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Tips on cleaning sticky steering wheels? (photos added 2007-04-24)
bleargh:
--- Quote from: shardian on April 23, 2007, 02:38:09 pm ---
--- Quote from: bleargh on April 23, 2007, 02:23:51 pm ---Have any of you guys actually used this stuff before? I'm curious to find out if the resulting grip is "no slip" or not; the original wheels were pretty slick and I'd prefer them to be that way again if possible.
--- End quote ---
No, this stuff produces a smooth finish. On your steering wheel, it might even produce a slicker surface than the original coating.
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Cool... I'll have a look for this next time I'm out...
bleargh:
Finally got around to taking some photos of the wheels...
Here's the lot of eight wheels out of the box. The two on the right are just hoops, while all of the others at least have stems on them. Of the six with stems, three have old Atari style encoders on them. The one in the far back-left looks like a Pole Position wheel (with gear), and two of them are smaller 10" wheels, all the others being 12".
Here's a close-up of the tacky/sticky stuff on the black wheels.
And here's a close-up of the red "rubber" wheel. This ones quite sticky, and after handling it you definitely need to wash your hands.
I called up a bunch of the local car restoration shops in town (and learned that we have several that specialize in just classic car restoration), and they all suggested the same thing... hand wash the wheels in a mild dish detergent, adding just a tiny bit of lemon juice or vinegar to the mix to help cut the gunk. After that, they all suggested plain old "Armor All" to spray on top to help protect whatever is left of the wheel. Their only complaint with Armor All on steering wheels is that it makes them slippery, but that is what I want these wheels to feel like; they're 360 wheels.
So, I took one of the wheels and gave part of it a wash in some Palmolive and warm water, using a toothbrush to help clean it up. So far so good... it took the gunk/sticky stuff off. Before putting any Armor All on it, though, I'm going to let it sit for a while and see how long it takes for that section of the wheel to get tacky again.