Steering Wheel Recasting Process
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The Process:
This is a general description of my recasting process. Each steering wheel is different in design and structure thus requiring it's own specific procedure.
I remove all of the old plastic, bead blast the frame and paint it the same color as the plastic. Through my proprietary process, I cast on a specially formulated thermoset UV stable urethane plastic in the original configuration without loss of the original detail. The urethane does not shrink, crack, turn yellow or change colors.
The steering wheel frame is placed into the appropriate mold. The clear liquid urethane is tinted to the desired color and added to the mold. Upon completion of the curing process, the plastic is heat treated, sanded and polished. The color is uniform throughout the plastic and the finished product is polished plastic, not a painted wheel. The molded plastic is one complete casting, there are no joints.
Price and turn around times vary. Certain wheels include matching gear shift and turn signal knobs. For the continental US, there is a return shipping charge of $20 - $40 which includes $1000.00 of insurance. At times, I have restored steering wheels in popular colors available for immediate exchange. Call me at 858-271-7374, for current turn around times, shipping information and any other questions.
When comparing my process to others, consider the following:
- Are they using UV stable urethane plastic? Epoxies are not normally UV stable and experience color changes with exposure to sunlight.
- Is the steering wheel being recast or are they filling the cracks and painting the wheel?
- Are they dipping and coating the wheel and thus covering the cracks and the deteriorated plastic? In this process the original detail is lost and the cross sectional diameter of the rim and spokes become much larger than original. The wheel falls apart from the inside.
- Is the casting complete without joints or are they gluing pieces of cast plastic together to form the rim of the wheel and repainting it. Again, the original size and detail are lost.
- Is the color tint uniform in the new casting with the finished product being polished plastic?
- Is the steering wheel recast in the original configuration without loss of detail?
- Are they bead blasting and painting the steering wheel frame?
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