- Joined
- Jan 20, 2022
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- 1,550
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- Location
- Homer Glen, Il
- My Car
- 1971 Mustang Mach 1 351c M-code FMX trans and 9 inch rear end
Hi All, I am starting to restore my rim-blow steering wheel and thought I would ask for advise on the best way to restore the bright metal strip that wraps the rim of the wheel. I would appreciate any ideas you guys might have, I am trying to do it as right as I can so I thought I would ask for suggestions before I start.
That area on my wheel was badly deteriorated and actually gone in some places.
I cleaned out the deteriorated material out of the channel.
I saw a YouTube video where a guy added aluminum tape to the bottom of the groove and then filled the channel in with clear epoxy and sanded it down. He doesn't show how it came out in the video and I couldn't find a part two video showing the finished product, so not sure if that is a good process.
Is this the correct repair for this issue?
Has anyone repaired this part of their rim blow wheel? If you have, how did you do it?
I found this 1/8" molding that fits in the channel nicely as far a the width of the channel. It is a little high in the channel, it is raised from the surface of the wheel slightly but doesn't feel bad. I could remove the two-sided tape and glue it down instead and that would bring it down closer to flush with the wheel.
It would be a lot easier than what the You-Tube video guy did with the epoxy and all that sanding.
You can see it sticks out about 1/32" as best as I can measure it that's why I assume removing the the tape and gluing it down would drop it in closer to flush.
If anybody has seen this issue and has a good solution please let me know. I'm trying to find the best way to resolve and hoping to avoid reinventing the wheel.
Also, while I am asking for guidance, does any one have any tricks for installing the emblem in to the center pad? Both parts are reproductions (but the i.d. and o.d. diameters measure the same as my original parts) and the emblem does not seem to want to go in because the pad is not very flexible. The old pad is stiffer yet than the re-pop (I assume due to age and shrinkage) but the new one is not all that flexible either. I was going to try some sort of lube but didn't want to use something that might mess with the pad or emblem.
The old pad had shrunk and had large gaps of almost a full inch at the rim on all three spokes and was pretty distorted. As you can see in the pic, the inserts on the spokes don't even fit in the pad anymore due to the shrinkage, that's why I purchased a new pad.
That area on my wheel was badly deteriorated and actually gone in some places.
I cleaned out the deteriorated material out of the channel.
I saw a YouTube video where a guy added aluminum tape to the bottom of the groove and then filled the channel in with clear epoxy and sanded it down. He doesn't show how it came out in the video and I couldn't find a part two video showing the finished product, so not sure if that is a good process.
Is this the correct repair for this issue?
Has anyone repaired this part of their rim blow wheel? If you have, how did you do it?
I found this 1/8" molding that fits in the channel nicely as far a the width of the channel. It is a little high in the channel, it is raised from the surface of the wheel slightly but doesn't feel bad. I could remove the two-sided tape and glue it down instead and that would bring it down closer to flush with the wheel.
It would be a lot easier than what the You-Tube video guy did with the epoxy and all that sanding.
You can see it sticks out about 1/32" as best as I can measure it that's why I assume removing the the tape and gluing it down would drop it in closer to flush.
If anybody has seen this issue and has a good solution please let me know. I'm trying to find the best way to resolve and hoping to avoid reinventing the wheel.
Also, while I am asking for guidance, does any one have any tricks for installing the emblem in to the center pad? Both parts are reproductions (but the i.d. and o.d. diameters measure the same as my original parts) and the emblem does not seem to want to go in because the pad is not very flexible. The old pad is stiffer yet than the re-pop (I assume due to age and shrinkage) but the new one is not all that flexible either. I was going to try some sort of lube but didn't want to use something that might mess with the pad or emblem.
The old pad had shrunk and had large gaps of almost a full inch at the rim on all three spokes and was pretty distorted. As you can see in the pic, the inserts on the spokes don't even fit in the pad anymore due to the shrinkage, that's why I purchased a new pad.
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