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Mine is in pretty good condition, but needs a repaint.
I can fix the cracks and drop it off at my buddies paint shop for a respray.
Am I wasting my time on this or will a base coat/clear coat give me years of service?
Anyone know the paint code for Caribbean Turquoise or a source to get it in a small spray can?
When I read your title I wondered why the steering wheel would be "panting". Glad you were talking about painting instead...
Base coat/clear will not work well on a steering wheel. One of the reasons is it isn't metal and the base coat/clear is intended to attach to primer over metal.
They do make specific steering wheel paint and you use a plastic adhesion promoter on them before the color coat, generally. The plastic adhesion promoters are not used with base/clear, either.
You might be fine if you don't drive it much, though.
My local Wesco auto body supply store has all the books with paint chips which gives the paint codes. They can mix custom colors and put them in spray cans for an extra fee.
SEM brand. Sorry, had to look it up before I was sure of the name. These are designed for vinyl and plastic surfaces. Base/clear can be used, but it generally doesn't hold up as well as these for the application.
Fiberglass and plastic are painted with base/clear all the time. I know many have painted their steering wheels, but I haven't seen any reports on how they have held up.
Ive got a years worth of $100 projects that I am going to get done one a month this year.
Fixed the panting. IDK why autocorrect kicks in like it does, especially on this site.
Fiberglass and plastic are painted with base/clear all the time. I know many have painted their steering wheels, but I haven't seen any reports on how they have held up.
Ive got a years worth of $100 projects that I am going to get done one a month this year.
Fixed the panting. IDK why autocorrect kicks in like it does, especially on this site.
Uh huh, yep, I said they could be used but don't hold up as well. Try this. Put on your wedding ring and then rub your hand over a base/clear paint job making sure the ring comes into direct contact with the paint. It tends to scratch it up pretty badly. Now try the same with SEM. It's made for seats and other heavily used items and can flex without cracking. A finger nail will generally not affect it. I can dig a fingernail into base/clear because it is more of a thick topcoat where the SEM goes on very thin and dries even thinner, but sticks very well in my opinion if you prep the surface correctly.
I swapped the column and steering wheel from a 77 f100 when I did my power disk brake and power steering swap on my 65. The wheel was in rough shape but I patched all the cracks with several applications of JB weld, sanded everything really well and painted it with a rattle can automotive spray paint made for plastic I got from Home Depot, turned out really nice and has been very durable but I remember letting it sit for about two weeks before I installed the wheel to make sure the paint was really cured.
SEM does make a few blacks of various gloss. Their "Landau" black is very popular for bumpers and other plastic, rubber and vinyl where you don't want too much sheen. The Trans Am guys use it on the Formula steering wheels that came stock in every TA. It holds up very well and in that case the steering wheel coating itself flexes quite a lot. It's a somewhat soft covering over a metal framework.
See if this comes up for you. NJSteve sold his car for over 100K so you know it was nice.
Painted? Not sure if paint is what they called it or not, but they were coated. The steering wheels were not molded in the various colors. You can see that fact on any worn steering wheel as they aren't the same color thru and thru. They are molded using a sort of brownish resin material underneath the final color, from those I've looked at.
Properly painted wheels will hold up just fine. Use an appropriate primer like polyester Slick Sand (reduce it so it's not as thick) and you won't need to use an adhesion promoter. Stick with a quality paint like PPG Concept single stage if it's a solid color. It's its metallic then you'll need to use base/clear but it'll be just as durable. This stuff holds up for decades on the exterior of daily drivers, no reason it won't hold up on a steering wheel if you use quality paint and the right prep work.
'66 F100 wheel shot with PPG Concept single stage.
Can't argue with the results that "theastronaut" gets...beautiful work. I've also used epoxy primer with acrylic enamel/hardener topcoat on a '57 Ford steering wheel and is has held up well....still shiny since 1997. That one had a lot of cracks which were filled in with PC7 epoxy. That material has multiple uses...is great stuff.
01-08-2015, 02:31 PM
