Steering Wheel Restoration

DCarr · Post by **DCarr** » April 10, 2009, 11:47 pm

I pulled a steering wheel out of 65 parts truck.This wheel has fewer cracks than my original,
but had a couple of rattle can paintjobs on top of the original white.So I needed to remove the
old paint carefully,to not destroy the feature lines,and to repair the cracks.

I hand sanded the smooth surfaces with some 220,but to remove the paint from the feature
lines,I used a bead blaster with the air turned way down.It worked perfectly-it took off the
rattle can paint,but didn't toch the original white.I also blasted the hub & the cracks really well to
clean them up.

Then I mixed some epoxy putty(not the kind Billy Mayes sells on TV

) & squeezed it into
the cracks. You can probably use JB Weld or a similar product,but I would not use bondo,
because it will most likely crack later. I also masked off the detail lines to protect them.

I then filed & sanded the epoxy flush. It's now ready for epoxy prime & paint.I will post more pictures then.

Gritsngumbo · Post by **Gritsngumbo** » April 13, 2009, 6:08 pm

Anxiously awaiting Chapter II. Looking good so far. I bought one of the Eastwood kits, just haven't gotten started yet. I have two or three steering wheels to refurb. What paint do you intend to use? I'll have to find out what my body man used on my 64 (see gallery) as it turned out beautiful. I may do the filling and filing and let him do the final paint work.

DCarr · Post by **DCarr** » April 14, 2009, 7:37 pm

Gerald, I'm going to try some epoxy primer-TCP custom shop. I still have to decide which paint I'm going to use.