Have you ever used bondo to fill cracks and missing chunks in a steering wheel? Did it work? What else have you used with good results? Thanks.Bob
Many folk swear by PC-7. Having used it, I have to agree. Because it is water soluble, you can wet your (gloved) fingertips and feather it to reduce sanding. Do a search on steering wheel restoration and repair. I think there is even a good one in the tech archives.
Por 15 epoxy putty and JB Weld. This wheel was garden art 'til I decided to save it. I covered most of it up anyway with a wheelskins cover and some hemp twine.
Robert,this is a thread I did a while back when I repaired the steering wheel on the Ranch Wagon. HRP http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=675133&highlight=steering+wheel+repair
I have done two wheels now and used pc7 on both. I was in a hurry on the second one and didn't let the epoxy cure well enough before i sanded and sprayed it with 2k high build primer. I let the epoxy set over night. The solvent in the primer and the pc7 must have reacted and the cracks came back within days. The pc7 shrank up quite a bit. Take your time so you only have to do it once
A lot depends on the material the wheel is made from.If it is plastic covered later style it will expand and contract with heat once back in use.This will push the repair out if bondo is used.If useing jb weld type drill small wholes back into the existing plastic so it an worm in and hold better.If its an early style wheel that turns to powder when you grind it bondo will work fine.Grind out the crac and the metal to get the best adhesion.Dont just pack it full .Go at it like fiberglass repair.I have restored a lot of wheels its like all aspects of car restoration ,the quick way and the right way.
I restored an O/T Mustang wheel using a marine product that they use to fix small holes and nicks in boat hulls. Worked great and did not pull away from the original material of the wheel. It was sandable and painted fine. That was 20+ years ago, but I'm sure that if you go down to the local boat store, you will find just what you need.
I was concerned with rigid fill material like JB not flexing enough and cracking down the road, so I used 3M 8101 panel adhesive to fill the cut/V'd out cracks and drilled holes as mentioned above. Ran a skim coat of filler over it with 2 coats of epoxy primer before painting.
I used epoxy on the rim of my wheel in a couple spots but I used bondo for the center portion. 10 years later you can see lines where the bondo has shrunk. It's still holding in there, but in another 10 years I expect it'll be cracking. The epoxy repairs are still invisible to me.
I needed to make a smaller steering wheel quick and didnt want to wait for the putty to ship so I used duraglass. So far it has held up fine, really needs more work to get it perfect but I needed the wheel the next day to drive the car.
Another vote for PC-7. I used to restore my F-100 steering wheel and it still looks great 15 years later.
Here is my way of a cheap but effective repair..... I cleaned up the wheel with a wire cup on the drill.I used "Icing" the hardener activated glaze putty by Evercoat....It sands easy and stays without shrinking..... I primed it with flex primer and painted with acrylic enamel and flex additive.....
I love this one and had thought about it. Only question is does the horn ring get in the way of your hands with the smaller wheel ?
Have had just OK results with both bondo & JB weld but neither one has held up for any length of time. I have had much better results with KBS Nu Metal epoxy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIEM7r_BRw0 One of the tricks to a long lasting repair is to final coat the steering wheel with a flex agent catalyst in the paint {the same thing used on jet skis , fiberglass bodied boats & new plastic car bumpers}. .
What he said ^ and Eastwood sells it with a good book on restoring wheels http://search.eastwood.com/search?w...=28027343340&gclid=CJOiivq-zLgCFUFyQgodHW4AIA
I love wheelskins! I've used them on several of my cars and trucks. They seem a bit pricey at first, but after you are done with the install and start driving them you realize just how nice they are. I'm always surprised how slick a newly painted wheel is.
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