Steering Wheel Repaint

[Guest 49 Packard]

Has anyone here had experience repainting a steering wheel? I don't want to paint it with something that will be sticky forever like Krylon... Any recommendations?

[mrpushbutton]

do yourself a favor--take the wheel off of the car and take it to a body shop and have it painted with real paint. Little jobs like that aren't that expensive in the grand scheme of things, and you'll be much happier with the results.

and your hands won't stick to the wheel.

[johnworden1]

I've used Dupont Centari acrylic enamel with hardener. I believe any paint type ( polyurathane, urethane, acrylic urethane, acrylic enamel including clears etc. that requires hardener will work equally well. Also remember that the finish will only be as good as the preparation and undercoats. I use epoxy primer for the priming steps and I sand it so as not to leave a thick coating of it. Two part fillers such as epoxy, body filler, flexible filler etc. can be used to fill imperfections depending somewhat on what the wheel is made of. Use 600 grit for final primer sanding. Apply no more than 2 or 3 coats of color depending on paint type. Hang the wheel so that it can be rotated for easier sprayng. Don't touch it for a week. John Worden

[tbirdman]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I've used Dupont Centari acrylic enamel with hardener. I believe any paint type ( polyurathane, urethane, acrylic urethane, acrylic enamel including clears etc. that requires hardener will work equally well. Also remember that the finish will only be as good as the preparation and undercoats. I use epoxy primer for the priming steps and I sand it so as not to leave a thick coating of it. Two part fillers such as epoxy, body filler, flexible filler etc. can be used to fill imperfections depending somewhat on what the wheel is made of. Use 600 grit for final primer sanding. Apply no more than 2 or 3 coats of color depending on paint type. Hang the wheel so that it can be rotated for easier sprayng. Don't touch it for a week. John Worden </div></div>

Great feedback. Unfortunately by the time you gather all of the materials to paint, it would be just as cheap to send it out. However you'll learn a lot and forever you have a reminder of your project. Also with the time you could spend on it, you might just do a better job than a body shop.

[HH56]

Absolutely concur with tbirdman and johnworden1. I also used Centari which worked very well but by the time it was over, with color match and minimum quantities etc, had well over a hundred dollars into paint, reducer and other supplies-not to mention the time it took to prep the wheel, knobs and other items I did.

[Guest bkazmer]

I agree that a professional job will be superior, but I've done this with Epoxy primer (want to seal the old phenolic's degradation products) and epoxy paint.

[johnworden1]

For the 2 tone wheel in a 41 Ford on which a high gloss finish didn't seem appropriate I used Dupont 2370S which is a flexible and matte clear. I matched one of the colors with Centari but needed to us Chroma Base for the second one. The matte clear killed the gloss on the Centari and worked as the clear over the Chroma Base. John Worden