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Has anyone had occasion to have a steering wheel repaired/or re-done for a pre-War Packard?

I was looking at 1938 Packard 120 coupe a friend of mine owns and the steering wheel is cracked and some of the hard plastic material has fallen off, revealing the wire rim inside.

Just wondering what it what cost to have it repaired or re-done.

happy holidays
Garrett Meadows

Garrett, plenty of folks on here have had wheels repaired or restored so I know you'll be getting some information. But your post raised a question I'd not thought of before, just when did Packard make the transition from hard rubber to plastic steering wheels? I would have thought a 1938 wheel would still be hard rubber and not plastic. I assume there are different issues and techniques involved in repairs to them.

Depends on the type of wheel. If it is the translucent plastic deluxe types there is not much choice but to send it to a professional. I believe the going rate is $1200 to 1500 for a complete strip and recasting. Any chrome plating is extra. I believe Tenite was the material Packard used on the deluxe plastic types and not sure if that was available that early.

If it is the more standard painted hard rubber then those can frequently be repaired by the DIY with some quite good results. Ordinary cracks can be filled with an epoxy putty, smoothed and then the entire wheel is repainted. KevinAZ did a quite decent job and posted some photos of the work on his 55 wheel using that method. Search the site for steering wheel repair and there should be more than one thread of people repairing theirs.

If the wheel is in otherwise good condition with just a few missing chunks a mold of a good section can be made using silicone rubber. The mold is removed and then placed over the missing areas so they can be recast with a more pourable epoxy or casting resin. That is smoothed and painted just as in the crack repair.

For those more ambitious, the entire wheel can be done in a similar manner but the mold needs to be made from a decent wheel -- or at least from one substantially intact so the damaged wheel can be recast in fairly large sections. Alumilite has some good information and a video or two showing that process.alumilite.com/Auto-Restoration#prettyPhoto

I filled the cracks in fine and painted with urethane automotive paint.

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From my perspective "downunder" that steering wheel looks real good!

Just for you Mal!

Here's what I had found that was advertised in 1946.
Wes

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