1969 Camaro Rosewood Steering wheel Repair

[Nicolas09]

Hi Everyone,

One of my dear friends sold me his original 1969 Camaro Rosewood from his personal car that was purchased new. I can't tell you all how excited I am get to my hands on a wheel like this. I would love feedback from this group on the best place to send this for restoration. Who has had a great experience with a similar cracked wheel with color, texture, and sheen of the repair? Thanks in advance for your help.

Sincerely,

Nick

[firstgenaddict]

I have not heard of anyone fixing Rosewoods.
The biggest problem I can see with repairing them is the fact that the rim has some give, it's not really an ultra HARD plastic like the std wheels.
I have repaired std hard black plastic wheels & I can get repair material which is similar in "feel" to the rosewood however the problem is with the color.
Everything I can get is charcoal grey/black & will never get close to a rosewood.

IMHO the only way to actually fix it would be to create a mold from a good example & recast the flexible plastic, otherwise I feel the repair would not bond to the existing material.

If you could find something the correct color you can use a dremel and recess the inside of the cracks creating a cavity larger than the outside crack, when filled with repair material it could separate from the existing material if stressed, however because the underlying cavity is larger than the crack the repair will not "fall out".

[jl8z28]

Garys steering wheel in pa

[bergy]

Gary is great, but he paints the wheel (unless he's changed techniques in the past couple of years). probably all restorers have to do that, but it's really hard to get them looking "original" with paint.

[firstgenaddict]

http://garyssteeringwheel.com/about.htm
Thanks, I've got a rosewood and a GTO simulated wood wheel which both need repairs - the website mentions the GTO simulated wood. I am sending them an email now to ask about the Rosewoods.
Have you had them repair a Rosewood for you? Or seen a Rosewood they repaired?

[the427king]

That one needs alot of repairs ..better to start off with one with smaller and fewer cracks /gaps

[69SS350]

Get a repro with the bends that are right (the ones closest to the wheel), send that to Gary's and you'll have a "correct" rosewood wheel - one that looks like its been "worn" over the years. Plus it'll be cheaper in the long run.
A friend of mine did exactly that, and it was accepted at the Camaro Nationals with no points deducted.
It looks beautiful too.