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Refurbing steering wheel progress

2003 - 2009, roadster, coupe, facelift
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Gav-coupe
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Refurbing steering wheel progress

Post by Gav-coupe » Wed Jul 08, 2020 1:56 pm

So I decided I’d had enough of looking at the peeling rubberised finish on my M-sport steering wheel, so I thought I’ll give it a go at returning myself!

Progress so far, so simple to remove the trim, push a skinny screw driver into the back of the airbag, the two holes have a spring at the end which released it.

Then unscrew the trim from behind the wheel (4 torx screw) then just un-clip the trim from the wheel, be careful not to brake the clips they aren’t too strong. I’ve had to araldite one back on.

So far all trim pieces are wet flatted with 800 then 1000. I have plastic primer, Matt black already paint and a Matt lacquer. I will keep you updated once painted
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Gav-coupe
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Refurbing steering wheel progress

Post by Gav-coupe » Wed Jul 08, 2020 3:15 pm

Masking the little buttons is so much fun 😤
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lucasxdiniz
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Refurbing steering wheel progress

Post by lucasxdiniz » Wed Jul 08, 2020 5:10 pm

Gav-coupe wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 3:15 pm Masking the little buttons is so much fun 😤
I went through that pain, and it turned out terribly, I recommend just using a tiny torx to disassemble the buttons, it's quite simple. You'll end up with primer over spray (if you use it) that may be visible up close.
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Refurbing steering wheel progress

Post by ph001 » Wed Jul 08, 2020 5:23 pm

Bit late now, but having gone through this - if you soak the trim pieces in tar remover for 30 mins the rubberised coating comes off fairly easy with a bit of elbow grease, leaving the underlying matt black plastic finish on show. After that, I didn't think they really needed painting.
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Refurbing steering wheel progress

Post by Gav-coupe » Wed Jul 08, 2020 5:56 pm

lucasxdiniz wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 5:10 pm
Gav-coupe wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 3:15 pm Masking the little buttons is so much fun 😤
I went through that pain, and it turned out terribly, I recommend just using a tiny torx to disassemble the buttons, it's quite simple. You'll end up with primer over spray (if you use it) that may be visible up close.
I didn’t have a torx but small enough to undo them, if they look terrible I’ll get one tomorrow and redo them. Thanks for the tip

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Refurbing steering wheel progress

Post by Gav-coupe » Wed Jul 08, 2020 5:56 pm

ph001 wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 5:23 pm Bit late now, but having gone through this - if you soak the trim pieces in tar remover for 30 mins the rubberised coating comes off fairly easy with a bit of elbow grease, leaving the underlying matt black plastic finish on show. After that, I didn't think they really needed painting.
That would have saved some elbow grease 🤣

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Refurbing steering wheel progress

Post by srhutch » Wed Jul 08, 2020 8:41 pm

Gav-coupe wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 5:56 pm
ph001 wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 5:23 pm Bit late now, but having gone through this - if you soak the trim pieces in tar remover for 30 mins the rubberised coating comes off fairly easy with a bit of elbow grease, leaving the underlying matt black plastic finish on show. After that, I didn't think they really needed painting.
That would have saved some elbow grease 🤣
IPA also works well, and I don’t mean the beer.
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Refurbing steering wheel progress

Post by Gav-coupe » Wed Jul 08, 2020 11:52 pm

srhutch wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 8:41 pm
Gav-coupe wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 5:56 pm
ph001 wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 5:23 pm Bit late now, but having gone through this - if you soak the trim pieces in tar remover for 30 mins the rubberised coating comes off fairly easy with a bit of elbow grease, leaving the underlying matt black plastic finish on show. After that, I didn't think they really needed painting.
That would have saved some elbow grease 🤣
IPA also works well, and I don’t mean the beer.
Appreciate these tips, good to know for future reference.

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Refurbing steering wheel progress

Post by Gav-coupe » Wed Jul 08, 2020 11:54 pm

This may be useful for anyone looking to do this job, I was using hicote Matt black paint and a Matt lacquer from Halfords. The lacquer ruined it, it looks like a dusty grey rather than Matt black, so I’m going to flat the top coat and just Matt black them

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Refurbing steering wheel progress

Post by Gav-coupe » Thu Jul 09, 2020 12:20 pm

Update after paint and nearly back on the car
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Refurbing steering wheel progress

Post by ph001 » Thu Jul 09, 2020 12:28 pm

Looks great. Well done :thumbsup:
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Refurbing steering wheel progress

Post by enuff_zed » Thu Jul 09, 2020 12:56 pm

Looks very good. The matt finish you have there looks spot on.
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Refurbing steering wheel progress

Post by JamieZ4C » Thu Jul 09, 2020 2:22 pm

Really great job, you must be proud of that! :thumbsup:
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Refurbing steering wheel progress

Post by Gav-coupe » Fri Jul 10, 2020 8:43 am

Thanks all! Yes I’m very happy with the outcome, it’s well worth doing

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