The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Steering Wheel Repair (cracks & separations)

I needed to repair some wide cracks in my steering wheel and didn't know what to use ... so, naturally, I came here and found my answers.

I can't remember or find the thread that helped me out, so I'm posting a new one here, in Interiors.

Someone mentioned that JB Weld was a good way to go, so I called my local auto parts store and found JB Stick Weld -- excellent! You can't get any quicker and easier than this!

Check It Out -- Click Here

Alan,
I used JB Weld on mine a couple weeks ago and agree it filled cracks well. I v'ed mine out they weren't as severe as yours with a Dremel. It's a little harder to sand and I'm not completely done. I primed and still need to patch a little more of course directions for JB Weld say remove all paint. It dries very hard and I think it'll work fine. Haven't posted pics to my Webshots but eventually will. Good Luck
Dan

Alan,Eastwood makes a kit that comes with all the things you need to do a first class job.I used it on my Studebaker steering wheel and it turned out fine.I did have some paint adhesion problems until I used Fusion rattle can paint.

there also is the brand, Bulldog adhesion promoter, found at auto paint stores, heard it workds good.

Mike

I bought some good quality 5 minute epoxy, from a plastics specialty store, and filled all the cracks in my wheel and sanded them down and painted the wheel with tremclad.
I did this with the wheel attached to the column. It looks ok but later on I will remove the wheel(now that I know how to ) and re-sand it and spray paint it.

Plane old epoxy resin is very brittle and really doesn’t have much strength, just like plane old cement doesn’t have much strength. The strength comes from the matrix of sand, gravel and cement to make concrete. Epoxy works the same way, if you use it to bind a filler such as carbon, glass, metal etc., together it works great. Alan’s use of JB Weld is an example of metal filler suspended in an epoxy resin, very strong in compression but the resin may not be formulated to be flexible. 5Min epoxy applied to close fitting parts with enough area in tension is also quite strong. The peel strength of it however is almost nil also it is quite brittle also. With out a filler I would expect 5min epoxy to fracture from any flexing, with a filler in it I believe basically have the same product as JB Weld.
The product Eastwood is selling to repair steering wheels should have a filler in it similar to the original compound, also the epoxy should be formulated to flex to some degree. The excellent reports I have heard about this product would lead me to believe that their product is properly formulated and that they did do their homework.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I bought some of the steering wheel repair epoxy from Classic Parts of America for about $7. It looks like it is working great but I only got about $1 worth out of it before it hardened in the container to the point I couldn't work with it anymore.The instructions say to mix it all in the little cup they give you but then you have a choice of working really fast and sloppy or only using a little bit and throwing the rest away.
I finished what I didn't get done with JB weld based on what I learned on here and side by side on the same steering wheel I would say the epoxy from Classic parts looks slightly better but not enough to give up the ease of use and price of the JB weld.

I used the POR-15 steering wheel kit on my 58 Lincoln 2-dr coupe and the fillers so far have worked great . Still have'nt got to the final paint yet.
Any tips on what type of paint to use ?

I used JB weld on my 54....spent too much time getting it right....all sanded and sprayed with vinyl spray paint. It looked great, hung it up in my shop to dry. Realized a couple hours later I hadn't shut off my big compressor....wakes up the neighborhood...so I go out there, didn't bother to turn on the lights.....bumped the wheel with my head...and the whole thing hit the floor.

To make a long story shorter.....didn't even turn on the lights to look. Next morning noted that every bit of JB weld I had so carefully applied, shaped, and finished was on the floor. Popped right out!

I got a specific wheel repair kit from C/Duty.....hasn't fallen out yet, but I haven't dropped it!!!! Live and learn!

Dave

Hey Dave...

Sorry to hijack this thread but you reminded me of a funny story with your steering wheel..

Back in my counter-culture days, I was driving down the road and saw my buddy's shag van crashed in a ditch...it was close to his house so I drove over there, knocked on the door, and my buddy finally answered after 5 minutes, wearing only a pair of jeans.

I asked him how he wrecked his van and he replied in a stupor...I didn't wreck my van...I looked down at his chest and there was a perfect imprint of a steering wheel bruise starting to form...wish there was such a thing as a cell phone camera back then

To answer the original question...I used both mentioned products on the same wheel and had cracks starting to show after a few months. I guess I did't prep it well enough.

por-15 is probably your best bet for steering wheel repair/resto. lacquer was used for many years but urethane is bulletproof and the way to go unless you are doing a concours 100 point restoration.

I used the same acrylic enamel paint & primer I used on the rest of the interior, so far so good. Used the "steering wheel repair epoxy" from Classic Parts of America. Brian