steering wheel renovation

[zgeezer]

Does anyone have any information on how to refinish the "wood" 240Z steering wheels?

 

Mine have been out in the open for too long and have developed a very rough finish that is somewhat "white". I can see the grain underneath and was considering sanding with a fine wet/dry sandpaper and then spraying with a clear coat. Will this work?

[jeromio]

That's cute: "wood", in quotes.

 

I went a diggin' for the link I had to this guy's page where he outlines the whole procedure for restoring the Datsun plasti-wood wheel, but I can't find it. Musta gone dead and I erased it. From my recollection, I think he treated it just as if it was real wood as far as the removal of the old finish and applying the new. What I don't remember is whether the color goes all the way thru, or if he had to stain/paint it to get it to be the reddish/brown wood color again after sanding it. I <i>think</i> that color goes all the way thru. It would make sense for it to.

 

Maybe try sanding down a small part of it on the not-so-visible other side first, before doing the whole thing.

[zgeezer]

I had read that early Z's as well as early Mazda's steering wheels were made out of wood that had been pressure treated with some form of plastic/epoxy material. I know that b/4 I left them outside the finish was very slick, hard, and cold to touch. I appreciate the posts and will proceed to refinish with fine sanding and clear. BTW, I saw a '71 Mazda RX-5 (Cosmo) in my favorite JY yesterday. They have a neat small diameter steering wheel very similar to early Ford "Banjo" wheels: three spokes, each spoke made up of 4 separate rods. Anyone know if Mazda & Z's share same steering wheel spline?

[Guest Anonymous]

The steering wheels are basically a high pressure phenolic resin with wood fibers that is sometimes referred to as by the trade name "micarta". I have one and put a buffing wheel to it to get a higher gloss. Micarta products take a great shine from buffing but caution should be excersized since the buffing wkeel heat can burn them

[Wilson_WWSC]

anybody have pics of results? What worked and what didnt?

[Apex944]

Whoa! I think this thread win's for oldest thread revived. Last post was April 25th 2002...

 

As far as what did and did not work, I would imagine the light sanding would take off the outer sun bleached "skin" if you will of the wheel and bring out the red/brown original coloring. Then a nice clearcoat and polish to finish it off.

I haven't done that myself though so I don't know for sure, just an educated guess to go along with one of the post's that is further up in this thread. Wors't case is that you took off the rougher "wood" and made it smooth so that you can now re-stain it.

Edited March 20, 2010 by Apex944

[tightywhitey185]

My steering wheel was looking pretty rough so I took some 320 grit wich may seem way egressive.Actually you could probably use 600.But Lightly scuffed it down and then got all the hard to reach areas with a red 3m scuff pad.I was thinking I should put a coat of stain on it first then clear coat it but i figured i would just try to clear coat it becuase if i had to redo it later what the hay. I litterally just clear coated it with som dupont spot clear i had layin around and it turned out awesome.I glossy deep wood finish just by sanding scuffing and clearing.Hoped that helped.

[Skittle]

Any ideas on repairing a real "wood" wheel? I picked up a circa 1970's Personal (nardi now) wheel that has some cracks. It came with the hub adapter and a Datsun Emblem. I found it in a JY and spent a whopping $10 on it.

[Ironman]

Any ideas on repairing a real "wood" wheel? I picked up a circa 1970's Personal (nardi now) wheel that has some cracks. It came with the hub adapter and a Datsun Emblem. I found it in a JY and spent a whopping $10 on it.

 

 

If you want a "real" wood look, I would look into hydro-dipping it.

 

That might be a good possibility

 

Good Luck

[cygnusx1]

  I just tried a few different methods on mine.  First I used a boiled linseed oil to bring out the wood grain from the dried out rim.  The color was nice but I wanted a "glass " look so I then loaded the wheel whith a thick layer of clear epoxy resin used for laying fiberglass.  It looked great at firs,t but then the layer of tung oil caused the resin to fisheye all over the rim, as it cured.  I thought the wheel was ruined.  I sanded off the majority of the hardened resin until the wheel was smooth again.  Then I picked up a can of regular old high gloss clear coat spray.  That worked wonders.  For the spokes I used, GM semi-gloss black, and highlighted the center logo with a silver paint sharpie.

 

 

 

 

It came out OK but I don't know how well the clear will hold up to UV and wear.  The sanding took away some of the deep red color in spots.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 20, 2010 by cygnusx1

[Wilson_WWSC]

that looks good. I'm used to refinishing rifle stocks with real wood, just don't know if this mircata stuff needs any special attention. guess I'll just test in a small area first.

[Skittle]

not what i ment, My steering wheel is made out of real wood not the polyresin stuff. I think its some sort of oak or fruit tree found in itally. Perhaps its olive. It has some cracks and is starting to seperate around the aluminumn ring.

[junglist]

I've refinished a few of these wheels. I've used matte black paint for the centers and I used cherry wood stain that I then coated with clear coat/clear lacquer. They've turned out pretty good, these aren't too hard to refinish if yours doesn't have a lot of dents/scratches/cracks.

[Xylemer]

I've refinished a few of these wheels. I've used matte black paint for the centers and I used cherry wood stain that I then coated with clear coat/clear lacquer. They've turned out pretty good, these aren't too hard to refinish if yours doesn't have a lot of dents/scratches/cracks.

 

 

Can you say, "Yeah!" for the silver bullet in the background

[Wilson_WWSC]

not what i ment, My steering wheel is made out of real wood not the polyresin stuff. I think its some sort of oak or fruit tree found in itally. Perhaps its olive. It has some cracks and is starting to seperate around the aluminumn ring.

 

 

The only way I know how to fix this would be to drill holes, clamp the cracks, and screw in some brass wood screws to close up the cracks. Get screws that are longer than you need and be sure not to sink the head of the screw into the wood. Then you would grind/dreml off the head of the screw. This is a common way that arsenals and gun owners use to repair cracks in milsurp rifles, and it works pretty good. Not really sure if there is a way to repair these cracks in a cleaner method as I've never had to do that before.

[Skittle]

Awesome good idea thank you!