I searched and didn't find anything. Has anyone taken an old cool steering wheel and reduced it's diameter by using the rim from a newer smaller diameter wheel? I have an optional 53 Buick wheel I would like to do this to.
A couple buddies and I shrank a '56 Chevy steering wheel by pie cutting the rim in a couple of places. Did it in one afternoon. We stripped the cast rubber only where we cut and welded it back together (very messy part here). PC-7 supplied the filler. Final shaping and painting were another week part time evenings. It's been on my buddies car for 10 years or so, still looks brand new, no cracks. This was before they were mass produced by after market. Sorry, no picture, my friend who owns it lives an hour away.
I've swapped rims on steering wheels, generally same-size to fix one that doesn't have any plastic left on the grip but no reason it couldn't be done to reduce diameter. However on the Buick wheel it's going to be tougher to make it look right due to the large diameter horn ring. You go from 18" diameter to 15" and suddenly the horn ring is just inside the steering wheel grip, which looks goofy. It can be done, but I think most look out of proportion. Someone makes smaller diameter Tri-5 Belair and 58-60 Impala wheels and I always thought they looked strange, like a toy or something. A plain-jane wheel with just a horn center cap and no horn ring would probably look more "right" when finished. I suppose you could eliminate the horn ring on the Buick wheel, but that wheel is so pretty in stock form, I think it'd be a shame to cut it up. Why exactly do you want it to be smaller?
Yes, You can swap a smaller rim on but in your case you would have to find a donor wheel that has cross bars at 3 & 9 o'clock like your original. Finding a smaller wheel with those spec's might be a challenge. In my case it made it simpler to find a newer wheel ( '56 Chevy) with bars at 3, 6 & 9 o'clock. This way you don't have to remove or build up the figure recesses on the back side! https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/steering-wheel-resto-job-finished.590437/
Not too long ago, Rocky showed us how he used a foot rest hoop from a bar stool for a smaller steering wheel.
I want a smaller wheel because my car is chopped and the big wheel just looks and feels wrong from the drivers seat. I'm using a early 70's Buick wheel now and it is about the right size. The Buick one pictured is 18" diameter, I don't know what the size the one on the car is without measuring and the car is in storage now. Thanks for the replies, and to answer the first comment, I do have power steering also.
You could build a smaller copy from scratch using the following how-to. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/how-i-made-a-banjo-wheel.344222/
The Jalopy Journal
