Restoring Pole Position Wheel

[Minwah]

I have an old Pole Position wheel which is OK but a bit rusty.  Unfortunately the chrome has rusted passed the stage that it can be cleaned up.

I could pretty easily get the rust off with wire wool and / or sandpaper.  Then I suppose I could just spray paint it black or something.  I would ideally like to get it re-chromed, but I am not sure if this is possible with the dip-coated rubber coating around the 'wheel' part (?)

Any suggestions?

[dirt]

you cant rechome it without taking off the rubber part. my suggestion would be use a 4" grinder with a soft sanding disk on it and take off all the rust and scuff up that chome so you can paint it.


dirt

[Minwah]

you cant rechome it without taking off the rubber part. my suggestion would be use a 4" grinder with a soft sanding disk on it and take off all the rust and scuff up that chome so you can paint it.

I was afraid of that  I'll have a go at painting it then, thanks for the reply

[SirPeale]

I suppose if you're looking to make it look 'factory' you never will, unless you know how to get that coated look.  But this is what I would do.

1) tear the coating off.

2) have it sandblasted to get the chrome off.

3) have it rechromed

4) use a steering wheel cover.  One of the nice leather ones.

At least, that is what I would do, if I had the $$$.

What is the original cover/coating like?  Is it foam rubber, rubber,

[JustMichael]

I wonder if the coating on the wheel is similar to the rubber coatings you can apply to common household tools?

[SirPeale]

I wonder if the coating on the wheel is similar to the rubber coatings you can apply to common household tools?

I was wondering the same thing, which is why I asked, because you can buy that coating.

[Tailgunner]

What I'd do:

Remove the old wheel. Take it to an auto parts store, find a new one you like, mount it to the hub assembly. The hub uses a stock GM steering wheel bolt pattern, so you should have a wide choice of wheels that'll fit it.

[SirPeale]

What would be the fun in that?  

[Tailgunner]

What would be the fun in that?  

Heh, just pointing out that for the cost and effort of fixing the original wheel you could by 2 or 3 new ones just like it.

edit:  The picture didn't load for me the first time around, obviously Superior made the originals.  Grant does make a similar wheel, a quick check of their website and I found this one:  http://www.grantproducts.com/grant.fm$retrieve?seqnum=123013&html=grantdetail It's a 8 1/2" wheel so it should be close to a prefect replacement.

[Minwah]

Thanks guys...

The coating is some kind of rubber.  It looks at if the wheel was dipped into it when hot or something - I have no idea if this is how it was actually done.  How do you go about applying a rubber coating (as in 'to common household tools')?

I hadn't considered replacing the wheel, I really wanted to use the original.  The Grant one linked does look very similar however - I'll keep that in mind if I get stuck...

[paigeoliver]

Aftermarket grant wheels are actually MUCH higher quality and more heavy duty than original arcade wheels.

[SirPeale]

You can get a liquid rubber coating in a bottle.  For a steering wheel it would likely be a bit tricky.  Last I saw, you have to dip your part into the coating, wait for it to dry, and then repeat.  This is for the handle part of tools.  Since the steering wheel is much bigger you would need a lot of this stuff.

That's why I would get one of the fancy steering wheel covers.  I like the ones that are a strip of leather that wraps around the wheel with a lace to secure it.

[MinerAl]

I dunno... i think if you were patient and consistent you could rubber coat the wheel with just a narrow pan, maybe like a metal pan you can get at the grocery store.  Dump the rubber handle stuff in the pan and slowly rotate the wheel through the pan, so that only a few inches long arc of the wheel is submerged at any one time, but the rotating should build up a nice even coat if you could go around two or three times.

Or you could get a round pan just a little bigger around than the wheel and use clay or something to make an island in the middle so that you only had to fill a wheel sized moat.  Then you could repeatedly dip into the rubber filled moat.  I'd still recommend slow rotation to keep drips from solidifying into points on the wheel.

Then again I've only ever dipped tools into the stuff.  I've never played with it.  I think it'd be worth trying anyway.

[menace]

whats the name of this stuff?  is it available at home depot or stores like that?

[MinerAl]

http://www.plastidip.com/consumer/products.html

There's an aerosol version... hmm...

[Minwah]

Well there's a lot of stuff for me to check out!

I am not convinced that a steering wheel cover will do the job as they are presumbly intended for a wheel with the rim already covered.  The diameter of the rim of the PolePos wheel, with the rubber removed will be very small in comparison.

I hadn't seen the PlastiDip stuff before but I might try to get a can and give it a try on a piece of scrap before I make up my mind.

Thanks again