C1 Steering Wheel

[Bruce B.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Rich,
Even though the wheel is worn fairly smooth you can still see some of the seam on the outside diameter in places.
See attached picture.
Bruce
There are no identifying marks on the wheel or spokes.

[Dennis C.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Bruce,

Thaks again for the photos, they were a great help.

Is there texture on the underside of the wheel? How about on the underside recesses where your fingers hold on too?

Thanks again.

[Bruce B.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Dennis,
The whole wheel had the texture on it.
Top, bottom, finger grips etc.
The original 1955 vintage wheel and the repros are all as described above.
There are a number of methods of recreating the texture on a smooth wheel.
I have done a few by carefully spraying a painted smooth wheel with chip guard as used on some lower body panels. The trick is to apply it from a distance of 3 to 5 feet away so the material somewhat dries before hitting the wheel. The wheel then needs to be dusted with color and a light clear coat.
It does not look exactly like the original surface but it does provide a textured surface.

[Valeria H.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Stewy, I have owed my car for 30 years. There may be a problem with the color difference with the photos, etc but I do not think my truly original 60 steering wheel looks like yours. I am trying to be able to post photos but I have been hitting quadmyers!
Valeria

[Dennis C.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Bruce,

Thanks again.

I already picked up the material and I am just finishing up the crack repair, that's what made me think of the question.

I am not expecting to be able to exactly duplicate the original appearance, but something that looks close at a glance would be nice.

I hadn't given any thought to applying a clear coat, but that brings up another question that I can not answer from the photos. What should the gloss or sheen of the finished product be like?

Dennis

[Valeria H.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Bruce, Do all C1 wheels have a production date engraved on the metal portion of the wheel? It seems this alone would provide orginality proof. I have several up coming events that I would like to drive my car to and have been "chicken" to take the wheel apart fearing that I won't be able to get it back together myself. After these events I'm going to dive in and remove it, clean the turn signal posts and check for a date. Right now all I'm saying "Baak,baak, baak, baaaaak!
Sorry for my murdering of the word quagmire. This photo insert technique on the forum is painful.
Valeria

[Bruce B.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Valeria,
There are no markings on any GM C1 steering wheels.
The picture I posted was of a GM wheel which was from early pre-production and It was probably dated for the record. Where it was dated would show when mounted.
I got the wheel from the estate of a GM engineer who worked at GM Inland Mfg in Dayton, Ohio, I also got 5 very interesting "teak wheels" which were test wheels probably used for appearence testing.
Keep the questions coming.
Bruce B

[Anthony P.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Bruce, This info was very helpful, especially the chip guard..

Fortunately there were areas on the back of my steering wheel that still had a good amount of original texture and even the seam was still intact in one area, so I had a good idea of what I needed to try to replicate. I used the chip guard as you mentioned with a slight modification. After I sprayed the wheel with chip guard, I let it get tacky then I padded it down with a piece of foam packing material (see attached pic). This foam had a very similar texture to the original areas of the wheel.

Not exactly like the original, but much better than what it was.

My original wheel was cracked at all 3 spokes, and very smooth, as well as the 3 spokes having scratches in the brushed stainless. See the OLD pic.

Steps:
1. Used a small file/awl to open up the crack areas a bit more so I could fill them with epoxy.
2. When I filled it with epoxy I left it slightly higher then the original surface.
3. Sanded down the epoxy and entire wheel with 300 Grit, followed by 600.
4. Light primer coating
5. Sprayed with chip guard and patted it down after it got tacky- Repeated this 2 times
6. Once dry, I created the mold seam by taping off the wheel leaving a small area around the outer edge exposed. Sprayed the chip guard from a close distance so it would build up. Repeated this 2 times. I know that it is not like the original seam, but once the wheel is clear coated it looks close.
7. Removed the tape, and lightly sanded down the fake seam to give the depth variance of an original seam.
8. Sprayed the wheel lightly with Gloss black.
9. Clear coated the wheel.

Also to clean up the stainless steel and get rid of most of the scratches, I used a course stainless steel polishing buff and rouge going with the grain (Eastwood step 1 in their stainless steel polishing kit). This got rid of most of the scratches, but did change the finish, making it slightly shinier that the original.

Dennis,
The whole wheel had the texture on it.
Top, bottom, finger grips etc.
The original 1955 vintage wheel and the repros are all as described above.
There are a number of methods of recreating the texture on a smooth wheel.
I have done a few by carefully spraying a painted smooth wheel with chip guard as used on some lower body panels. The trick is to apply it from a distance of 3 to 5 feet away so the material somewhat dries before hitting the wheel. The wheel then needs to be dusted with color and a light clear coat.
It does not look exactly like the original surface but it does provide a textured surface.

[Bruce B.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Anthony,
Thanks for the info and you wheel looks great.
Bruce B

[Joseph P.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

I have a 56 and plan to rebuild my steering wheel. It is an original as is my car and your explination on how to proceed was very good. Should I use a tow step paint or acrylic? What do you recomend? Thanks for your help, Joe Pennacchio (48633)

[Anthony P.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

I used just regular rattle can paint. I do not recall exact what brand, but was most likely SEM

[Joseph P.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Thanks Anthony, I will let you know how it turn out.
Thanks, Joe

[Joe M.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

The restoration process discussed above interests me and I have an extra C1 steering wheel that I would like to try it on first. I have a second wheel with no cracks on the spokes, but no texture.

I am wondering about the durability of the clear coat over the paint. I have a red steering wheel so I would need to paint over the chip guard with interior color aerosol paint.

Where can I purchase Chip Guard, automotive paint supply stores?

[Joseph P.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Hi Joe,
I got the chip guard at the automotive paint store. I have started with a scrap piece of metal, I first put the chip guard over primer, I could not get the patted down part in step # 5 to work and then the paint covered most of the chip guard texture. I then tried paint first, then the chip guard, that worked better ( did not use # 5 again). The chip guard direction said it works best over paint. It gives you the best texture when you hold the can of paint 3 Feet away from the work piece and use a thin coat or two. We are leaving town for a week, so when I get back, I will start on my steering wheel. I also plan to spray it with an air gun not a paint can.
Good luck, Joe

[Joe M.]

Re: C1 Steering Wheel

Since I have a red wheel, I will have to paint over the chip guard. If painting over the chip guard covers most of the texture, it may not prove beneficial for me to go through the process, but I will purchase a can of chip guard and practice on a piece of metal or maybe small diameter PVC pipe, paint over the chip guard and see what that yields.