Has anyone used Too Intense Restoration to recondition their steering wheels? I just noticed they offer this service from $125 - $195 depending on the condition of the steering wheel. I am thinking about having this done.

carl

I would wager you could do it yourself for quite a bit cheaper.

There are many threads on here that discuss how to do the resto...give it a look maybe?

It's not too hard to do. By the second try you should be a pro. Do you have a spare wheel?

It took me 3 tries on this wheel...but I did it with experimental methods. Two of which did not work. ;-) I'm sure if I did another one it would be even nicer.

Edited April 27, 201014 yr by cygnusx1

cygnusx1,

Did you use a wood stain for an original look? If so, what was it? Also, did you use Marine Spar Varnish for a finish?

(As you can guess, I'm in the middle of doing mine right now!)

I do actually have a spare. I don't know if they restore the wood grain look or not. I tried once to work on it and have had to remove the paint and sand down some of the wheel. I have seen the threads about people doing their own but wasn't very confident of my abilities. I will probably give it another go and see how it goes before I shell out the big bucks. Thanks for your input.

carl

I refinished my steering wheel. It wasn't a big deal. Just sand off the old finish, stain it with walnut or mahogany stain, and then finish with several coats of a good furniture type coating. I used tung oil, but I hear that polyurethane works well also.

With tung oil you have to let it dry for a day or two, then use steel wool between coats.

In response to how I did mine...I wanted the "wet-look" like you see on the modern Nardi wheels. The first thing I did was to apply some boiled linseed oil. Then I wanted to encapsulate the entire rim in a thick coat of epoxy resin for a tough high gloss look. The resin would also thicken up the rim a little. I placed the wheel flat in a vise and mixed up epoxy resin. I drenched the rim with the resin and it coated very nicely as the excess resin dripped of the back. I looked great until the resin began reacting with the linseed oil! It hardened with hundreds of "fish eyes" and pock marks. I thought the wheel was ruined. I grabbed a lot of sand paper and began the work of sanding off the epoxy to smooth it down. Hours later, I had a smooth wheel again, with a thin later of epoxy. It was no longer glossy. I grabbed a can of high gloss clear spray. I taped off the center and sprayed about six coats of the clear. That worked out very well. I then masked the rim and painted the center with a GM Semi-gloss black from Dulpli-Color.

Lesson: Make sure, your stain coat is compatible with the top coat of your choice. Don't be afraid to experiment. It's all fun.

Edited April 28, 201014 yr by cygnusx1

Dave,

I have a couple of the ugly steering wheels for my '78, one of which has "Melted" from age and heat. I am going to make a laminated wood replacement using one of my ugly ones. The intention is to get a wheel that resembles the one on your picture. Could you please measure the diameter of the rim on your steering wheel and the distance between the grips (finger indentations). I would really appreciate it.

Andrew, 15" on the outside of the rim and each ridge is 1" peak to peak along the centerline of the rim.

Andrew, 15" on the outside of the rim and each ridge is 1" peak to peak along the centerline of the rim.

This is great, thanks!

+1 for poly. I would use a satin clear to recreate the factory look.

Be careful with sailboat varnishes. Note that most labels show they are extremely cancerous. Given a steering wheel or two would probably not be enough exposure to do harm but something to note regardless

Edited April 28, 201014 yr by five&dime

These steering wheels are wood looking plastic right? I over sanded one and it turned white pretty quick. If its plastic, why furniture oils instead of straight up urethane or epoxy clear coat?