paint

[geraldchainsaw]

hi all,    i've painted my steering wheel 3 times now,   i can't get the paint to stay on,   i've used acrilic enamel with hardener,  it dosen't seem to work,    any one out there klnow how to do it???,   thanks   Jerry

[RICH MUISE]

I've never done a steering wheel but anthing that gets painted is approached in the same way basically. Adhesion problems are most often caused by incorrect or insufficient prep work. You didn't mention anything about primers, so I'll assume you didn't use one, if not that's probably your problem. Also steering wheels are plastic, and may require an adhesion promotor or use of a primer made for plastics before the paint. Also what grit sandpaper did you use? A common mistake is to use too fine a grit before the primer.  I go by the practice that anything being painted should be roughed with sandpaper, not smoothed. A good primer will fill in those sandpaper "scratches", but it needs them to adhere well. The closer you get to the finish coats, the finer the grit you use. On the adhesion promoter...I'd find a source for steering wheel repair and refinish kits on the web (try por15) and see what components are listed in the kit. I'll bet adhesion promoter is one of them.   hope this helps, Rich
p.s. I use Bulldog adhesion promoter on all plastics, and between por15 and undercoating. You can get it at o'reill's or auto Zone or paint supply shop

[Ford_Fellow]

First all contamination must be removed from wheel...

Is the paint wearing off or flaking off..

I find the clears are better wearing so putting two coats of clear on is good...I use base instead of acrylic enamel as there is less film build...

If your paint is chipping or wearing off I suggest that you remove the paint that is on there..Clean with cleaning solvent to remover contaminets......Sand with 180 grit ...clean with a solvent meant to clean away contaminents....Prime the sanded surface...

I use a product that is made by SEM   39134    It is   Flexible Primer Surfacer...I use it on plastic bumper also...It is a one component primer...no additives...Spray on two coats...sand with four hundred grit...It is not an easy sand product...finish your sanding with six hundred grit.....I use the basecoat/ clear coat method...I do believe the clear coats have more resistance to the elements and can be finessed if you get a flow indicator or dust bunny..... Clean your surface to be painted before every new step....Armor all type products are your enemy in the paint world and they abound inside vehicles it seams...

[shopratwoody]

Acrylic enamel worked fine on mine. Been 3 yrs now.