Hello,

I spent two week restoring my steering wheel on my '66 Lemans. Got Eastwoods steering wheel restoration kit, filled in the cracks with the epoxy, sanded it smooth, primed it with polyester primer, sanded it smooth..again, then I painted it with lacuer paint from year one.

When I finished, this thing was a work of art..the wheel was beautiful and the color match was great. I even received compliments at several car shows. Unfortunately, about a month after I restored the wheel, the cracks started to reappear. It's progressed to the point where it's now really noticble.

Hmmmm, where did I go wrong. Any thoughts/help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Dan

Hello,

I spent two week restoring my steering wheel on my '66 Lemans. Got Eastwoods steering wheel restoration kit, filled in the cracks with the epoxy, sanded it smooth, primed it with polyester primer, sanded it smooth..again, then I painted it with lacuer paint from year one.

When I finished, this thing was a work of art..the wheel was beautiful and the color match was great. I even received compliments at several car shows. Unfortunately, about a month after I restored the wheel, the cracks started to reappear. It's progressed to the point where it's now really noticble.

Hmmmm, where did I go wrong. Any thoughts/help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Dan

BaD luck. I did mine but passed on using a kit. Epoxies have little or no bond to plastics. At work we use plastic to prevent epoxy from bonding to molds and forms. There only benefit is they are non shrinking as generally contain 100% solids. I used Dominion Sure Seal plastic adhesive weld. It took several applications to completely fill the cracks. I had radial cracks all around the circumference plus lots around the the spokes, probably a total of 40 in. of cracking. After filling, sanding, filling , sanding I painted if with 2 part urethane for more flex in the paint. Its been 9 months now with not a flaw to be seen. Make sure to carefully clean the wheel first with strong deteregent and scatch out all the cracks with utility blade and pins to remove hand oils and grime.

GlenP68...thanks for your reponse.

A few questions:

Is the Sure Seal plastic adhesive weld an epoxy like material(you just spread it in the cracks)?

Is it ok to use on Bake-lite material?(this is what my steering wheel is make of)...I guess it's basically plastic?

Can I get this Dominion sure seal plastic adhesive from my local body parts supplier?

Also, what type of primer did you use? I was told to use polyester...can I use something else...perferably out of a can?

Thanks again,

Dan

I body the Sure Seal at a Napa assoc. store. It is sold for repairing plastic bumpers. It comes with a spray activater that i used in the cracks befor and afer the glue. It is very similiar to to grazy glue and has the ability to melt into the resin to create a superior bond. Its very thin so you don't need to V the cracks out but you will need to use seveeral aplications to get a flush surface. There are plastic primers available that you can udercoat with before painting. If you don't have spray equipment the little Prevail sprayers will work for painting.

Thanks GlenP68,

When I rework the wheel later this winter, I'll try the sure seal product.

Thanks again.

Dan

I used wood putty.

The stain and urethane coating soaks into the wood putty, thus making for good adhesion to the plastic.

H.I. Stud

"11.00/123MPH/1.50 60foot/29.5"/4.10:1/10"/472 #48/Flat HYD/DualQuad/Wenzler/3250Lbs<br />12.00/112MPH/1.61 60foot/26"/3.31:1/10"/472 #48/FlatHYD/Q-Jet/Torker/3650Lbs"