Tuff Wheel "Restoration"

[gzig5]

Actually, a bit more make usable than restoration.  I found a cheap Tuff Wheel and when I got it found out it was cheap for a reason.  The metal was speckled with rust, which had been shown in the picture, but the molded cover has separated from the steel core and wiggled and turned in your hand.  That wasn't going to work for safe driving.  Hung it on a nail in the basement while I thought about it.  Asked the question and was told to inject super glue, which I had considered.  It's been too cold to work in the garage so I finally got to it.  I had a real syringe with a pretty big needle and tried filling it with the runny super glue and injecting it in.  Not sure what I was doing wrong but it simply didn't work.  More glue came back out than went in.  I changed gears and since I really had nothing to lose and a new wheel isn't that expensive, I decided to cut the molding and peel it back so I could clean it and get some real adhesive in there.  I had originally planned on putting on one of those stitched leather covers anyway which should hide any ugliness. 

Unfortunately I don't have an as received picture.  I used 0000 steel wool and WD40 to clean the metal surface and it came out pretty nice.  So as the pics will show, I sliced up the faux molded seam from spoke to spoke then picked one end to slice around the grip so I could peel it back.  I used denatured alcohol on q-tips and a toothbrush to clean the inside of the grip of as much rust and crust as I could.  Just trying to get to solid material that would hold when glued.  A lot of fiddling around later, it was clean enough and I used some 100 grit to clean the steel core and wiped everything down one last time.  The grip went back on the core and seemed to want to line up everywhere so I started the gluing process using a thick polyurethane adhesive like caulk.  I trimmed an acid brush to apply it while I spread the grip open, trying to put a thin coat on the entire surface of the long section which is the top half of the wheel. Then painted it on the steel and slipped the cover back over.  First thing to do is line up the free end that was cut around with the part that was still fixed to the wheel.  Then starting from the other end I would iteratively squeeze out excess glue, wipe the seam, then apply tape to hold it together.  Working my way down toward the free end and when about 2" away, tape that free end to hold its alignment.  I then had to wait a day for the glue to dry and remove the tape.  Wonder of wonders the foam was firmly adhered to the wheel core.  I then repeated the process on the other two small sections and I now have a functional but ugly wheel.  Next step is the cover.

[gzig5]

The foam cover was actually not in terrible shape but it had a brown hue to it.  As you can see on a couple of the spokes the foam had been picked back.  The cheap cover I used doesn't have material to cover that.  I may make a new cover in the future, or maybe wrap those areas with a cord or band of some type. For now the cover is on and it looks a lot better than  it did.  Stitching the cover was tedious, but pretty easy. I got the plain black but you can get other cover colors and thread combos.  For the record I used the M- size of the Aully Park brand off of Amazon. I've included the sizing info to help figure out what size you might need.  It fits very snug on the diameter and before stitching has a 1/8-3/16" gap that gets pulled closes as the stitch tightens. This wheel was over 3 1/2" circumference and I got the M size the first time but it was way too loose to grip once stitched.

If I were to do it again, I would use superglue to hold the cut end at the spoke.  If that isn't aligned perfect, it will project through the cover.  Superglue would set quick while you hold perfect alignment, using the poly glue I had one end shift under the tape.  I googled a couple videos on how to do the stitch and ended up doing a cross stitch with both threads to give a V pattern.

[gzig5]

This thread was just to show another way to skin a cat and hopefully help someone else with a similar issue.  If you just had a small loose section, I think you could split down the seam as I did, but not go end to end, only in the loose area.  Then spread the split, squirt a viscus adhesive in and spread it around by lightly twisting the foam.  Put more glue on the split seam, use tape or clamps to hold closed, and you'd be hard pressed to find the gap.  I think I don't have much more than $55 into this thing, including the wheel and the cover.  I can live with it for now.

[340challconvert]

Nice work

[70/6chall]

You did a great job on the grip buddy. To get mine up to snuff I took it to an upholsterer and had him stitch up a custom sport grip. Not the most cheapest way to go about this, but it's in black leather and stitched in orange thread so it compliments the outside color of the car.  Thanks,   Al

[blucuda]

Nicely done!  I need to find more basement projects like this during our present cold snap.

[jimynick]

Nice work and thanks for sharing as well! 

[moparroy]

Thanks for sharing. What did you do to refinish the metal part? mine is pitted as well - not sure what's best for that. I think the grip on it is ok but need to check.
Thanks

[gzig5]

Thanks for sharing. What did you do to refinish the metal part? mine is pitted as well - not sure what's best for that. I think the grip on it is ok but need to check.
Thanks

I just used 0000 steel wool and oil to polish out the surface rust.  It had a even layer of patina but luckily no deep pitting.  If you have rust pits, I would try some LCR, vinegar, or Evaporust and a tooth brush to clean it out.   Not too much you can do about the pits besides using a TIG to fill them and then resurfacing the area or the whole thing with incremental grits.  If the metal is plated you may be out of luck, but at least it would look better than with the rust.  Maybe fill the pits with bondo and shoot some color on it?