Steering wheel w/ woodgrain aluminum trim

[72malibu]

I've seen the repro steering wheels with the cavity at the bottom shaped like this.

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There's fake stitching in the center of that cavity and the cavity is chamfered.

The original wheels with the woodgrain/aluminum trim have that cavity, but the cavity doesn't have the fake stitching and it is not chamfered, it is basically square cut.

Has anyone successfully installed the woodgrain trim into one of those repro wheels?

If not, I'll probably keep the original wheel and wrap it with a wheelskin like this.

[72malibu]

In case anybody else was wondering the same thing, the repro wheel won't accept the trim correctly. Even if you were to glue in the trim with weatherstrip adhesive or something, the edges will sit proud (above) the wheel and will likely get pulled off or look weird even if it sticks initially. And I don't have the cajones to try modifying a nearly $300 repro wheel, YMMV.

I test fitted on a used wheel that is just like the repro.

So, plan B. The original wheel is going to get a bath in Dawn and if necessary 3m adhesive remover to get rid of the sticky ooze. If that works out, I'm going to wrap the rim with a Wheelskin. I bought some 3m Di-Noc vinyl woodgrain to redo the trim. I'm going with Marine Teak, YMMV.

[Willie Makeit]

Funny this post came up, as I just ordered some Di-Noc marine teak for the same reason. My '75 Sierra Classic / Gentleman Jim has the wood grain trim interior and it all is in excellent shape EXCEPT the steering wheel trim.

Great mind's think alike.

[72malibu]

The 3m worked well. The trick is that the trim has multiple curves -- it's both bowed in and curves up like a smiley face. The material comes rolled up and the curve of the roll is opposite of how you need to work it if you want to keep the woodgrain to parallel to the trim. The material has a relatively light tack until you press on it, so you can reposition. I started from the center, holding the material in a curve opposite of how it was rolled up, and worked outward to the sides. I cut more material than I needed. Then I used tools to push it into the creases really well. Finally, I used an x-acto knife with a new blade and trimmed it out. I'm super happy with the result.

I first tried making a template using blue painters tape (trimming it out like above). The template was good and laid out on the material well. But I found that it was much harder to trim the material without using the aluminum trim itself as the guide, and my first attempt didn't produce a very clean-cut decal.

[Willie Makeit]

Originally Posted by 72malibu

The 3m worked well. The trick is that the trim has multiple curves -- it's both bowed in and curves up like a smiley face. The material comes rolled up and the curve of the roll is opposite of how you need to work it if you want to keep the woodgrain to parallel to the trim. The material has a relatively light tack until you press on it, so you can reposition. I started from the center, holding the material in a curve opposite of how it was rolled up, and worked outward to the sides. I cut more material than I needed. Then I used tools to push it into the creases really well. Finally, I used an x-acto knife with a new blade and trimmed it out. I'm super happy with the result.

I first tried making a template using blue painters tape (trimming it out like above). The template was good and laid out on the material well. But I found that it was much harder to trim the material without using the aluminum trim itself as the guide, and my first attempt didn't produce a very clean-cut decal.

Thanks for the advice & helpful hints! I'll be sure to repost here with my results.

[72malibu]

Anybody know what glue to use to stick the aluminum trim to the steering wheel?

[72malibu]

Here's the finished steering wheel.

To summarize, this steering wheel started off as extremely gooey, maybe one of the worst out there. I scrubbed it with blue Dawn, a little water, and a small plastic brush to get some of the gooey crap off; immersed it in a tub of soapy blue Dawn water for 3 days and scrubbed it again (still sticky); immersed it for 3 more days in fresh soapy water and scrubbed it again (almost done); and soaked it for 3 more days in fresh soapy water and gave it a final brushing and rinse (done).

I then sprayed it with a couple light coats of SEM Tac Free. In theory, it might help prevent the sticky from coming back. The Tac Free is clear but it blackened areas that had turned slightly gray from the cleaning (looking dried out) and made the wheel look like new again. I only sprayed the wheel, not the horn cap.

Then, I wrapped it with a Wheelskin. The size I used was 16" x 2 3/4". I stretched it while on the wheel as I went, firmly holding the edges of the wrap and pulling them toward the center of the wheel. You can pull firmly on the thread (it's really strong), but it's still not enough to pull the edges together fully. It's better to stretch the leather by hand and then pull firmly on the thread while sewing the edges togther. Also, they used a hard glue when they folded the edges over. It was spread unevenly, with some globs sticking to the edges and even some glue smeared on the inside part of the wrap. The glue will show through the wrap, so the excess needs to be removed. While you're wrapping, the edges might separate, which is not a problem, but glue particles might break free. You need to get them out, or they will show through the wrap. As the instructions say, Tight is Right! The wrap feels fantastic - it makes the rim much wider, almost like a modern wheel. The instructions say it will take an hour. It took me several, so plan accordingly.

The GMC emblem is original repainted. The red-orange is Duplicolor Chevy engine paint. It's the red-orange, not the orange-orange (two different paint numbers).

The woodgrain is 3M Marine Teak.

I glued the aluminum trim to the wheel with Loctite slow-dry super glue. It sets in a couple minutes and dries completely in 24 hours. After holding it in place for a few minutes, I clamped it overnight just to be sure.

[Willie Makeit]

looks great. my request for samples came up short. all the samples that were sent looked nothing like the original GMC woodgrain, which is different than the Silverado woodgrain.

[72malibu]

Yeah, I don't think the original pattern/color is offered by anyone. The Marine Teak is probably as close as I'll get to the original GMC dash woodgrain. It looks 100 times better than what I started with.

Not a great photo, but this looks to be a very original Gentleman Jim wheel, etc.