cold weather keeping me indoors along with the Covid crap! not much to do so i made another steering wheel. a little different pattern this time. i tried for more of a mottled burl look. the leather wrap came out pretty good and yes, i still have to insert the horn buttons. i still have to clean up the rubber body a little but the airbag covers most of it. all in all i'm happy with it.

 

From the looks of it, I'd be very happy with it. Good job!

In my '87 XJ-S coupe I installed a burl steering wheel maybe 6 or 7 years ago. It has to sit outside in the winter at times and I noticed that a narrow crack appeared completely around the wheel near where one of the "arms" goes towards the steering column. It really more of an annoyance than anything else. Am I best to fill it with something (epoxy?) or just leave it alone.

Is cold weather the likely cause of the crack? We get to below zero here at times.

Thanks,

John
1987 XJ-S V12
70,000 or so miles

 

i assume you mean around the wheel ring near the spoke and not around the circumference of the wheel itself? if it is just a hairline crack you could try filling it with fingernail polish in a matching color. nail polish is pretty hard . you could use a toothpick to fill and wipe over it with an alcohol rag to wipe off the excess.

 

Yep, a pic is always helpful.

I'll consult my wife, but I don't think she has this color so I'll hunt some down.

Thanks,

John

 

that looks like veneer of some kind that has cracked and is separating from the substrate. hard to tell without actually seeing the wheel. can you move the veneer at all ? if it has lifted away from the body then you will have to reglue it before you try to fill the crack. the best way is to put a small amount of epoxy under the veneer with a toothpick and press the veneer back down . use a shoe lace and wrap it around and over the spoke and wheel rim in a criss cross pattern and wipe off the excess that oozes out with some alcohol on a rag. . use a good 5 minute epoxy ( i prefer Devcon epoxy).
this is the wheel i did for my 1994 XJS.

 

Very cool finish steering wheel, looks great. I love the different and special color tones which ad something special to the interior.
My '94 XJS steering wheel is an original factory one that came with the '95 and '96 Celebration models (from the local dealer) so it looks great, but not as special as the unique result of your work.
Cheers,

 

thanks, gives me something to do since the bars are closed

 

fishbait1...I can't see the substrate, and the veneer seems unmovable. I'll try your epoxy fix anyway, just to smooth out the crack.

Thanks for the idea!

John