Advice on Painting a '65 Skylark Steering Wheel

[ol' yeller]

I tried posting this question over at the V8 Buick website but only got lookers. A friend of mine has found a compound to fill the cracks that every '65 Skylark steering wheel develops over the years. It fills very well, dries very hard, and sands to a smooth surface. Only time will tell if the repair will hold up to use and heat/cold over time. As this one is going in my restored '65 it won't see the extremes that the original one did. Anyway, with the cracks repaired we are now looking for a good way to paint the wheel so that it will hold up to use and look like the original finish. WE ARE NOT PAINTERS, obviously. We tried several different rattle cans but the finish was unsatisfactory. Does anyone know what to use and how to apply it? If we can get satisfactory results we both would like to reinstall the original wheels and sell our very nice 'comfort grip" wheels to the later model guys for a fortune. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Greg

[Guest ewing]

I don't know what the pros would recommend, but I can tell you that I filled the cracks in my 47 steering wheel, and painted it with tremclad paint from the can. I used recreational white and used black and tan to tint it to just the right ivory colour.

After several years of use it is holding up really well.

I painted it, and sanded it several coats till I got a nice finish.

[NTX5467]

When I was looking into steering wheel paint issues many years ago, it was decided that a polyurethane enamel would probably provide the best replication of the plastic finish of the original steering wheel. In later times, I believe that Eastwood Co. might have something (in a basic color group) for painting steering wheels (I believe they might also sell the repair/patch kits for the cracks too).

Typically, I believe the cracks and gaps in the plastic steering wheels are the result of the oils in the plastic evaporating with time and exposure and heat cycles. It's possible that a paint on the plastic steering wheel surface might seal it to stop that process (which started when the wheel was first made).

Just some thoughts,

NTX5467