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Steering Wheel restoration - recommendations?

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Basil

Basil

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I need to have the steering wheel on my Daimler SS restored. It is plastic coated metal and has "banjo spokes". The hub of the thing looks like someone beat it with a hammer at one time. Here's a picture showing the wheel:

mydaimler3.jpg


Any suggestions where I could send my wheel to have it properly restored? Anyone have direct experience with any place?

I have a new (used, but good) horn/trafficator for the wheel, but I want to have the wheel restored before I install it.

Basil
 
Basil,

That looks a lot like an MGA wheel. I that possible, if so replacements (or repair) should be available.
 
I just did my wheel, I taped off the plastic and chrome and then sandblasted the hub. After repainting I polished the chrome and cleaned the plastic up (there was a hardened grease from peoples hands).

I used a Chassis Black paint and I am not sure why but it has already become cracked (looks like alligator skin) just like it was originally. I suspect that the hub flexes quite a bit during use. So if I were to do it over I would use a hard paint and even powder coat it if I could.
 
Basil,I have done many of them, if you can wait untill fall when I am not so busy, I might be able to do it for you. Don't know how to post a pix or I would show you some I have done. Just sent a Les Leston wheel I did to New Zealand. Depending on the year of the car , some wheels were not plastic but a bakelite type of material.
 
I appreciate the offer, but I don't want to wait too long. I found a guy in Canada who can do it and from the pictures in his gallery the results for this type wheel would look very good. His process includes:

Clean the entire wheel to remove any dirt, wax, silicone and other contaminants.

Sand the surface of the wheel and open up any cracks to get down to good solid material.

Fill the cracks with resin and bridge the gaps with carbon fiber cloth. Then coat the entire wheel with resin, building a shell around it.

Wet sand the resin smooth.

Apply 15 coats of acrylic urethane in the proper color.

Wet sand the paint so the surface of the wheel is smooth.

Apply another 15 coats of acrylic urethane to leave a glass smooth surface. (your wheel may need to be a satin finish Black)

Polish the stainless banjo style spokes.


Price is $400 which includes customs and shipping (return).

Here's a picture of one he did that is very similar to my wheel:

flatblack.jpg


If he can make my beat up wheel look like that it'll be worth $400

Basil
 
OK Basil,no problem. A question you might want to ask is ..are 30 coats of A.U. a good idea? I believe that wheel in the pix is an ajustable A H.,or TR3 wheel, which should be High Gloss.
 
Hey, Bas,

I did my own wheel on the TR3 - pretty much the same design as yours - in much the same way you described, using bondo. That was six years ago, and it still looks pretty good, if I do say so. It's not that hard, really, and was one of those jobs that is quite satisfying to do yourself.

Mickey
 
UPDATE - after having the wheel ot of the car and doing a little research, I discovered I have a style of wheel that is entirely case aluminum. Even the rim is cast - solid. Thus, I have taken it to a powder coating shop and they are going to sand out all the rough spots and, where needed use special filler, then powdercoat it in a satin black. The cost - $85.

I'll find out in a couple days how it is going to look.

Basil
 
Wheel looks great to me Basil.Seriously, Is your problem just with the hub?Is the rim or the rim /spoke interface cracked? and is hub plastic or metal.---Keoke
 
Tullamore, When you painted your wheel did you use a primer under the paint??---Keoke
 
The one pictured above is not mine - that's a wheel that was professionally restored. My wheel is very beat up. The rear of the hub looks like someone once beat it with a hammer and the rim has many nicks and gouges. Since the rim is solid cast aluminum, I am having the whole thing powder coated.

Basil
 
Yes Basil, I think that is the best route to go. But $400 bucks to repair a wheel that is going to start showing its age again in about 3 or 4 years might just be a bit over the top.I would prefer looking for a good one in the UK and paying the same price they are over there.--Regards--Keoke
OH when you get the wheel back do not wear rings when you drive and use driving gloves the wheel will get hot in the sun and rings will cause chips-Hard steering you know---Keoke /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/patriot.gif
 
Great news Basil, gee if only all the surprises that our cars come up with were so inexpensive.

Awesome pic - hope it was sunny this weekend.
 
[ QUOTE ]
But $400 bucks to repair a wheel that is going to start showing its age again in about 3 or 4 years might just be a bit over the top.I would prefer looking for a good one in the UK and paying the same price they are over there.--Regards--Keoke


[/ QUOTE ]

(Keoke, I think you missed the part where Basil said he is having it powdercoated for $80!) It appears that Basil has his wheel under control but just for the record, I did a major rework on my stock Healey steering wheel a few years ago but I used a different technique. I used West System Epoxy which is normally used in the boat industry. After cleaning out the cracks, poured a thin version of the epoxy to seal the inner metal ring, then added thickners (microballons)and black epoxy paste to the resin to build up the surfaces. After several build and sand coats finished with a thinner black epoxy coat which left a gloss finish. If only took a few hours of actual work time and came out great.

Cheers,
John
 
NO John, I was just pointing out that most conventional wheel restorations fail after a few years use and paying $400 for eventual failure was a bit much. Besides the restorer was talking about fiber glass and resin any one knows fibre glass resin goes into the glass region as it ages and becomes very brittle. I do my own wheels too using epoxy but they flex so much that I have to touch them up about every 3 years but no real cost.---Keoke :grin

OH John, did you see my precautions about wearing rings and wearing driving gloves with painted restored wheels.//-Keoke
 
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