When I got my 1950 Ford Custom Deluxe Convertible project it came with a “Crestliner” model (optional) steering wheel. It happens to be one of my favorite steering wheels of all time, so Thanks Marty for including it! These Crestliner (or “Deluxe”) Steering Wheels are sought after and rare, although there are reproductions out there.
Anyhow, as you can tell from the photos, it has been kustom painted ages ago and was in need of restoration. Eastwood was kind enough to send me some products to prepare and repaint the steering wheel. It didn´t have any cracks on it and even the chrome ring is intact. Steering Wheel just needed a good sanding and repaint.
Steering wheel before the restoration. (above)
Here are the products that I used for the steering wheel restoration project.
- 2x Sandpaper 120 Grit
- 2x Sandpaper 220 Grit
- 2x Sandpaper 400 Grit
- 2x Plastic and Leather Prep
- 2x 2K Aerospray Chassis Black
I also had the 2K Aero-Spray Clear Coat, but because the end result looked good, I decided not to use it. These all can be purchased from https://www.eastwood.com/
Eastwood also offers this restoration kit, but in my case it was not needed.
After sanding with 120 Grit. (above)
The repainting process itself is pretty straightforward, but time consuming. You start by dis-assembling the wheel and removing all the chrome and whatever pieces you can take off. Then first you sand it with 120 grit sandpaper. I tried to get as much old paint off as possible. However, if I would have sanded all of it off, I would probably be still sanding it. I made sure that the surface is as even and smooth as possible. After I was done with 120, I moved to 220 and finally to 400. After finishing with 400 the surface was really smooth.
Next I cleaned everything with Eastwood´s Plastic and Leather Prep and made sure there is no dust left on the steering wheel.
After cleaning the steering wheel, it´s ready for spray painting with Eastwood´s 2K Aerospray Chassis Black.
I sprayed two coats of the chassis black. The first one I did, didn´t cover everything – Make sure you have enough light to see where the layer is too thin! In between the coats, I used 400 grit sandpaper to make sure the second layer sticks well. And again, before the final coat, I cleaned the surface well after sanding.
See the photos for final results. I think it turned out really good!
After sanding with 400 Grit. (above)
After painting the steering wheel – looks smooth! (above)
