Advice from this site has been (and will continue to be) invaluable to me. So I've been looking for an opportunity to add some content (rather than just take take take). There are already a few posts on this topic, and some links to external content, but I didn't quickly find a step by step with photos etc. So I thought I would add one. Most/all of this content is already available on the forum... this may just save you needing to read all of those threads... unless you just want to.

Important Note: This is an easy job. It requires more patience than skill, but If the job I describe here doesn't sound fun to you, and your time is in short supply... consider a reproduction wheel. For my truck, I could get a reproduction for about $200. I spent about $40 in supplies (didn't use them all, but I didn't have them in the garage already)... It is a time consuming project. If I didn't really enjoy doing this kind of thing, $160 wouldn't have been a bad price to avoid the time spent. For those of you that do enjoy, I hope the rest of this helps....


I didn't take a true "before" pic, but essentially my wheel had the following symptoms...
- Cracks (hairline to 1/16 inch) around each of the 3 spokes/outer rim
- A couple of cracks around the spokes at the center of the wheel (on both inside and outside
- Cracks in the middle of the larger spokes that crossed through some of the cast design (this impacted my ultimate epoxy choice)

This is what I used...
- JB Weld (liquid version in the black and red tubes) (started with this)
- POR15 Epoxy Putty (used this primarily)
- Adhesion Promoter (I used bulldog brand rattle can)
- Topcoat (I used a krylon gloss black primer/epoxy enamel... more on that later)

Eastwood (and some others) sell "steering wheel repair kits" the ones I saw don't include topcoat and I couldn't (still don't) see why they would be worth the $30/price tag, but it isn't too much of a premium if you prefer going that way... (unless you have some/all of the above materials already)

So here's how my job went....

First, I took the dremel tool (and a couple of different "High Speed Cutter" bits to open up all of the cracks all the way down to the metal structure. Like so...



After cutting I cleaned everything up with a cleaner/degreaser, let it dry and then started with the epoxy.

I used the JB, and filled a large crack on the back of my wheel (it spanned from the middle of one of the larger spokes to the center of the wheel). It was largely flat and the JB Weld filled it well. However, It was almost a liquid (not quite), sticky, and I was worried it would be difficult to form for some of the repairs I had to do on the front of my wheel.

So I decided to put it on hold and ordered some POR15 Epoxy putty. This is what I used on the rest of my repairs. It is easy to shape, and gives you a perfect working time. I think POR15 says you have an hour to work with the mixed epoxy, but I found that it started to harden within 5-10 minutes. After about 20 minutes it was still usable, but harder to form than I liked, and I felt like taking the time to shape it would save me sanding time on the back end (I was very pleased with this decision, as even minimal sanding of the cured epoxy is time consuming). So.. I mixed it up in very small batches and basically repaired one crack at a time. I probably wasted a little more epoxy this way, but I only used about 1/4 of the package in total, so I'm not all that concerned (though I am anxious to find other uses for this cool stuff).

This is what my wheel looked like after I batched it (some of the fixes are already sanded, but most have not been sanded yet)




Here is a close up of one of the areas that prompted me to switch to the more moldable POR15. I think the POR15 may dry to be a little less flexible than the JB (not 100% sure that's true) and I hope any difference in rigidity won't shorten the life of my repair, but I think it was worth the risk.



For sanding, I returned to the dremel, and used a sanding bit to knock down the big stuff.... I had to do this at a very low speed to keep myself from going too deep too fast (had to re-repair the first fix I sanded).

After the dremel, I used 150/220/320 grit paper and some files to get a couple of repairs down to what I thought would be final. Then I sprayed these test fixes with some black paint, just to see if I was right.

This test made it easier to see where I was wrong, cleaned it off, finished off those repairs, and then finished the sanding, filing on the rest of the repairs.

Sanded wheel (I think the adhesion promoter is already applied here):



Then I applied topcoat. I'm not sure I made the best choices in topcoat process. I let myself get in a hurry to get the project done, and to be honest I wasn't sure if I need the adhesion promoter, or if I used the promoter, should I use primer, or just topcoat. So I just picked up what they had at the auto parts store that looked like it might work.... that's how I ended up with the Bulldog Promoter and Krylon Primer/Epoxy Enamel.

The final product is not absolutely perfect, but it is about a 1000% improvement over what I had, and will fit my truck just fine.... when I get it put back together enough to need a steering wheel



Hope someone finds this useful

 

Well done. Thanks for sharing. I think I'll try this with my steering wheel.

 

Good stuff. I also used the POR putty and found it about the same in workability as you.

 

Very useful....If not for something on my truck certainly for anything around the house. Thanks

 

Looks great, good idea using a stand to hold the wheel.

 

Thanks for sharing.
I've also used POR-15 putty for pin holes.

 

I'm currently trying a similar process on my 54 wheel but I'm also reducing the diameter from 18" to 15" at the same time. The 18" wheel makes steering to quick with power steering. I'm trying Bondo w/short glass strands for the filler and a Bondo Glazing Compound to feather the edges. I plan on using Krylon's Gloss Black Enamel for Plastics for the finish paint coat. Your's looks great - I hope mine turns out as well.
Ken

 

Ken that is awesome! I'm also doing power steering. I love the look of the old wheel, but am worried about keeping the big diameter. Would love to see pics of how yours works..... I'm just starting to learn how to weld....and I was too chicken to cut mine down.....

 

Nicely done and well documented. I will be doing this on my wheel. Thanks.

 

Thanks for sharing. You did a great job. Several years ago I bought a lot of JB Weld to do my wheel. But I knew I didn't have the patience and forming the putty to match the grooves on the center spoke scared me so I bought a good used wheel on eBay for $50. My old wheel is having on my garage wall.

 

You did a nice job on that wheel!

 

Fantastic! I have a '62 Tbird with several cracks and missing pieces around the rim and spokes. This looks like just what I need. Thanks for the help.

 

After a year, how has this repair held up?
Did the POR15 suffer from any cracking or separation over time?
And how was the Krylon black paint in the long term?


Thanx
Kirk

 

Thanks for bringing this thread back jbowen52. And thanks to Jeff for taking time to put it together. I am a step by step kind of guy and I will save this Thread till I get to my Steering wheel. I'm interested also how this has held up.

 

Where do you buy the POR15 Putty? We have got to repair our wheel too. I will give it a try. You did a nice job on yours. Thanks for sharing.