Steering wheel restoration.

[Clint Bizzle]

2 hours ago, dutchzcarguy said:

At first you did this:

And then desided to go original!  Yep i like your wheel! You've  done a good job on it! 👍

Thanks! I'm glad it turned out so good. As for the carbon fiber spoke I was just trying to get an idea how it would look....I have a big roll of the stuff and nothing to do with it 😅

[gundee]

Well I pulled my steering wheel to refinish the rim. After cleaning and steel wool It looks like this.

I may just use polyurethane on it like others here. I think that will still keep some patina.

In some areas with very little wear, I can definitely see it has a cherry color to it.

[grannyknot]

1 hour ago, gundee said:

After cleaning and steel wool It looks like this.

Have you painted the spokes in that photo or is the black paint original? 

[gundee]

22 hours ago, grannyknot said:

Have you painted the spokes in that photo or is the black paint original? 

Yes I did paint the spokes, but not black. As an experiment I painted same color as the tail light panel.

[Gav240z]

I've done a few of these wheels now, first photos are of 1 I stained and used polyurethane to refinish the wooden rim.

 

The flat black paint was too black, I may re-do it in future.

Next wheel I used roll bar paint in a semi-gloss black and it looks much nicer and closer to the original wheel finish for the paint.

On this wheel I used a more flat rather than gloss polyurethane finish but I prefer the "pop" of the wooden rim above. However the spokes look better.

Here is another wheel with re-plated hardware.

And here is 1 refinished by Romas (from Facebook).

He used automotive clear coat to get the glossy rim, which I like.

For comparison, here is a NOS in the box wheel.

 

I took was confused by the "blonde" looking colour in brochures, but have decided over time they must get darker and I'm fine with that as I actually prefer the dark redish colour. And I quite like the gloss on the wheel and semi-gloss black on the rim and of course the re-plated hardware. Some day I'll refinish 1 of these "just right". ha.

 

[dutchzcarguy]

7 hours ago, Gav240z said:

He used automotive clear coat to get the glossy rim, which I like.

Yes, very nice .. but i ask myself if that clearcoat is strong enough.. i used 7-8 coats of boat lacquer, the one you would use on those hardwood boats..

[gundee]

This is how mine turned out.

I used clear gloss. I think it would be more correct with a semi gloss.

[Yarb]

I like it. From what I see you put a lot of work and effort into it.