Treozen
New Member
So, my recently acquired '61 Newport had a badly cracked steering wheel, and in fact the entire top rim of the wheel was missing the plastic (I believe this would have been a transparent gold-tone originally). I looked for a good used one.....LOLOLOL.....yes that was funny for me too. So then I looked into getting my wheel restored, which seems to range from $1,200 - $2,000 - and in either case, that seemed like a lot for a "good driver" that has no plans to see the show circuit. So, I decided to try fix it myself.
I am sure this has been done 8 million times, with 8 million posts - but I figured another one might help the next guy. Here is a before and after to start:
The cracks were not the worst I've ever seen, but the next step is to have chunks missing, like the top of the rim, so it was time to address:
I started with quick-set Epoxy putty. Its a 2-part mix that comes in a tube like play-dough. It cost around $7 from amazon. If I were to do this again, I might use a putty with a longer set time. I found this stuff hard to work with in that it was very sticky to start, but didn't really want to stick to the wheel. After a few minutes this go better, but that sweet spot only lasted for about another 30 seconds and then it was hardening up. I ended up applying the putty much thicker than I'd have liked.
You need to work it into the cracks, and I actually used the dremel tool to widen some cracks (hairlines, mostly) to something that had enough bite for the putty. I think a more liquid putty or something more workable would've been easier to get into the small cracks without making them "worse" first, but I don't really have any patience with body and paint - so....quick set it was. After just about 30 minutes, you can start to sand:
I then painted with your standard rattle-can paint. After it dried, and despite my best efforts, you could still see, and in some cases feel, the joins in the putty, so I did a bit of light sanding:
The second paint went better, but still not perfect. This however is where "appropriate expectations" come in. I know I am terrible with paint, body work, filler and anything that mixes those together - and I hate it. I've also never done this before, so I went into this process looking for "something better" not something perfect. I decided at this stage I'd reached that point, and that I was starting to encounter skills-based issues that may end up making things worse if I kept on tinkering - sometimes you can't let "perfect" be the enemy of "good enough".
If you look closely, you can still see the repair - but you do need to be inches from the wheel. Its far from concourse perfect and its not even throwing distance to "professional" - but it clears the "something better" bar. I used on old heater hose (actually came off the car) to give the top rim some substance, but also some give. I then wrapped that in black tape to make sure we had a consistent surface, and finally I stitched on the leather. The leather was the most expensive part - about $30 form amazon - ordered a 24" X 12" piece.
Materials list:
- Rectorseal 97606 4-Ounce Ep-400 Epoxy Putty: Amazon $6
- 12 X 24 1.2mm cow leather: Amazon, $18 - $30 depending on color and grade
- Sand Paper: I used 100 grit through 220 for main sanding, then down to 800 and 1000 for the color sanding / second go at refining the edges. I already had this, but easy to get some from any hardware store.
- Paint: Krylon Fusion All in One: About $10, and one can is plenty. I didn't love this paint - It covered nicely, but had a hard time setting up, and seemed soft even after 24 hours. I really am terrible at paint work though, so take that with a grain of salt
- 0.55mm embroidery thread or waxed leather-craft thread and needles. To get this stitch, I used leather-specific tools I already had and hand stitched with four needles - coming from either side. You can do a nice stitch without all that through - and you don't really see it anyway.
- Electrical tape and some old heater hose - lol - you can use any number of solutions for the top rim if its damaged as mine was, but I like trying to use tuff laying around in the garage, so ...heater hose gave me the thickness and feel I wanted.
Tools
- Dremel tool - not actually necessary really, but sort of useful for shaping and contouring the cracks before you apply the putty.
- Round rasp - I found a round rasp ( I think it may have been one of my chain saw sharpening tools, not sure) was invaluable. It was great at taking down the hardened putty and fitting into the tight spaces.
With the quick-set putty, this took me about a week, and that included letting the paint set up at least 24 hours, twice, and two nights of stiching - because it was aukward. I'd guess you could get this done in a weekend if you did a better job working with the paint that I did.
Overall, this came out great in my mind, certainly worth the effort and although I didn't fix every little thing, and its certainly not as good as a professional job - it was also only about $65 of stuff.
I am sure this has been done 8 million times, with 8 million posts - but I figured another one might help the next guy. Here is a before and after to start:
The cracks were not the worst I've ever seen, but the next step is to have chunks missing, like the top of the rim, so it was time to address:
I started with quick-set Epoxy putty. Its a 2-part mix that comes in a tube like play-dough. It cost around $7 from amazon. If I were to do this again, I might use a putty with a longer set time. I found this stuff hard to work with in that it was very sticky to start, but didn't really want to stick to the wheel. After a few minutes this go better, but that sweet spot only lasted for about another 30 seconds and then it was hardening up. I ended up applying the putty much thicker than I'd have liked.
You need to work it into the cracks, and I actually used the dremel tool to widen some cracks (hairlines, mostly) to something that had enough bite for the putty. I think a more liquid putty or something more workable would've been easier to get into the small cracks without making them "worse" first, but I don't really have any patience with body and paint - so....quick set it was. After just about 30 minutes, you can start to sand:
I then painted with your standard rattle-can paint. After it dried, and despite my best efforts, you could still see, and in some cases feel, the joins in the putty, so I did a bit of light sanding:
The second paint went better, but still not perfect. This however is where "appropriate expectations" come in. I know I am terrible with paint, body work, filler and anything that mixes those together - and I hate it. I've also never done this before, so I went into this process looking for "something better" not something perfect. I decided at this stage I'd reached that point, and that I was starting to encounter skills-based issues that may end up making things worse if I kept on tinkering - sometimes you can't let "perfect" be the enemy of "good enough".
If you look closely, you can still see the repair - but you do need to be inches from the wheel. Its far from concourse perfect and its not even throwing distance to "professional" - but it clears the "something better" bar. I used on old heater hose (actually came off the car) to give the top rim some substance, but also some give. I then wrapped that in black tape to make sure we had a consistent surface, and finally I stitched on the leather. The leather was the most expensive part - about $30 form amazon - ordered a 24" X 12" piece.
Materials list:
- Rectorseal 97606 4-Ounce Ep-400 Epoxy Putty: Amazon $6
- 12 X 24 1.2mm cow leather: Amazon, $18 - $30 depending on color and grade
- Sand Paper: I used 100 grit through 220 for main sanding, then down to 800 and 1000 for the color sanding / second go at refining the edges. I already had this, but easy to get some from any hardware store.
- Paint: Krylon Fusion All in One: About $10, and one can is plenty. I didn't love this paint - It covered nicely, but had a hard time setting up, and seemed soft even after 24 hours. I really am terrible at paint work though, so take that with a grain of salt
- 0.55mm embroidery thread or waxed leather-craft thread and needles. To get this stitch, I used leather-specific tools I already had and hand stitched with four needles - coming from either side. You can do a nice stitch without all that through - and you don't really see it anyway.
- Electrical tape and some old heater hose - lol - you can use any number of solutions for the top rim if its damaged as mine was, but I like trying to use tuff laying around in the garage, so ...heater hose gave me the thickness and feel I wanted.
Tools
- Dremel tool - not actually necessary really, but sort of useful for shaping and contouring the cracks before you apply the putty.
- Round rasp - I found a round rasp ( I think it may have been one of my chain saw sharpening tools, not sure) was invaluable. It was great at taking down the hardened putty and fitting into the tight spaces.
With the quick-set putty, this took me about a week, and that included letting the paint set up at least 24 hours, twice, and two nights of stiching - because it was aukward. I'd guess you could get this done in a weekend if you did a better job working with the paint that I did.
Overall, this came out great in my mind, certainly worth the effort and although I didn't fix every little thing, and its certainly not as good as a professional job - it was also only about $65 of stuff.
