# 1969 OEM Steering Wheel Decomposing



## MagnumBS (Apr 10, 2011)

Do all of the original three spoke steering wheels eventually begin to break down, get sort of gooey and ooze? I'm debating on whether or not to try and find another OEM replacement to replace mine, or just switch to something aftermarket. Has anyone else noticed this? It washes off, but then starts to surface again after a little while. Anybody find an aftermarket steering wheel with horn buttons on the spokes? Has anyone found a company making an OEM style wheel? The center horn buttons always seem kinda cheap to me.


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## 68goatragtop (Mar 19, 2011)

Im pretty sure performance years provide a remoulding service to get it repaired if its a sport wood wheel. however it is $239


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## 68goatragtop (Mar 19, 2011)

ames performance sells new one but they are $429 for the kit or $309 for just the wheel. And performance years sells the kit for $449 or $299 for just the wheel. (the difference in price is because the PY one comes with more stuff than AMES)


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## 400fitz (Jul 7, 2010)

Please show a pic. I have seen them dry out and crack but not ooze. Got some dry cracks in my 68 wheel and have seen my friends 70 very faded and dry.


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

MagnumBS said:


> Do all of the original three spoke steering wheels eventually begin to break down, get sort of gooey and ooze? I'm debating on whether or not to try and find another OEM replacement to replace mine, or just switch to something aftermarket. Has anyone else noticed this? It washes off, but then starts to surface again after a little while. Anybody find an aftermarket steering wheel with horn buttons on the spokes? Has anyone found a company making an OEM style wheel? The center horn buttons always seem kinda cheap to me.


Yes. My 69's wheel has the exact same problem. The repro wood wheels are heinously expensive. I decided to go with an aftermarket Grant wheel. This one: Grant Products 989 - Grant Classic Nostalgia Steering Wheels - Overview - SummitRacing.com

Bear


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

In '69, the composition of the deluxe wheel described here was changed to a softer compound, not hard plastic like the '68 and earlier wheels, which can crack. The '69 up wheels tend to degrade over time with exposure to the elements.....kind of like when you get oil on rubber. I don't know of anybody recasting the later wheels, and I agree a wood wheel "upgrade" would be the most tactile way to go....


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## 68greengoat (Sep 15, 2005)

BearGFR said:


> Yes. My 69's wheel has the exact same problem. The repro wood wheels are heinously expensive. I decided to go with an aftermarket Grant wheel. This one: Grant Products 989 - Grant Classic Nostalgia Steering Wheels - Overview - SummitRacing.com
> 
> Bear


That's the same wheel I'm looking at. My '68 is cracked...

Check out this guys wheel, it's not a '68. Must be a '69+. Maybe he would be willing to part with it.... Not trying to part out the new guys car or anything..:willy:
http://www.gtoforum.com/f50/new-forum-32611/


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## MagnumBS (Apr 10, 2011)

I'll try and get some pics posted for those with a morbid curiousity. The wheel is literally sweating out beads of this resinous stuff. Geeteeohguy hit on something I suspect might have started the deterioration process. The car was REALLY grungy when I bought it. I think the steering wheel and most of the other interior parts were routinely exposed to used motor oil and grease. I like the look of that particular Grants wheel. A wood wheel would look OK, but this is a LeMans. I imagine a few Custom S models had the upgrade, but I'm just going with the stock look - keeping it a LeMans, but it has a GTO powertrain.


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

MagnumBS said:


> I'll try and get some pics posted for those with a morbid curiousity. The wheel is literally sweating out beads of this resinous stuff.


Yep, that's what they do, and it's not a lack of maintenance issue. I bought my car in 1975 and I was the 3rd owner since it was built. It was built at the plant in Arlington Texas, and has been a Texas car its whole life. The only adversity it has ever been subjected to (other than my right foot) has been the Texas heat. Even when it was only 6 or 7 years old, the steering wheel was already breaking down. So much so that between (frequent) washes the inside surfaces of all the glass would start to get cloudy with a scummy film from whatever was coming out of the steering wheel. Windex would barely even move the stuff around on the glass, let alone remove it.

They're all that way, and that's why you can't find NOS or OEM steering wheels unless they're the optional wood wheel. AFAIK no one's reproducing them either.

Bear


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## ALKYGTO (Mar 29, 2010)

Gosh, I guess I'm lucky, no problems with my stock wheel. 

Could it be chemicals used to clean the wheel or Armour All? I know, who AA's their steering wheel.


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

ALKYGTO said:


> Gosh, I guess I'm lucky, no problems with my stock wheel.
> 
> Could it be chemicals used to clean the wheel or Armour All? I know, who AA's their steering wheel.


Well, considering I bought my car before Armour All was invented, and I know I never used it, I don't think so ---- my bet is that it's related to heat. My car did spend several years sitting out in the hot sun before I was able to move to a place with a garage.

Bear


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

My opinion is that the rubberized compound is vulnerable to exposure to ozone, smog, and oils from the skin as well as salt/sweat. I think if you had a sealed-in-a-bag, kept in a cool dark place wheel, it might be ok. Rubber anything tends to degrade in hot or smoggy envirnments, and add oil, it won't last. Both my GTO's had the original trunk weatherstripping when I moved from Oakland to hot Fresno 8 years ago, and it was flexible and ok. Within 4 years, it was as hard as a rock and disintigrating. Some stuff holds up better than others. My '67 deluxe wheel (black) doesn't have a crack in it. The lucite horn button, mint when I installed it years ago, cracked like a spiderweb the very first time I parked the car in the sun with the windows up. And so it goes....


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## MagnumBS (Apr 10, 2011)

*Here's the wheel...it's a goner.*

It's not dripping off from the framework onto the floorboards, but it's bad enough.


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## Joe C2 C5 (Apr 13, 2011)

I am an original owner '69 and mine has always been in a garage and it has done what you describe but not nearly as bad as the pictures indicate. The car was always in PA and it did tend to be better in the cold than during the summer. Three years ago it followed me west to AZ and the heat so far here has not effected it as much (maybe the low humidity is helping). I have been able to get it off by using Vinylex (by Lexol) but like I said, it has been more like an sticky oily film on the wheel, not bubbling like yours. As has already been said, a stock replacement that doesn't act like this I don't think exists.


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## ALKYGTO (Mar 29, 2010)

Maybe have it leather wrapped professionally.


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Alky, that's the best idea yet.


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## MagnumBS (Apr 10, 2011)

Great idea - will have to see what something like that costs vs. just replacing it with aftermarket. I was looking at it yesterday and thinking about some possibilities - maybe even have the center piece and spokes done as well. The way the wheel is put together, I don't see how it could be done in pieces and then reassembed later. If I just have the ring done, that would be super simple and I could pull it and take it in somewhere.


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## likethat (Oct 5, 2007)

I have had 30+ cars now from the late 60' thru the 90's. Half have had the oozy wheel. It is the plastic they used, it gases off it's entire life and get oozy. If you use the car daily your hands wear off the ooze with out you realizing it, but if they sit even for a bit they are subject to the ooze. I read up on it as my 84 grand prix got oozy last year. I am tired of the cars getting that way and want to know why and how to stop it. Best fix wood wheel. Fix what you got, a good quality leather rap. I read some one had a 70's NOS wheel on the shelf in the garage never used and was oozing.


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

Wrapped my wheel in leather you can order pre-stitched covers they are very tight to stretch over and i tacked the edges in place with 3M 468 adhesive, where the leather wraps over itself i used contact cement on both sides of the tanned leather and it stuck so well i have not bothered stitching it. Actually hated how thin the original was and the leather has a thin padding to it which makes the wheel feel much better in the hand.


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## ALKYGTO (Mar 29, 2010)

That's what I'm talking about! Nice job! :cheers

Seriously, factory wheels (especially on Pontiacs) just have the right look that matches the feel of the car. Aftermarket wheels for the most part look either too cheap or too rice. Unless you go billet....I just prefer a "factory" look in my interior.

I'm tempted to do mine or find another factory wheel and leather wrap it.


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

think the wrap was 15.00 from flea-bay and i did it while mounted just need to stretch it on before applying any glue so you can get it centered and where you want it so the seam is in the back also makes the cracked wheel feel more solid as it pulls it together. Was gonna get a grant wood to go with the dash and shift knob but i like the leather better on the stock two spoke. in my research i did find some nice leather partial wraps for the AC cobras wood wheel that were slick, only at the 3 and nine positions and wrapping a quarter of the wood on each side....looked sweet, but i forgot to bookmark them and they were outrageously expensive as is everything for the AC's (was gonna do a replica).


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## Soups (May 9, 2013)

My 69 GTO steering wheel is also sticky but most of it is on the back of the wheel. I was
told to use lacquer thinner to clean the wheel. This I am told will last for about a year then you will have to clean it again. It was also recommended to use Armour All on the wheel after it is cleaned with lacquer thinner.


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## jmt455 (Mar 26, 2012)

Soups said:


> My 69 GTO steering wheel is also sticky but most of it is on the back of the wheel. I was
> told to use lacquer thinner to clean the wheel. This I am told will last for about a year then you will have to clean it again. It was also recommended to use Armour All on the wheel after it is cleaned with lacquer thinner.




Lacquer thinner works great to remove the sticky surface crap.
I would not use Armor All on the steering wheel, though.
Just clean it when needed.


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## Jared (Apr 19, 2013)

Even though this is an old post I figured I would add my 2 cents. The issue everyone is talking about here is the plasticizer (the chemical used to make plastic soft) is exuding out of the plastic used to cast these steering wheels. Unfortunately, the steering wheel of a car is exposed to the worst conditions possible for plastic. The extreme heat, cold, and all the foreign substances on the drivers hands will aggravate this situation. It is almost impossible to make a plastic wheel that will feel nice to your hands and will last indefinitely when exposed to all these elements. You have to remember these cars are all over 40 years old. That is probably why the steering wheel in mine was replaced at some point in the past (my car originally came from Florida). Also, some of the cleaning products will actually speed up this issue.


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