Has anybody found any good literature or websites on restoring one's own steering wheel?

I have a pretty good one but cracked in the usual area at the base. The wheel itself is almost unscathed other than that.

Wondering how to approach the cracks that have lifted away from the plane of the "cylinder". Grind down and fill...., Heat, push down and fill or what?

Same question here Dave. I have gotten a quote of $700 to completely re-do it. I would like to try and repair myself.

POR 15 has a kit and instructions to do a wheel. I have no idea if the process is good or not. I have simply read about it a couple times. My problem would be how to duplicate the red color on mine.
See: http://www.por15.com/PRODUCTS/COMPLETEKITS/STEERINGWHEELREPAIRKIT/tabid/109/Default.aspx

I have seen the POR kit but have issues of paying them $79 for effectively sandpaper, drill bit, brillo pads etc which I have already. I believe one can buy the filler products elsewhere for under $20.

Just hoping to find some sort of good info on the procedure and tips. Tried a word search but nothing so far for free!

David,

just have a look at

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=2571&itemType=PRODUCT

This is a complete steering wheel resto kit including an instruction booklet from Eastwood for USD 40.99

You also can buy the filler for its own for USD 9.99:

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=2570&itemType=PRODUCT

Good luck...

Thanks Tom, I had seen that and that is what I was referring to for under $20.

Hoping somewhere to find out how to attack the hub where the cracked portions have warped out of the hub circumference. I am assuming that I will grind them down to within the circumference, reinforce and epoxy, and sand and sand to form the hub again.

Looks like a good time to do a "pictorial". Then if it does work out well i can do a post.

Dave there is a guy over here on the Island that I know (and trust) that does restoration work. PM me if decide not to do it yourself and you would like his number.

Thanks Blue, I will give it a shot first I think, kind of get a perverse satisfaction of doing it myself. (till I mess it up anyhow)

Dave, give me a day, A friend knows of a pretty new product for all types of plastic/composit materials (consoles, steering wheels, grills etc) that you can get in a kit, or they have a sample kit. It was tried out by a VERY anal retentive Buick restorer, and he is just asounded by this stuff. He repaired 3 diffferent rare Buick wheels with it...

I'll get the name/info for you tomorrow!

Brett!

Brett,

I am restoring my wheel this winter so I too am interested. I'm sure between all of us we can figure out the best way to do this.


Brent B

Brett, I would be interested in a kit as well.

If it works as well as you think it may, start selling ready made kits for some extra cash on Ebay. I bet they would sell.

Excellent Brett. I will anxiously await the info. I think it would be great to do my own as I will be looking at it every time I drive. Mind you I will be looking at the whole car that I sweated over too!

I have a grant wood wheel I bought as well but if I can get the deluxe wheel up to par then I'll sell off the new Grant.

Haven't heard back from him yet today, so I'll check in with him tomorrow and will post the info.

Brett!

No problem. It's one of MANY sub-projects I have on the beast...just nice to get the right material when opportunity presents itself!

Ok Guys, sorry to the delay, just got the name of the product:
Plastex, you can get a sampel kit that will let you try it out.
http://www.plastexexpress.co.uk/

The guy brought in a steering wheel, and a grill he had repaired and they looked perfect! Hope this get's you that much closer!

Brett!

Looks interesting, thanks Brett, I will read the website more carefully when I get home tonight.

No problem... it's all about sharing what we know or find...

This stuff looks very promising, and the results I saw were outstanding! The Buick guy pretty much had to use something like this as most of the parts for his 64 Buick are not reproduced... and seeing as he's a perfectionist, he cam up with all kinds of uses for this stuff. He said you can drill and tap it too for items like the grill where it's Threaded etc... possibilities are endless!

For the Steering wheel, he filed the crack in a "V" shape and then used the Plastex to fill, and then sanded, the area was even quite close in color (different colors available in the kit and in the sample) and after wet sanding it was hard to tell where the repair was!

Brett!

Here is a company in Reno, NV selling what seems to be the same stuff.

http://plastex.home.att.net/

http://home.att.net/~g.t.motorsports/store.html

http://www.plastex.ca/ This ones in Canada but also sells to US

[b]Harbor Freight has this stuff and its on sale. I only found the MASTER TECH KIT though. I wonder if its the same product, I can't see the picture of it on my screen, only a red x.[/b]
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91581

Good, I will try the Reno number. The UK guys did not respond to two of my emails.

Ah, just noticed one in Canada and Home Hardware (just down the road) carries it according to the link.....off I go >>>

Got the stuff today. Will try it out first fixing my kids portable DVD player battery tab. Then on to the good stuff..

Excellent Kerry, I didn't have the time to look and see where it was retailed. Let us know how it works out David! I'll have to go get some now too!

Brett!

The printed instructions are minimal but it comes with a mini-DVD so I'll have to make some popcorn and watch it. It has some black powder and some clear liquid (catalyst?). I may do a "test" crack later today if I can dig out the Dremel to clean out a v groove.