Xophertony

i have been driving around with a rusty steering wheel for a while now, the powder coat has been falling off to reveal rust below. the outside seemed fine, but what an eyesore. so i decided to do something about it. i removed the wheel and scrapped off the powder coat with a butter knife (i know, shut up). i then sanded off the rust, and masked off the grip of the wheel. then i hit it with rustolium semi-gloss black. and again, and again, and again. i sanded between a few of the coats with 220 to try and eliminate the low spots, then moved on to 320 before my last two coats. the only problem now is the center spokes look better then the grip.

all in all i think i have about two hours in it so far, but now i have to find a way to re-attach the center trim. when i attempted to drill the rivets it just spun them and melted the plastic. i may have to use bolts/nuts. i am pleased with how it turned out. i would not recommend painting the wheel to someone doing this for a show car, but for my daily driven 2.8L firebird i think it is fine. this is such a drastic improvement over the way it looked before, that picture really hides much of the imperfections and nastiness.

let me know what you all think. also if anyone knows of any product that will make the rubber grip a nice ebony/black again i would like to hear about it.

Aviator857

Most parts stores have a wrap that you can put on the steering wheel. I've seen ones that are not the standard "tennis racket wrap" but just smooth black leather that you stitch together on the inside of the wheel. If done with patience it looks good. My first thought was vinyl/leather dye but after thinking about that on a steering wheel I think it might start rubbing off on your hands. Of course a good interior shop could recover it for you, but that would cost. But the paint job looks good. I think I would get some torx screws to reattach if they will be visible, just tap the holes.