Technical Pontiac Clear Steering Wheel Restoration

Hello, I have a 60s Pontiac Grand Prix with the "clear" steering wheel. My question for you all is how should I fix this? There is a huge chunk taken out of it, and cracks going down along the whole thing. I would love to restore the wheel myself by making a mold and pouring resin to make the wheel clear as gl*** again. There are companies that do this, but they cost a pretty penny, costing around $1,000-$1,200. How should I make my mold? Should I first fill all the cracks that go along the wheel and fill in the huge gap? Or should I make the mold and then modify the mold to make it smooth. Another question, should I use putty mold or liquid mold?

 

There are people who "recast" these steering wheels. It's not cheap but if you want to keep that originality, it's the only way I know of.

https://qualityrestorations.com/pontiacs-clear/

 

Yeah I know, I was trying to not do that since that is a lot of money just for a steering wheel. If my mold goes totally south, I probably would have just bought a new wheel anyways. But I would much rather own the clear top wheel.

 

Ok, I might have a plan. I will fill in all the slits and cracks with some kind of filler. Then I will smooth it out. After that I will pour a huge block of resin in the space that has the chunk missing. I will smooth down the missing chunk until it is the right size, after that I will make the mold and hopefully have the result I am looking for. Here is a drawing that will maybe help show my game plan.

 

If you want to tackle it yourself, keep it simple and forget about the 'finger bumps'.
Find some rubber or other flex material hose that is the exact girth you want.
Slit the hose and trim it to fit end to end on the cleaned-up, half-circle, steering wheel center core.
Cut a square of 1/2" or better plywood a few inches larger all around than the wheel and clamp/secure the wheel to that so it can't rock about.
Use wood strips to make a curbing around the top half of the wheel where you will be making your pour. The height of the "curb" needs to be exactly the same height as the center of the wheel core.
Pour liquid silicone rubber and fill the curbing and the lower half of the hose, etc.
Make a mirror image of the lower curbing for the top half mold and clamp that lightly in position to the lower half.
Spray 'mold release' or similar if needed per the liquid rubber instructions.
Pour the top half of the liquid rubber mold material and lay a shaped piece of plywood that will just contact the still-wet liquid rubber. Place about a pound of weight on the shaped plywood to ensure good, flat contact.
After the liquid rubber top half sets up, use as many screws as needed to secure the shaped wood to the upper half curbing. This should hold the top mold together when you separate the top mold from the bottom.
You will need to remove the wheel from the lower mold to remove the split hose and you should have already fashioned a jig so the wheel can be set back in the exact same position.
Now you should be ready to mix and pour the 2-part resin color of your choice.

I've skipped some details that if you don't already know to do, you will need to do some homework. The quality of the outcome is in the details.
...

 

This could work too, but I would like to keep the finger bumps and keep it pretty factory.

 

Many years ago I made a tech thread on doing this using clear vinyl tubing. It would not be nearly as accurate as a resin cast mold, and if you end up doing it, please take a lot of pictures and post your results in a step-by-step process, as I would love to do the square steering wheel I have for my '60 Fury but I can't justify the incredible cost of a recast.

This is the thread I did with the tubing. It looked decent, and it'd hold up a while on a car with power steering if you didn't pick at it. Would cost very little and look much better than having a big chunk taken out, even if it turned out to be a temporary fix.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ch-clear-glitter-steering-wheel-resto.553352/

 

I'd try to find a replacement in better condition - they are getting harder to find, but good used Pontiac steering wheels that maybe only have a few cracks still show up from time to time. It looks like the plastic on yours is in pretty rough shape, it doesn't appear any of it is salvageable. If you do decide to try fixing it yourself, it may be better to find another local owner with a decent wheel and cast a mold from that one.

 

Restos are big money & start with re chroming the rim. But your rim looks pretty good.
There is a guy in Sweden that recasts them in clear & then repaints the color portion.
It is still under a grand.

 

Woah this seems like a deal. Can't imagine the shipping cost, though.

 

They are not exactly clear either. That have a greenish tint to them like the old tinted gl***.

 

The problem with filling in the gaps and re casting is that the plastic has shrunk, and now the spacing between the finger grips will be wrong in the filled spaces. This happens on black steering wheels when you fill the cracks, the space between the finger grips is bigger.

 

Silicone mold maker and modern epoxies will allow someone with skill to make a 2500 dollar wheel

 

There's a way of doing this by taking the same plastic from another wheel, and mixing it with MEK Methyl Ethyl Keytone and pouring it in all the cracks...after you clean and gouge them out. This will take some practice to get everything right. You'd have to form a mold using another section of steering wheel and then pour the resin stuff in there and re-cast your wheel. Here's the clincher: what's the one thing you have your hands on every time you drive the car? You bet you're gonna feel every imperfection.
I'm saving up for a wheel recast as well, by the time you factor in the material costs, your time, and finishing, you won't be saving much $$. In the meantime - wrap it with that steering wheel wrap stuff and drive the car. Hand sanding every little fill line is gonna drive you crazy in no time flat (I tried this and said fu*k it--saving up the grand for a wheel re-cast.

 

Those re-casts are expensive for a reason. This isn't something you can whomp up in your spare time. Getting an accurate mold is extremely hard, and in your case getting a good pour without bubbles or voids will be tough. I suspect that doing it as a one-off may prove to be as expensive as paying to have it done too.

I saw a relatively lo-buck home method on U-tube a few years ago that may help (sorry, I don't have the link). You won't get all the factory detail (that's the deal-breaker for amateurs) but might work for you. This guy also had an unobtainium wheel and like yours the plastic was toast. His solution was to use epoxy-based kitchen countertop material (the fake marble stuff) and a router. Your wheel has to be true round; no oblongs or squarish wheels.

What he did was get two pieces of countertop thick enough and large enough to cut the two halves out of. He drilled a hole in the center of the pieces to pivot the router off of using a solid bar to maintain distance. He then routed the inside for the wheel using a ball-end bit, then flipped it over and routed the outside using a round-over bit (two operations here). The finished profile should look something like this:


You could vary the cross-sectional profile of the rim with different router bits and/or material thickness. Glue the two pieces over the wheel rim and you have a repaired wheel with some sanding and buffing. The OP used the countertop material for durability and the easy availability of color-matched glue. His finished wheel looked very good. It should be possible to do the same thing with clear or tinted acrylic plastic (or even tinted glue).

Anyway, food for thought...

 

Yeah that’s what I’m starting to think, too. It crumbles in my hand while I’m driving. So I’m thinking that wrapping it in cheap wrap will be a good coverup until I fork the money to get a recast one. Too much error can happen and time wasted on making a whole new one at home.

 

I know it’s not what you’re looking for, but you can cover the wheel in clear 2 part epoxy to keep it from crumbling. Mine was a flaky mess and I did it and like it quite a bit but I like my stuff old and rough looking. People ask me if it’s bamboo.

 

Also, you can fill that big gap with resin a little at a time and sand it to shape,

 

That would have been my plan.

 

I have so much gone at that point I don’t know if it’s worth costing over the broken parts or just covering it or ripping off the broken parts and covering just the bare metal

 

I saw another 1967 steering wheel at a swap meet. Problem was it came with a steering shaft, and the wheel itself was cracked, yellowed, and a few chunks were missing. But not as much as mine. Worth $750? I’d rather save for a perfect one. Could I have made a better mold with that wheel? Yes, but it probably has no savings compared to a recast.

 

For a temporary fix of the 1-3/16 gap. I would just use some clear 2 part epoxy. Start by slowly adding a little epoxy to the metal…and every day add a little more, using gravity to your advantage. At some point you can use some masking tape…to make a small trough and daily work around the cir***ference adding epoxy, building it up way big. Big enough to be able to grind it down to shape…or close to shape. Eventualy finish with 600 wet/dry sandpaper.

$15.00 for epoxy…5 minutes daily for a couple weeks or so. Will have to remove the wheel from the car, for the gravity positioning on the workbench.

 

For the mold-materials, release-agents, & casting materials, start at Smooth-On. No steering wheel examples I remember, but near everything else that has detail replicated. Info to read & watch. Many different types of casting plastics. Some of the plastics, esp clear, require vacuum to get the bubbles out, & pressure to set.

Your problem will be to get a proper male-pattern to pull a mold off of. Depends on how exact you want/need.

One possibility is *if* you can find another steering wheel rim w/finger-grooves &/or other detail you want - that has the same dia/curve as your wheel, pull a mold off of that & use it for yours. Otherwise pour a slightly flexible pattern of a wheel rim that's acceptable size/etc & use it to create a mold similar to Steves' post. There are a couple of good threads on wheel-casting here. Just don't F-up the steel core surface-finish on your wheel if you want to use it w/a clear casting.
Marcus...

 

Check this guy out, probably not cheap but he's good.
steeringwheelkris

 

I used Smooth-on products at my last job (not auto related) and their stuff is good quality. The issues I see in DIY are
1. Building up the current wheel into a suitable 'master' to cast the form from. Just like a paint job, it requires the best possible prep work to get a good master. You will have to fill, sand and create the details from other sections to replace the missing sections. What you will end up with is a primed or painted wheel with a smooth finish and every detail exact. You might try a 3D scan and cad-cam a 'master' with 3D printing to avoid this step, but this will require a big printer or doing small sections and joining them. This would require a whole other area to get good at or some serious tech support, but doesn't make big changes to the wheel until later. I have not dealt with this, maybe others here can point to stuff or you can research it, but this junkyard dave youtube shows just one way to do this.
Creality CR Scan Ferret a Cheap 3D Scanner that Actually Works!
2. At least 2 molds, so that you can do more than a one-shot try. Not a big deal, but a single mold after all this is not smart. The material is fairly cheap. Do the routing of a cheap wood to support the mold so it doesn't change shape. Cut out the center, so you can support the finger groove side without the wheel hitting the pour table. The molds I made and used were flexible, but a half round shape is the best possible for a possible rigid mold. You might even be able to use clay. I used https://www.smooth-on.com/category/platinum-silicone/ and it was great for holding detail and self supporting as the mold, but ask them what is best for your needs.
3. At this point, you need to remove any material from the wheel you are going to replace. Say all the Clear section. This is the point of no return, if that wasn't done in the first step with making it the 'master'. You will also have to prep the wheel rim metal and the ****ed sections where the clear connects to the rest so they adhere well.
4. Have a dead level table and all your materials and mixing equipment ready. We used an A/C vacuum pump and a strong box with a clear lid large enough to hold the mixing bowl to vacuum the material to get rid of the bubbles. This was for a better bubble-free mold for the stuff we made, which wasn't clear and was not visual. Pour the material into the prepped mold with the wheel inside. Best is probably to do this front, then rear or vise versa, so the bubbles are held to the minimum and so you avoid injection and mold swelling. Once one half is done, you may have to prep the clear half so the second half bonds properly. This will depend on the exact material and drying times. Consult the manufacturer. The junction to the rest of the wheel rim will probably experience a bit of overcoating, too. The clear material will have to be carefully removed where it seeps around this part.
I'd strongly suggest test pours on a separate mold with the same materials to get a good feel for how to get the result you want. Make a screwdriver handle or something that closely mimics the wheel in how it looks and the materials used. Otherwise, if any problems happen, you will have to redo step 3.
The people that sold us the Smooth-On were very helpful, but deal with a huge variety of businesses and hobbyists. You can expect support, but also pay attention and read the info supplied. So long as the mold material and the clear section are compatible and do not react to each other, mold release should not be needed. Ask them about this too, because some do require release agents.
Depending on how well the whole thing goes, you may just have a small area of clear overlap to remove and a final polish. This would be the best possible outcome and what you are doing all that work to achieve. Or you may end up with it shrinking away from the steel core, not harden properly, have a ton of bubbles and be misshapen. Ugh.

 

Factoring in your time, you'll spend a minimum of $500 to gather all of the materials and equipment required to achieve a successful end result. I use Smooth-On's Mold Max 10 to create molds and Smooth Cast 310 to create the parts, but my stuff is small, and fits inside a repurposed paint pot. To create/buy a chamber large enough to contain a steering wheel (18" diameter by 10" tall or so), and which will hold a vacuum will not be cheap.

I have tried clear casting a few times, and it is difficult. Granted, I haven't tried all available clear resins, so there may be easy to work with products available which I hadn't used. Still, be forewarned, ANY air bubbles not removed from a clear cast part will stand out like a sore thumb, and the part will essentially be unusable.

The failure rate for beginning casters is high, sorry to say. Consider what your time is worth, and if you want to spend all of the money on equipment and materials upfront, then hope or persevere until you get one(!) good part. IMHO, this is a case where you should probably pay someone to repair it for you, and call it a day.

 

Completely agree, pink. This is a big project with many failure points. That's why I laid out the basic process to show what is required to get a decent outcome and where it can fail. Using vacuum around the mold and wheel would be preferable to just vacuuming the just mixed product before pouring too, but would require more fabrication.
With perseverance, knowledge and skill it can be done. The question is how much time, money and effort is required to get the result OP is looking for compared to sending it to a professional. There is pride in doing it yourself, but Dirty Harry said "A man's gotta know his limitations". There are a bunch of videos on working with these products, a helpful supplier and as shown on this forum, a ton of 'can't be done' stuff getting done out there. I watch this guy who built a carbon fiber body for his replica Ferrari racer in his home garage. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLyWBPv1LELNW3g6FQkgl4A/videos

Only OP can answer if he has all the ***ets to do this.

 

I have also tried fixing a standard steering wheel with cracks using the epoxy sold to supposedly do this. The shop owner tried the first round then handed it off to me for a second round. Cut the cracks with razors, files and saw blades, sand the areas to bond, clean carefully and then gloop the stuff into the cracks and keep molding it in until it set while also using tape as a dam. Once hardened, it separated from the original material again each time within 24 hours. A replacement was found for less than the shop rate for the time spent. This clear wheel is going to be much more money, but if it was easy, the market would fill with repaired wheels and custom clear examples of wheels that weren't originally clear..

 

I thought of the same quote, this morning. A man has got to know his limitations! I agree with you.

 

I have repaired a lot of wheels with PC7 and never had them re crack or separate from the original material. But..... I would never try to recast an entire wheel, let alone a clear one. Unless..... I had money to throw away on materials and equipment, and nothing else to do with my life.