restoration of steering wheel

[bduprees]

I have a 240 plastic? wood grained steering wheel I want to restore. The plastic/wood is oxidized badly but there is no rust or physical damage otherwise. Any tips? Bill

[BadDog]

SportZ had a great article on how to do this. I followed it and came out with pretty good results

You might want to call them and ask for a re-print of it; that's what I did and ended up subscribing

Anyway, to just do the steering wheel, not re-painting the spokes, you lightly SOS-pad the plastic while soaking it in warm water. You don't want to take off too much of the "patina" (years of grime from hands using the wheel), because that's what makes it look more like wood Basically, you're trying to remove the gloss and even out the finish. When it's all dry, you lacquer it with a semi-gloss clear lacquer. I couldn't find semi-gloss and had to use gloss, but it looks fine. BEing the nut that I am, I put about 15 thin coats of the stuff on ROTFL

But seriously, this is an awfully simplified explanation of what to do. Call SportZ and ask them for a re-print of the issue that has the article in it :-)

[Alfadog]

Is there the same tutorial on the Internet somewhere? I'm interested too but I dont think ordering a reprint and getting it transported to Australia is going to be too cheap...

[BadDog]

I don't think so, I looked for it for a while myself... but I think if you search the archives here, you're likely to find plenty of advice

[Zedrally]

This would have to be the simplest repair/mod/update you can perform on your zed.

Don't be deterred as it really is easy!

Easiest way is to use steel wool and detergent [soapy water] to clean down the rim of the wheel.

This will remove the years of dirt and grime.

Any bumps or nicks can be filed down with file or sand down with fine emery.

This smooth sanding will eventually bring the wheel looking similar to raw wood even though it's plastic.

All that is required to complete the job is to mask off the spokes and apply as many thin coats of semi-gloss spray varnish as you desire.

You can change colours if you desire by using wood stain before you varnish.