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How to Restore a Steering Wheel
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Writer: Jeff Ford
Photographer: Jeff Ford
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1969 Restored Rim Blow
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1970 Restored Rim Blow
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Where the interior is concerned, the steering wheel is the focal point. Because it's one of the first things you see while driving, it's in constant view. With that being the case, an ugly or cracked wheel is nothing but an ocular annoyance when you're driving your Mustang. At each revolution, you get a good view of that bothersome crack or gapping chunk that was the result of the plastic shrinking over the years.
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What to do? In this arena, there are a couple alternatives. One is to redo the wheel yourself, using a wheel resto kit such as the one from POR-15. The other is to send the wheel off to one of many parts houses for a rebuild. If you're lucky enough to have a '65-'69 Mustang with the standard wheel, you also can buy a reproduction. All three options have pros and cons. Obviously, if you try to do it yourself and fail, you will still have to send the wheel off and pay for the work. If you send the wheel off, you will be out some bucks, but the job will be correctly performed by pros who know the job because they do it every day. As for the third choice, if you have a Rim-Blow or Deluxe wheel, then you have only the first two choices.
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What to do? The wheel we are planning on restoring is the Rim-Blow from our Project '70 Mach 1. The wheel on this car is actually missing. Luckily, I dug around in the "I-might-need-that-someday" pile and snagged the original Ginger Rim-Blow from our '72 Lazarus Project. After some POR-15 putty, black and brown paint, new center pad, and Rim-Blow switch from Perogie Enterprises, the wheel will be ready to install after we locate the correct column.
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1. This emblem is now available from Santa Barbara Muscle Cars. This emblem was used on all '69-'73 Rim-Blow-equipped Mustangs. Although there are slight differences between 69 and the 70-73 shown by clicking on 69($45) or 70($45). The aluminum pieces are also being reproduced along with the plastic inserts. These were high-snag items and are often snapped off at the outer edges.
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2. The center emblem shown is typical of what happens to the plastic pieces--tiny fractures result from sun damage. If yours is in good condition, use a plastic cleaner and polish to bring back the original luster, then repaint the ring using Testors Silver.
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3. The POR-15 Steering Wheel Repair Kit($99.95) is complete and is available from Santa Barbara Muscle Cars. We had to get some Zap-A-Gap to fix a hairline crack, though.
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4.On our '70 Rim-Blow, we used an X-Acto knife to remove the chrome strip. In most places, it just flaked off. Some areas were a bit harder, so we had to scrape and then sand.
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5. As we began, we roughed up the finish with a scuffing pad to find our little nicks and cracks that, at first, were not obvious. It's surprising how many were on the wheel.
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6. A sample of what we tackled on the wheel is shown. There are other places such as the cracks on the outer ring (not shown). The marks in the finger grooves...
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