After about 3 years searching I finally found my dream steering wheel a 49 Chevy accessory wheel, for my 50 Fleetline. However this thing stinks and I mean bad. It's a mixture of puke and shit, and it comes from the plastic or whatever the substance used to make the wheel is. So my question is does anyone know how to get rid of this God awful smell? I'd hate to open to door to my ride only to be punched in the face with this evil stench every time.
Put it in the dishwasher, then wash it down with white vinigar, then spritz it with fabreeze. If that don't work ya might try paintin it. That should seal it up. Of course it might not be good to trap an odor like you describe, could cause an explosion
Hang a pair of turds from the rear view mirror you'll soon forget how bad that wheel smells.....only joking sorry don't know the answer, is the wheel made of hard material or soft & porous.....curious for remedy on this one!
Sounds like someone's been pickin dingleberries while driving and wipin them on the wheel I think Bakelite plastic is a cotton product? and it may be moldy. try the wash as said above with some common chlorine bleach (not that new "Ultra Bleach" crap) it'll kill mold. Then if that don't work, clear it with something tough (Krispy Kreme sells Dough nuts... Is that sposed to be pronounced like Tough nuts?)
Thanks for the suggestions fellas, I'll definitely be trying them tonight. The plastic is not the porous kind you see on some rubber type of wheels. It's a smooth plastic and from what I've seen, this style of wheel was never painted like the majority of 50's steering wheels, it was polished. I have another one in crap condition that's slowly crumbling away that smells exactly the same, so despite the dead body and ass-pickin' theories, it's definitely the plastic!
Looks like a real nice wheel, i know it doesn't look porous but i think the smell is deep within that plastic.....listen to this, i'm not going off track but this surprised me! i collect a certain 1930's pottery which is glazed deep red & is white on the under side, my mrs likes all those stinky air fresheners & has one pot full of old dead leaves & crap....& has been re-freshening it with scented oil (vanilla) she cleaned the pot out this weekend & noticed the red glaze still looked ok but had gone through to the white on the under side, completely different materials i know but it surprised me having soaked through the glaze... My point being perhaps something like that would absorb into the material on that wheel....maybe...after all the stink is in there!!
I'm not sure exactly what the cause or solution is, but I do know RATBOY's Hudson has the exact same problem with it's steering wheel. We like to call it "scent of hot-buttered ass"... It's bad. Seems to me that the clear coat would work, but you'd probably want to clean it real well to get all the oils(from previous drivers' hands) off of it to get better adhesion of the paint/epoxy and you might find out that the scent of hot-buttered ass is gone after the cleaning and it doesn't need the paint anymore...
And here I was gonna make a smart ass comment about you rsteering wheel smelling. Lo and behold it really does. I agree it's probably mold. I'd try the real bleach or some whit vinegar and when is all said and done seal it with epoxy...
Its some weird degradtion of plastic... My old job, we had this toolbox that never got opened.... cause it had a set of those Xcellite torx screwdrivers.... smelled like the kinda puke you get after having way too much Gin and chinese take-out.... And god forbid, if you actually had use the fukkers, your hand smelled like it and it wouldn't wash off.... took several hours to dissappate. NARSTY. "Yeah, I totally Yuked, but I held it in with my hand"
What ever u use to try to get rid of the smell, try it on the backside first (small spot) to make sure it doesn't screw up the color or the material.
One of the tricks the antique dealers use when they want to determine if a vintage plastic item is bakelite, is to vigorously polish it with a cloth for a minute. Generally if it is real bakelite it will give off the odor of formaldehyde. The technique works, and some bakelite gives off a little odor and some a lot. You are probably going to want to seal this steering wheel to kill the smell. Frequently waxing it might do the trick, as I don't know how well some clear coat will hold up to hours of exposure to dirt and oils from your hands, before you would be stipping it and coating it again.
Just finished reading a site on Bakelite;very interesting.It is made from equal parts of carbolic acid and formaldehyde and heated to form whatever is being made.That would explain the smell but according to the site it really doesn't degrade.It was the first thermosetting plastic which basically means it can't be re-formed.I think Dr J was thinking of celluloid which is a combination of nitrocellulose and camphor(and another ingredient I can't remember)which degrades when exposed to heat or sunlight and is very corrosive to ferrous metals.I believe your steering wheel is made of something other than Bakelite although it's probably a close relative composition-wise.I think a good cleaning followed by a clear sealer(urethane maybe)will cure the problem.As was said before try it on a non exposed part first to make sure the wheel doesn't react unfavorably.
On the 50 Chrysler We just got, Same thing couldnt figure out where the pukeshit smell was comin from. Pulled the carpet and cleaned em to find out its the steeringwheel ---Feder
[ QUOTE ] There must have been a dead body in the car... [/ QUOTE ] wouldnt doubt it, or at least something was dead in it... if it smells so bad that you cant stand it, you might want to use a cleaner with enzymes in it... diluted amonia?? scrub till your arm falls off!!! plastic cant smell that bad.... screw it, tell people it gives character... haunted cheby!!!
I'll second the stench issue with those wheels. I had a decent one in a 49 fleetline, I it was missing the plastic insert plus it stunk so I threw it away and put a 51 wheel in. I didn't know it was an accessory at the time so just throwing it away probally was'nt the smartest move I've made after seeing what they go for on Egay lately Billy
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