[alfa] RE: repairing wood rimmed steering wheel

[Tony Martie <tony@xxxxxxxx>]

> Does anyone have experience in repairing/refinishing a Personal Wood 
> rimmed
> steering wheel?  Mine has a few scratches and cracks, but no structural
> damage.  Any suggestion for materials/process and where to acquire the
> materials?  Thanks.  David

I just refinished the original wheel on my 78 Spider earlier this year. 
 After I put the job off for years it turned out to be pretty simple, 
just takes a little patience.
I didn't even remove the wheel from the car, since I hear that can be a 
genuine pita.

Get yourself a range of medium to very fine sandpaper, some Helmsman 
Spar Urethane, appropriate small brush and mineral spirits.
Tape off the spokes of the wheel so as not to sand them (masking tape 
topped with a layer of duct or gaffers tape is good armor).

Get to sanding.  Take all of that shine.  If yours has some really 
rough spots (mine did, mostly on the sharp edges around where the 
spokes enter the wood)  you can do what I did and just sand them until 
the rough spots are gone, or I suppose you could try repairing with 
some wood filler if you want.  Regardless of what you do there, 
eventually the wheel is going to start feeling pretty smooth.  Don't go 
getting crazy with the with the fine grit paper yet, you need to have 
some roughness for the urethane to adhere to (the instructions on the 
can show what the recommended grit is).  Clean with the spirits, apply 
urethane, sand (I think that I sanded off the majority of the first 
coat off except where it was filling some remaining rough spots.) , 
clean, urethane, sand, clean, urethane (not nearly as grueling as it 
sounds).
I stopped at the three coats recommended for 'harsh conditions' 
(steering wheel of a convertible definitely qualifies as harsh), you 
may choose to do more.

Let it set up for a good amount of time (I left mine alone for a couple 
of weeks).  The wheel will look beautiful at this point but you may 
find that you have some issues with the feel.  Mine had little bits of 
grit here and there that I could feel.
Here's where you get into the super fine sanding if you find it 
necessary.
Do some very light sanding, moving from really-fine to super-mega-fine 
grit paper (ok, it will actually be numbers like 400 or 800 on into the 
thousands).  Follow this with buffing with some sort of wax and it 
should be just like new.

I would also recommend doing all of the refinishing steps to a separate 
piece of wood as you go. That way you have a test piece to try your 
final finishing procedures on before hitting the wheel with them 
(something I thought of after the fact, natch).

Tony Martie
'78 Spider (for sale really soon now. I mean it this time!)
Dallas, TX
http://tmpd.net
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