Has anyone done their own C1 steering wheel resto?

[Paul B.]

Hi,

I have to have some paint work done on my car, so I thought it might be a good time to fix the small cracks at the spokes on my wheel. It had previously been repainted with base coat clear coat and I assume repaired, so any surface texture is long gone anyway.
I did a search and found lots of info on getting them done, but not much on doing it yourself? I'm on a budget, so I want to give it a shot...
Do you think I should strip the entire wheel first? Will paint stripper hurt the plastic underneath? I am going to V groove the cracks with my Dremel and then fill with epoxy. Any ideas on what brand of epoxy? Would JB Weld work, or does it have to have some type of flex to it?
Thanks for any help,
Paul

[Robert S.]

Re: Has anyone done their own C1 steering wheel re

Paul,

Check out this site, it might help you decide if you want to tackle it your self




Steering Wheel Resto

[Jim K.]

Re: Has anyone done their own C1 steering wheel re

Hi Paul:
I did mine a few years back but failed to fix the reason for the cracks, broken welds. I used the Eastwood kit and waas happy with the results (until it cracked again). I am planning to rout out all three spokes and have them welded. But first I am going to make a mold from a seperate wheel that has one solid un cracked spoke and use that to fill in after the welding. I have no Idea how it will work, but budget limitations and satisfaction are making me try it. Brobably won't tackel it untill mid spring though... I'll post the results.
Jim

[Paul B.]

Re: Has anyone done their own C1 steering wheel re

Thanks guys.

Bob that site was great! The information was excellent, now I'm really motivated to start!
Jim; When I did a search I had read about the problem you had with the cracks returning, sorry to hear it. Any idea how can I tell if mine also has broken welds? Thanks,
Paul

[Jim K.]

Re: Has anyone done their own C1 steering wheel re

Well... they are pretty flimsey even when they are not broken, but pull on the rim and try to see if the spoke wants to help open the cracks up. Again it's really hard to tell, but a broken one will feel like there is a hinge burried under the plastic, compared to a solid one that just feels tighter... not much help really, but it's not that easy unless you can feel the difference. If you roit out the welded area, you will see if it broken or not, and if you're going through the trouble of restoring it, you might as well go all the way.
Seperately, the saville grain is the hardest part to replicate, I used a wrinkle finish for plastic, and it came out better than smooth, but not "correct". The stripper you talked about earlier, I would be weary of using that on the plastic wheel. originally they were color molded, so if you are at that color, just a sanding of 330 or even higher to get the new finish to stick...