Re: Steering wheel restoration

Posted by Larry Jenkins on September 18, 1997 at 18:50:16

In Reply to: Re: Steering wheel restoration
posted by Jack Richard on September 18, 1997 at 10:50:31

: : I've found a very nice original 30/31 steering wheel. It has no cracks or chips. It does have a light brown stain on some of it's surface, primarily the underside and the entire surface is somewhat dull looking.I've washed the entire wheel with liquid Dial handsoap and a tooth brush.Some of the brown seems to come off but the general dullness remains.Can anyone adive me of materials/procedures to restore the finish of the wheel??
: : Thanks,
Jack is right about the sanding of the wheel.The originals did not have a lot of gloss.Here's what I did..Sanded the wheel like Jack said, then sprayed the wheel with flat black lacquer, let that dry, and then rubbed the wheel with some paper towels until I replicated the original satin finish of the originals.Either way should give you good results.
Regards..
Larry Jenkins
: : Steve
: You're fortunate to have a wheel without cracks!The brown oxidation can be removed by carefully sanding the wheel by hand, starting with about a 220 grit and working it down to a 600 or finer grit sandpaper.You can then use steel wool and then rubbing compound and wax to give it a great shine.Be careful when sanding not to take off too much material, just enough to remove the rough, oxidized outer layer, leaving all the details you can.This approach results in a much better appearing wheel than just painting it with black paint.Ford did not paint the wheels, and original photos seem to indicate that the finish was not too shiny.
: Good luck

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