Steering wheel rust

[WilliamVaughan]

My belief is that the late 356 steering wheel is steel with copper, nickel, chrome plating. I believe the rust erupts through the plating and spills its colorful oxides on top of the chrome over a much wider area than the hole in the plating. If you knock off the rust on the top of the chrome plating that will get rid of most of the color. If you then go after the hole that is the origin of the eruption and remove the rust at that point then the tendency toward rust re-eruption will be greatly reduced. The presence of a rusty site on a fresh steel sheet surface seems to promote further rust at immediately adjacent sites.

[Daryl Bruhl]

You might try some acrylic or latex paint applied with tooth pick into the small indents and cover over the rust. I got this Enamels brand 4130e sterling silver at Walmart. This water base paint can be thinned out and should be easy to remove if it does not meet your satisfaction. I am thinking they may have other silver colors that may match better? I have made a few wood wheels and one I had re chromed before and I used steel wool and rubbing compound to remove the bright shine.
Enjoy
Daryl 63 super 90

[Robert Reed]

Good morning Daryl, thanks for the heads-up on that paint; I certainly does have the potential to be a pretty fair approximation of the color. I’ll have to get by Walmart and see if they have it. What area of the store did you find it in?
Wow, Robert! How in the world did you come up with your evaluation of the composite of the coating on the surface? I can see where it makes sense, but I’m wondering how they could make it appear to be brushed. Thank you for your efforts, it certainly seems plausible.
Bob

[Daryl Bruhl]

Not sure what section of store, would look in area where arts and crafts type items are. " but I’m wondering how they could make it appear to be brushed.". IMHO what ever platting was applied it was brushed most likely with wire wheel. Daryl

[Bob Kittel]

If plating is an option then why not brushed nickle. It is more like the original color and appearance. Nickle plating is part of the chrome process as well. Does the plating process attack the plastic/bakelite grip area?

[Robert Reed]

Hi again folks;
Just thought I’d update y’all on my efforts to refurbish my steering wheel. I have to give credit to my wife for her efforts as well.
We worked on it for a couple of hours this morning, and I’m pretty happy with the results. She even had some model paint so I didn’t have to go looking for any, Testors 1146 Silver (Argent) and used toothpicks primarily to touch up the areas.
Bob
My wife says that “we’re not done yet...”