My steering wheel restore detailed.

[chuck r]

OK, with luck, the requested pics.

[jfa.series1]

Looks like pretty normal wear for a wheel - either Series 1 or 2.

FWIW - I have a completely refinished Series 1 wheel and also a Series 2 wheel for sale. Horn electrical components included but not the horn button. Either one is $225 including ground shipping within the U.S. Detailed pictures available, PM me with your email address if interested.

[grannyknot]

Chuck, I used this thread to help me restore my early steering wheel and it worked well. The cloudy white stuff is mostly from the sun I think and just underneath is new material.

[Dr. 240Z]

Hi,

Please check this out....subjectively, simple technique with a great looking/very durable result:

Search: Steering Wheel Refurbishment

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/tech-pubs-howto/51222-steering-wheel-refurbishment.html

Cheers,

George

[chuck r]

Thanks for all the help and info.

It appears the the wheels were originally manufactured with a typical plastic resin forming the core of the wheel. This plastic (or epoxy or polymer) was very common with all manufactures back then. What makes Z wheels somewhat unique is that they added a wood infused resin on top of the core. This top layer is thin. This is what gave it the wood wheel look.

Will some of you guys give me your thoughts- yay or nay?

My concern is that my wheel had a number of areas where the top layer is worn away. All that is left is the base core with no woodgrain- so, it's just single color plastic. My experience with stains is that they just accentuate existing woodgrain. Applying stain to these high wear areas is just going to change the color- not create a woodgrain. Thoughts?

I'm not trying to be negative and some of the restored wheels shown earlier look beautiful.

[sscanf]

I think if you sand it smooth (maybe 320 grit sand paper) and get some stain on it, its going to look great. The 240Z wheel I picked up a couple of months ago looked pretty rough before I started but it came out nice.

I just did mine last weekend, pretty much following the above process (stain, then I think I had 5 or 6 VERY thin coats of spar urethane applied with a small foam brush, treated between coats with 000 steel wool):