paint new repop steering wheel?

[tmoble]

I have the re-pop 55-56 steering wheel. I want to two-tone it in India Ivory and Matador to match the rest of the truck. I have some PPG MP170 epoxy primer I've been using on the rest of the truck. Should I just scuff it hard with green scotchbrite, prime and paint? Any special primer needed for whatever it's made of? I'm sure the originals were Bakelite, but hard telling what kind of chinesium they're made of now. That thing wasn't cheap and I really don't want to butcher it up.

[OrrieG]

I used epoxy 2k primer and regular base/clear on mine.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by tmoble

chinesium

I have been to factories in china. this is maybe the most accurate word I have ever seen.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by OrrieG

I used epoxy 2k primer and regular base/clear on mine.

Wait a minute, WAIT a minute! That's NOT a TF steering wheel and especially not a '57-'59 wheel.

Own up to it Orrie, what's the story?!

[_Ogre]

oem would have been bakelite, chinesium is probably plastic and needs to be primed with plastic primer
similar to what we spray plastic interior and exterior parts
it may work fine just to use automotive primer, it's just that we use plastic primer on all plastic parts

[OrrieG]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Wait a minute, WAIT a minute! That's NOT a TF steering wheel and especially not a '57-'59 wheel.

Own up to it Orrie, what's the story?!

57-59 is dished. My eldo column stuck out enough I needed a flat one. 48 big truck was the first I found. dremel and JB weld fixed the cracks, thread over at HAMB on restoration gave advise on the the paint. Biggest issue was getting the stock horn button to work with the eldo mechanism, build thread has details. Here it is installed. Cannot tell from the photos but the it is metallic black. I used the same black to a/c vent trim.

[tmoble]

plastic primer, never heard of it. Where do I get it? What's it called? Is it an SEM product? Oh, wait. nevermind, I have this thing called google......

Orrie, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

[Foot Stomper]

I like the set up OrrieG!
What diameter is that wheel?
I am looking for some real estate between wheel on my 1959 and my t shirt.

[47 Fasttoys]

It looks to be the same wheel as my '47, if so it's 18"
Rob

[Jemezcrusher]

Originally Posted by OrrieG

57-59 is dished. My eldo column stuck out enough I needed a flat one. 48 big truck was the first I found. dremel and JB weld fixed the cracks, thread over at HAMB on restoration gave advise on the the paint. Biggest issue was getting the stock horn button to work with the eldo mechanism, build thread has details. Here it is installed. Cannot tell from the photos but the it is metallic black. I used the same black to a/c vent trim.

Did you use a cone file on your dremmel? What JB weld product?

[joe70]

try this on cracks of your steering wheel

[OrrieG]

Originally Posted by Jemezcrusher

Did you use a cone file on your dremmel? What JB weld product?

I used a small grinding ball on the cracks. Trick is to under cut the edges so the jb is keyed in. I used the two part in the squeeze tubes. Metal file and 80 grit sandpaper to shape, then finer to finish. Single stage epoxy primer, 2x sealer and base/clear.