My wife has somehow caused a rather deep nick in the steering wheel. Is there a certain type of lacquer that I should use to try to build up the indentation. Thanks Bob

 

I used a wood filler that required a hardener and then coated with clear nail polish.

 

Bob,

My wife has scratched our wheel too - I think one of her rings twists around on her finger and the sharp stones scratch the wood and leather. I've been "gestating" ideas for repairing our wheel and at the same time darkening the wood on the wheel to better match the veneers on the dash and doors.

My guess is that the original finish on the steering wheel is an acrylic lacquer that would probably be compatible with the clear coat available from Automotive Touchup:

Spray Paint Clearcoat | Aerosol Touch Up | AutomotiveTouchup

I've used this product to refinish the wood in our '93 XJ40 and a couple of wheels on our X350 and other vehicles.

The advantage of this finish is that, like nitrocellulose lacquer, you can wet sand it starting with 600 or 800 grit and working up to 2000 or 3000, then polishing it with a scratch remover like Meguiar's Scratch X 2.0 on a microfiber towel to achieve a mirror gloss. You could wipe down your wheel with a degreaser, then mask off everything except the scratch and spray multiple coats of clear coat until you have a positive fill, let it dry for at least a few days, then sand and polish.

Nitrocellulose lacquer is not suitable because it will crack when subjected to cold temps (don't ask how I know).

Guitar repairmen use cyanoacrylate (Super Glue) to do spot fills on guitars, but the technique takes some practice and not all cyanoacrylate glues are equal so you have to test a particular glue to be sure it will cure properly when applied thick and will respond to sanding and polishing. I'm sure there are YouTube videos on this technique.

Cheers,

Don