Hello,

I was wondering if anyone here has any experience with any foam that is hard enough/safe enough to be used with steering wheel? My steering wheel has seen better days and I want to freshen it up a little.

1. I was planning on taking the leather off and removing the old crappy foam and take it down to the bare metal.
2. I want to re-apply new foam to the wheel and shape it into a flat bottom and modify the grips by sanding and shaping the foam. <<<<< this is where I need help with getting the right type of foam
3. I can get some carbon fiber pieces that are big enough from work that are cut a way excess of wing skin or fuselage of the aircraft.
4. Lay the carbon fiber over the foam from step 2 on the wheel from top and bottom and infuse it with resin to cure or get some prepreg carbon and use vacuum and cure it in oven.
5. Add leather/suede or alcantara on top of the foam from step 2 to the 9 -3 position and add contracting stitching.

Now I don't want to tare down my steering wheel to bare metal if I can't get step 2 complete. I need help with that. I've done a bunch of google research and can't seen to find proper help on how to get this part done. Closest thing I came across was a clip form Discovery Ch on "How It's Made" where they weer making Civic rubber steering wheel via injection molding technique. I think I can do most of the work in regards to carbon fiber and if I can't, I have composite engineers at work that I can help on the best way to lay carbon on the wheel.

So has anyone ever heard of anyone re-foaming the bare metal steering wheel? If worse comes to worse, i was thinking of wrapping the wheel with bicycle grip tape super tight but then i can't sand that down and make it a flat bottom. Any help in this project is much appreciated. Thanks

 

Personally if you want to retain the OEM steering wheel look and feel, and you should since it's an excellently made steering wheel and SUPER ergonomic, then just buy another one off eBay.

It doesn't need to be a complete wheel, you will retain your factory airbags, steering wheel controls, plastic covers, etc. You can pick them up for under $75 in good condition usually.

If you want a quick and easy (see note***) fix to ripped leather and want a better quality steering wheel cover then look into one of these, you will need to verify the diameter of the steering wheel I'm a tad bit liquored up and am not going to hike through 24" of snow to go out to my G right now...


If you actually want to do a foam steering wheel you will need to custom make a mold and do an injection casting on it, it's a bit tricky to do in your shop though if you want anything more than just a plain circle. I've only known one person who ever did this and he made a wax casting in a 50 degree room, then set it in a plaster mold, cut the mold and removed the wax with a torch, set his steering wheel in a suspended jig and got it perfectly centered and finished out the mold so it would mate up properly and had either 6 or 8 injection sites, I can't remember exactly. I'll say it turned out decently but seemed like a massive waste of time.

I'm no sculptor so I would never attempt something like that.

As for the carbon fiber, that stuff has a pretty low friction coefficient which makes it great for some applications that require low friction but seems like a terrible idea for a steering wheel that you need to not slip in the hand. Something you might consider before applying.

If you want to go totally old school with the steering wheel just use wood, it's an easy material to work with and was used for many decades before all these fancy polymers took over.

EDIT: Forgot the note*** these things are a motherF'er to get on, they're super tight. Start at the top since you will see the seam and keep working your way around, it definitely takes some upper body strength but I have one on my GMC Sierra and it's a very good steering wheel cover.