I have a steering wheel which is covered in rubber. The rubber has detached from the wheel and moves a lot as I am steering the truck. Should I replace it or is there something else I can do? Recommendations? I would like to keep the air bag in the center of the wheel.
Steering wheel - what to do?
- Thread starter isd503
- Start date
Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.
Drunkcanuk
I'm Awesome
I don't have a airbag wheel, so I may be way off base here.
I assume there is some kind of a seam somewhere on the wheel. Can you peel it back and put some contact glue in there? Not the eco friendly water based crap....but the good ol' smells really good chemical kind.
I assume there is some kind of a seam somewhere on the wheel. Can you peel it back and put some contact glue in there? Not the eco friendly water based crap....but the good ol' smells really good chemical kind.
johnckhall
GO DAWGS!!!
Check out Wheelskins leather steering wheel covers. I put them on two previous steering wheels. The lacing should pull tight enough to keep the underlying material from moving. They also come in solid and two-tone covers. Quality is very good.
Hello isd503, If it was mine I would do a combo fix of both of the below:
I once had a factory wheel where the upper half of the covering (where the sun always hit)
delaminated from the metal loop underneath. Irritating, but I drove it like this for too long.
Finally, I did the glue/syringe thing, and not only did this fix it...but it stayed fixed! And it made
a much larger improvement in the day to day driving than I thought it would. Now, if I had
this going on I'd fix it right away. (!) Great first step, I wouldn't skip it.
And if this is a keeper, *after* I fixed the looseness underneath I would go right for a
quality laced-on steering wheel cover like @johnckhall recommended.
It took me years to figure out that fixing/upgrading something that makes the truck better once
a month is OK...but fixing something ergonomic that affects you the driver every single moment
behind the wheel (bad rag joint, missing brake pedal cover, loose steering wheel rubber, vibrating
rear view mirror, etc) ...is a much bigger win, even though it seems at first glance like a much
smaller nuisance issue.
Do yourself a favor & fix that loose rubber cover asap. And do us a favor and report back
with what you did. (Especially w/photos, they seem to be the real currency of this forum.)
PS: And good on you for being willing to fix your older truck instead of just trading it in -- we
all approve! :0)
Last edited:
You can't leave us hanging like that. What kind of glue did you use?
Sir, if I remember correctly my fear going in was that the wheel I was fixing was
made of unobtanium...and if I didn't put on my big boy pants & use the good stuff
that I'd end up with a loose steering wheel cover, now with injected added lumpiness. :-(
So I did a fair amount of research, and finally decided to use a specialized rubber<>metal
3M adhesive that goes by the name of "Scotch-Weld":
* Here's 3M's Technical Data sheet for this adhesive -- a good read: (LINK)
* Here's a fresh 5 oz tube for sale on Amazon, straight from the 3M store: (LINK)
Caution(s):
* Once upon a time permanently bonding stuff together was more hit than miss.
Now it seems that all the consumer-grade stuff is so 'Cali Prop 65 compliant' that it
no longer has the suds to really work unless all the stars line up. (@Drunkcanuk is on the
money with his earlier guidance.)
Of course, 3M products are professional-strength, which means that if I decide to use
them I have to treat them with respect & keep them away from kids, pets, etc.
Even so, the new problem I'm now running into is even when I do buy the correct adhesive,
it has sat on the shelf too long before it was sold to me. And no joy when I go to use it. :-(
In english, buying adhesives for a 'great price' from a private seller on ebay is false economy.
(And if you find a dusty container at the local hardware store at full price, I'd shy away. Been
there, still didn't work as advertised.)
What can I say? Adhesives are like eggs, the fresher the better! :0)
****
Of course I don't like to spray money around like a race winner with a magnum of champagne.
And no doubt somebody somewhere has figured out a successful fix using a cheaper adhesive.
So I share the above more as a data point for what worked for me...as opposed to this stuff
being the only way to go.
Hopefully this is what you were looking for! (Especially that Tech Data sheet)
Last edited:
You didn't mention the year of the truck, but Grant actually makes new leather wrapped airbag wheels. I have one in my '97. The sides have some extra contouring compared to the factory wheels, but that's the only major difference. Here's some links.
61031 ('95-'98 large center):
www.summitracing.com
61034 ('98+ small center):
www.summitracing.com
61031 ('95-'98 large center):
Grant Products 61031 Grant O.E.M. Replacement Steering Wheels | Summit Racing
Free Shipping - Grant O.E.M. Replacement Steering Wheels with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Steering Wheels at Summit Racing.
61034 ('98+ small center):
Grant Products 61034 Grant O.E.M. Replacement Steering Wheels | Summit Racing
Free Shipping - Grant O.E.M. Replacement Steering Wheels with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Steering Wheels at Summit Racing.
You didn't mention the year of the truck, but Grant actually makes new leather wrapped airbag wheels. I have one in my '97. The sides have some extra contouring compared to the factory wheels, but that's the only major difference. Here's some links.
61031 ('95-'98 large center):
Grant Products 61031 Grant O.E.M. Replacement Steering Wheels | Summit Racing
Free Shipping - Grant O.E.M. Replacement Steering Wheels with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Steering Wheels at Summit Racing.
61034 ('98+ small center):
Grant Products 61034 Grant O.E.M. Replacement Steering Wheels | Summit Racing
Free Shipping - Grant O.E.M. Replacement Steering Wheels with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Steering Wheels at Summit Racing.
I just followed your links, and on both pages there was red script saying
"not available". :-( Boy, this feels like familiar territory. F*rd only
had unique bits for sale for whatever the minimum support period
is by law. (7 years?)
Honda seemed to carry stuff for my EF hatchbacks 20 years later.
(Increasingly spendy but available.) But as I stretched the car out towards
30 years seemingly all of a sudden I found myself buying the last this or
that 'in the entire system', and once again the treasure yards became my only
parts source.
The older our toys get, the further away we are from the beaten path...
Last edited:
That's what I get for not checking links before I copy/paste them from another post...
They appear to be still available from the Grant website and a few other places though, so maybe Summit just stopped carrying them for some reason? Here's the links to the Grant site.
61031:
http://www.grantproducts.com/products/view/996/
61034:
http://www.grantproducts.com/products/view/997/
EDIT - Well, I just tried adding one to my cart on the Grant website... When I clicked "Checkout" the entire web site redirected to some completely unrelated page. No idea what's going on there.
DOUBLE EDIT - Looks like they're listed as unavailable everywhere else too, bummer.
They appear to be still available from the Grant website and a few other places though, so maybe Summit just stopped carrying them for some reason? Here's the links to the Grant site.
61031:
http://www.grantproducts.com/products/view/996/
61034:
http://www.grantproducts.com/products/view/997/
EDIT - Well, I just tried adding one to my cart on the Grant website... When I clicked "Checkout" the entire web site redirected to some completely unrelated page. No idea what's going on there.
DOUBLE EDIT - Looks like they're listed as unavailable everywhere else too, bummer.
Last edited:
