Hi There,
I have not tried to remove parts or collars from the steering column myself, however, if you can't or don't want to do this, then your best and safest bet would be to use acrylic lacquer only to refinish these parts when they are in situ. You will still have to go to the trouble of detailed masking with your masking tape, paper or plastic, in the immediate areas and surrounding areas to avoid direct overspray issues, but the good news is that the fumes or drift from spraying, will not contaminate or spoil the areas outside of your masking area. When the lacquer that you're spraying hits the target panel, and any atomized paint fumes that come off the panel or from the gun directly, dry extremely fast, and when these fumes are drifting around your car, they will be very dry, and thus, not cause any spoilage to the surfaces they land or settle on. Usually, a compressed air blower gun and a clean dry white cotton rag is all that is needed to blow off, and dust and wipe off and dry residue paint powder that may have landed on any surrounding surfaces. Do this asap after the spray job has dried. A handy tip is to try and place a common fan around the vacinity of your spraying area, to help circulate the air and thus move the fumes on or away from your job, and not let them build up and hang around too much.
On the other hand, 2Pack paint fumes don't dry as fast as lacquer fumes do,and so these fumes will land or settle on surrounding uncovered areas on your car , and because they are still wet, will cause major contamination and surface spoiling problems that you don't want to happen. Don't spray with 2Pack paints. To be realistic though, it is advisable to try and cover up and mask as much of your car that you can as a precautionary measure to avoid any potential problems occurring at all.
Cheers,
Greg.
