steering wheel cleaning/restoration?

Is there a trick or process that will clean and polish a custom white steering wheel from a faded vanilla color back to its original white? Maybe like a baking soda scrub, or polishing compound?

 

Anyone? Not even a smart ass comment? I was thinking Simi-Chrome or the like would do it...I really want the wheel to get back to bright white and retain its shine...

 

try common household pop-up wipes like the ones by Clorox. they remove minor stains from white formica and i think they are mild enough not to hurt the paint.

 

Maybe try vinegar, aslo a good whitener is Peroxide I believe 3% it wont harm plastic.

 

I'll be trying those things...are those style aftermarket wheels painted, or molded in their colors?

 

What kind of car is the steering wheel out of? If it were painted originally, you'd probably see worn spots on the rim from many years of sweaty hands. Another thought - do you know for sure it's supposed to be bright white? It's probably yellowed over time but it may have been an ivory or cream color from new.

 

The wheel in my '62 Suburban was just plain disgusting. I spent a good long time cleaning it with Windex...after a few months, and a very hot summer, 45 years' worth of hand oil, grease and other things I'd rather not think about came bubbling out of the plastic.
I've since hit it twice, at different times, with Go-Joe orange flavored hand wipes. That's cleaned it up pretty well.

-Brad

 

It's aftermarket, regular 13" chrome wheel...might be a cream wheel, but I think it was white though...

 

Bringing this old thread back as I just bought a nice white Steering Wheel.

Yellowed somewhat by age. I think it will clean up but I would like to get it whiter.

Any more recent thoughts?

 

I've used this stuff. Spray some on a rag and rub until the grime is gone. Worked great at removing the staining on the wheels I tried it on. Used some to clean a green wheel, and it worked on that also.

 

I have sold a lot of different steering wheels over the years, I would usually clean them up as much as I could before listing them. I would usually use brake cleaner, acetone, lacquer thinner for cleaning up the outer ring. Those products will usually kinda soften it up a bit and break up the crude. Always worked for me!

 

My wife inherited a large set of old milk glass. It was really yellowed. She did some research and ended up soaking the pieces overnight in denture cleaner. They were as white as new when she rinsed them the next morning. Worth a shot maybe.

 

Thanx for the replies. I'll try them all until I get one that works. My main problem isn't cleaning the crud, but rather whitening the plastic. I wonder what is in denture cleaner.

 

Try soft scrub and a terry cloth towel?

 

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sheets?

 

I would try Cerama Bryte cook top cleaner It works on the wife's stove top Don't know what you call it but the burners are solid into the stove top Cleans the top & doesn't scratch the surface Takes off hard stains I would think it would work on the steering wheel & nor scratch it Any appliance shop

 

Hand cleaning wipes. The ones I have from summit.

 

Hello,

There are a bunch of “denture cleaners” or a different way to use a popular toothpaste could be used. I am not sure what denture cleaners were used, but one time our toddler son saw a form fitted tooth plate sitting inside of a glass bowl at grandpa’s house. Of course, he wanted to know what it was… ha! It was a good thing he did not see grandpa without it!!! But, those cleaners have a solution that is not for material like leather or vinyl steering wheel covers.

As far as the Cerama-bryte, the stuff does clean cooktop surfaces, but it is not for leather or vinyl. We have used the stuff and it works well on glass/stainless cooktop surfaces. We were so happy with the results, we were tempted to use it on some other chairs at the arm rest corners. But, Cerama-bryte has a specific leather cleaner for material surfaces, not hard glass/stainless cooktops.

There are good cleaners, starting with that solution called Westley’s Bleche-Wite… (great spelling!) for a zillion years on our old cars and just stuff. The old containers were different, but the cleaner works well then and now.
@Doublepumper
We ran out of our own individual cleaning solution, but an alternate suggestion was found. In recent years, we had a white leather couch and a little discoloration from some lotion got on the white leather surface. Instead of throwing the whole couch out and getting a new one, we used the latest product for a bleached white look and matched the leather color pretty well. It is not noticeable as it was earlier. You find the most interesting things on the web with others doing the research and trial/error for products used. If it did take off stains off of leather, think of what it does to teeth! So, advertising does work sometimes.

Jnaki

Not only is the white leather couch white, again, but our teeth are showing signs of a brighter smile from not just living nicely… but finishing off the open toothpaste tubes. A simple water on cloth clean up is the best.

NOTE: As always, try a little in places that are not the center of attention on any surfaces and see what it does. This goes for all products suggested and will be suggested in the further posting stories.

For those nay-sayers, we have also used Armor-All spray, on a cloth, to wipe down a black leather trim around a steering wheel(s) with great results. We wipe the solution with a clean cloth after it was applied and when dried, it felt good. Any hand oils or marks from rings or such disappeared. YRMV