Painting new steering wheel

J

Joel

Promoted Users
This is a new repro steering wheel for my C10 restoration. I need to paint it red. It is a painted wheel and the paint doesn’t soften with acetone. However, the black plastic substrate will soften with acetone. My paint is 2 parts SPI Red with one part SPI Orange. I’ll finish with SPI UC.

I would prefer no epoxy as I only have black at the moment - but only if you think this might work:

Scuff with pad and 2-3 light coats of base (activated) good flash between coats. Then, 2-3 coats UC.

I do have adpro in hand if needed.

Thank you very much,
Joel
 

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Joel, sorry no one has answered your question sooner. I'll try to. First give it a good thourogh cleaning. Dawn and hot water. Then use a grey Scuff pad and some sanding paste like Scuff Stuff and very thoroughly scuff it.
Again wash it with Dawn and hot water. Let it dry. Then wipe it down with SPI 700. Again let it dry and you are ready to shoot. One medium coat of SPI adhesion promoter. Follow the instructions in the tech manual. Then proceed with color and clear. I would reduce the clear quite a bit so it goes on thin. Do the absolute minimum coat wise as you don't want a lot of build.
Check with Barry on the Tech line to make sure my advice jives with his.
 
What Barry said. I have painted plastic parts by doing the thorough clean with dawn and water, and letting it dry. skipping the W&G remover. Then SPI epoxy and base.

I suppose the W&G remover couldn't hurt, but plastic can be porous and we know what happens when you spray over W&G remover residue. Probably a low likelihood, but I wouldn't risk it. And if you did a good job with the Dawn shouldnt need W&G remover anyhow unless you handle it excessively with some really oily skin afterwards, IMHO
 
Thank you all very much. Looks like I’ll get the epoxy on after a good scuff. I don’t want to sand through the existing paint though so I’ll be careful.

No problem with the delay in response, I had to put dad in the hospital later that day and only got back to the shop today. If all goes well I’ll get him back for Christmas. At 87-1/2 everyday is a gift.

Thanks again
Joel
 
Barry said:
No was not correcting you there are many ways and all that matters is the net result!
This was just how I have done mine over the years.
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I was wrong, I thought he was shooting over plastic not paint. Was not paying enough attention.
 
I guess I am dense missing the point but the epoxy works great over bare plastic? I used to think it wasn't a good match for plastic parts but Brian at SPI talked me into it and now I use it all the time on plastic bumper covers and body kit parts.
 
BoostedOne said:
Im confused. If you are painting it, why are you concerned with scuffing through the existing paint here and there?
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My concern with scuffing through is that the underlying plastic may react differently than the paint as per my acetone test indicated. Indeed it may be a non concern but I have read that proper preparation may be different for plastic than it would for paint.
 
I took advantage of a rare warm day and finished the steering wheel. It turned out great in my opinion. Once again, that’s 2 parts SPI red to one part SPI orange.

I lurk and learn on this great forum. Thanks so much again for your help.

Joel
 

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