco
350 mm, 39 mm dish, made in Italy in tobacco brown leather with a distressed finish. The distressed finish is the point. It arrives looking like it has already been in a car for a few years, which is exactly what you want if you are putting it in something with a patinated interior. A brand new black wheel in an old car can look like the one thing that has been replaced. This does not.
The spokes are silver aluminium with the cut-out pattern and the etched Prototipo logo on the lower spoke, and the horn button is finished in the same tobacco hide. Brown stitching throughout, where the black Heritage gets white.
Whether it suits your car is a taste call and I am not going to pretend otherwise. In something with tan or biscuit leather, or a wood dash, it looks right in a way a black wheel never quite manages. In a black interior it will look deliberate instead of accidental, which some people want and some do not.
- 350 mm diameter, 39 mm shallow dish
- Italian tobacco brown leather, distressed finish
- Silver aluminium three spoke, etched Prototipo logo
- Matching brown stitching and leather horn button
- From £248
The whole family, side by side
All six together. The Black Edition shares the 39 mm dish with the Tobacco and the other four are all 37 mm. The Heritage models differ from the standard Prototipos in trim instead of shape: same rim, same spoke pattern, different leather and stitching, and on the black Heritage a choice of black or silver spokes.
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![Prototipo_370mm_Silver_GSM_Performance[1]](https://gsmperformance.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Prototipo_370mm_Silver_GSM_Performance1-300x300.jpg)
You will need a boss kit, and that is the part worth getting right
None of these bolt to a standard column. You need an aftermarket hub, and MOMO’s own hubs are what I would recommend, though hubs from other manufacturers do fit. The boss kit is where the real fitment work is and it is the part that goes wrong. It has to suit your column, clear the airbag if there is one, and put the wheel at a sensible distance.
Remember what I said at the top: the boss sets your reach, the wheel does not. So if you want the wheel closer or further away, that is a boss kit conversation and not a wheel conversation. We have written full hub guides for several of the cars we get asked about most.
If your car is not on that list, message us with the model, the year and whether it has an airbag and we will tell you which hub you need. Do not order a wheel and a hub separately on a guess. It is the most common reason a steering wheel comes back to us.
What I would actually buy
Classic car, warm interior
Tan or biscuit leather, wood anywhere: the Heritage Tobacco. It is the only wheel in the family that suits that car properly and the distressed finish does a lot of work.
Modern car, black interior
The Black Edition. All black, 39 mm dish, the most understated of the six, and it looks like it belongs instead of looking like an accessory.
Track or competition car
The plain 350 mm Prototipo. Cheapest way into the shape at £217.99 and it does exactly the same job as the dearer ones.
Heavy, unassisted steering
The 370 mm, subject to checking it clears your legs and does not hide the dials.
Tight cockpit, or quicker steering
The 320 mm, subject to your arms being happy with the extra effort it asks for.
Still not sure
Tell us the car, whether it has power steering, and how tall you are. That is genuinely enough for us to narrow it to one or two.
I will admit to something here. For years I steered people towards the 350 mm as the safe answer regardless, and mostly that was right. Since actually measuring the range and seeing that the dish is effectively fixed, I now ask about legroom and steering weight first, and a fair few of those conversations end at 320 or 370 instead of in the middle.
Final thoughts: it is one wheel in three sizes
The Prototipo has looked the same since the 1960s and it is not about to change. What that means for you is that the decision is smaller than it looks. Pick the diameter that suits your car and your arms, pick the trim that suits your interior, and get the boss kit right.
The full range is in steering wheels. The Montecarlo, California, Indy and Grand Prix Heritage wheels sit alongside the Prototipos in there if you want to see the wider MOMO line-up.
Have the car, the year and the airbag situation ready and Cameron will tell you which hub you need alongside the wheel, before you order either. Garreth has the Prototipos on the showroom floor if you would sooner hold one first, which for a two minute job settles most of these conversations.
