steering wheel restoration

[Rut]

Good morning, I have a 61 Bugeye with the original steering wheel and it's missing some hard rubber on the rim where mice got into it. Is there a hard rubber filler available to repair these rodent gouges?
Thanks, Rut

 

[elrey]

Two part malleable epoxy sticks. --elrey

 

[jsfbond]

The POR people have a kit to do this project.Kit Contains:

* POR Epoxy Putty
* Marine-Clean Spray Cleaner
* Contoured Sanding Block
* Steering Wheel Sanding Board
* Red (360-400 grade) Scuff Pad
* Gray (600-800 grade) Scuff Pad
* Sandpaper
* Surgical Latex Gloves
* Supertack Cloth
* Polyester Primer and Surfacer w/Hardener
* Spray Bottle/Cartridge for Primer & Enamel
* High Gloss Polishing Compound
* Saw, File, and Drill Bit
* Detailed, Illustrated Instruction Book

WARNING: THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS CHEMICALS KNOWN TO THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA TO CAUSE CANCER, BIRTH DEFECTS OR OTHER REPRODUCTIVE HARM.

 

[JPSmit]

And judging by the warning you aren't supposed to use it to restore your wife. (Back to silicone I guess)

 

[elrey]

Word to the wise, I slapped a new vinyl laced wheel cover on my freshly restored bakelite wheel for a few seasons while my BT7 was stored in a shipping container. It out-gassed and turned the rim to a mass of painful shards, left it virtually irreparable. Mr. Learn By Doing, --elrey

 

[Rut]

Thanks, great info...I'll give it a try. I wondered about putting a cover on the wheel, but didn't know there was a down side.
Rut

 

[PAUL161]

The wheel on my TF looked like this all over after I routed out all the cracks and missing pieces. The whole wheel was very bad.

Using this as a filler

and sanding, filing and sanding more, after two coats of primer, three coats of color and three coats of clear,it came out looking like this;

I'm very pleased with it! It all depends on how much time you want to put into it and how much money you want to spend. PJ

 

[Keoke]

That looks good and I think that is the way to go. Another product that works very well as a filler is "J B Weld " ---Keoke

 

[elrey]

That is a work of art, you should be proud! And as to "J B Weld", it is sometimes derided but is an excellent and versatile product. I'm not suggesting this as a fix, but in my youth with little dough, I filled the pits in my caliper pistons with it and got years of service before having to replace the pistons with new. --elrey

 

[TomMull]

I'm no expert but have worked with resins quite q bit. Here's my 2p. As indicated above, various polyester (Bondo), epoxy fillers and other fillers stick very well to Bakelite. (Actually, they stick to the filler materials used in the original Bakelite.) This makes repairs quite easy, as long as you are going to paint the steering wheel afterward, all well and good if the rest of your car looks like it just came off the assembly line.
For the real purist, with a pristine survivor, the shiny repaired and painted wheel overwhelms the rest of the interior patina. A crack or two here might best be left alone.
Also would be interested to know what happened to elray's wheel above. From my experience, "offgassing" should not cause the deterioration of the original Bakelite or of common repair resins. The worst consequence of offgassing I've seen is tiny pinholes in otherwise cured and stable resin. Possibly a cleaner solvent was the culprit or more likely improperly mixed resins.
Tom

 

[Rut]

Thanks for the tips! My steering wheel is the original rubber and I'm looking for something that will be flexible that I won't have to paint. If that doesn't work I can always put a leather cover on it.
Thanks, Rut

 

[Keoke]

Also would be interested to know what happened to elray's wheel above. From my experience, "offgassing" should not cause the deterioration of the original Bakelite or of common repair resins. The worst consequence of offgassing I've seen is tiny pinholes in otherwise cured and stable resin. Possibly a cleaner solvent was the culprit or more likely improperly mixed resins

That was an interesting cicumstance that was reported on-- :frown:

 

[elrey]

CLARIFICATION; The few seasons were more like five, The shipping container was closed and in the sun, Any uncured resins had long since dried up, as the fresh restoration had been already been stored for a few years before I slapped the brand new vinyl on. My other banjo wheel suffered only increased cracking just above the spoke to interface and it was stored in the same container. The wheel in question only sharded under the vinyl. I hate to think how hot it must have gotten in that container. The wheel in question was also only repaired at the rim to spoke interface, and at a chip near the trafficator switch. No repair was needed or made on the rim. Boy was I surprised when I uncovered the wheel. I'm no scientist, and it may well be the result of what you say, yet I'm figuring that the combination of the brand new vinyl and the intense heat cycles over many years did the trick. I could easily be wrong. The idiocy was in the storage. The wheel is fantastically ruined. At one point I will post a picture. --elrey--

 

[CZ_Dave]

Nest time, just take the wheel off an hang it on your wall to display.

 

[elrey]

I did.

 

[RyanBez]

I'm no expert but have worked with resins quite q bit. Here's my 2p. As indicated above, various polyester (Bondo), epoxy fillers and other fillers stick very well to Bakelite. (Actually, they stick to the filler materials used in the original Bakelite.) This makes repairs quite easy, as long as you are going to paint the steering wheel afterward, all well and good if the rest of your car looks like it just came off the assembly line.
For the real purist, with a pristine survivor, the shiny repaired and painted wheel overwhelms the rest of the interior patina. A crack or two here might best be left alone.
Also would be interested to know what happened to elray's wheel above. From my experience, "offgassing" should not cause the deterioration of the original Bakelite or of common repair resins. The worst consequence of offgassing I've seen is tiny pinholes in otherwise cured and stable resin. Possibly a cleaner solvent was the culprit or more likely improperly mixed resins.
Tom

I have found that matte paint with clear coat makes things a lot less glossy and more subtle. That is what I plan to do with my wheel.

 

[Bayless]

I did the wheel for my Prefect with PC-7 epoxy. It's a little easier to work than JBWeld and being all plastic, seems more appropriate. My paint supplier mixed paint to match the bakelite dash and added the right amount of dulling agent to also match the sheen for a beautiful match. The whole process can be found here https://enfoprefect.org/cars/Prefect_Steering_Wheel.html. These are before and after.