Repair Steering wheel

[darthpaul]

I picked up this wheel for a $1.00 on ebay and would like to get it looking as good as possible. Is there away to fix the nicks and cuts in it(bondo?) and can I then just give it a few coats of black spray paint?

 

[Xiaou2]

Sounds like it would work like that.  Just make sure to use something very durable like an Epoxy based paint... and lay down several coats.  Allow it to cure fully for a few days before touching it.
 

[darthpaul]

Sounds like a plan, thanks.

[Xiaou2]

Ohh, almost forgot..   After the bondo work... you may wish to scuff sand the wheel first, so that the paint will adhere to it better.  Then use a cleaner, like rubbing alcohol, or naphtha? to make sure there are no surface contaminates / hand oils...etc.

 Hand the wheel by a string or something so that you can spray it freely, and not have to worry about touching / moving it.

 If coats look a little rough when dried, you may need to use high grit sandpaper before laying down another coat.  When its completely cured, if needed, I think you can even lightly polish the epoxy paint.

[darthpaul]

Will do, thanks again.

[crashwg]

http://www.plastidip.com

or

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/truckBedCoating/

[JustMichael]

What about one of those leather wrapping kits for steering wheels?

[darthpaul]

You know, I was thinking about that as well.

[Xiaou2]

Truck bed coating will probably dry too rough and wont sand & smooth easily... and will look like crap after that.

Wheel covers might be ok for a while... but the intensity of arcade machines is 1000x that of driving a real car.   They will get dirty, and eventually get torn off / ripped up...  more than likely.   Also, being a 360 degree wheel... its possible it could throw off the balance of the wheel.

Ive heard Plasti-Dip stuff is a nightmare to work with, and gives poor results.. and, its not very durable.

 Bondo essentially IS plastic.  But a much more workable version of it... where you can easily sand and paint it.   And epoxy paint is essentially epoxy... and we all know how tough epoxy can be. Being in spray form, makes it easy to lay down many smooth flat coats... and no clear-coat should be needed, as it will have its own shine.

 If you dont want to work with bondo...  they do sell a 2 part plastic epoxy based putty.  The strongest / best one Ive worked with is by Quik-Steel  (not Quick-Steel.. thats inferior).  IN putty form, it may not be as easy to work than something like bondo however.  You also dont have a very long work time with it.  Its hard as a rock in 5min flat... and its so hard, that you cant even scratch it with a steel nail.  I suppose a lesser epoxy paste might work fine, and be easier to apply.  As again, you are just going to cover over it with the paint.

 As for the bare metal, I might try to buff it out.  Though, might be difficult due to the way its constructed.

[darthpaul]

I have already done the Bondo and I'll probably hit Home Depot for the epoxy paint next weekend. I'm not expecting perfection, it will eventually get dinged up thru use anyway.

[Xiaou2]

Nice.

 Im guessing it was peoples rings that tore up the wheel.. so if you can get people to remove them, the thing will probably be fine for years.  heh