[72malibu]

Here's the finished steering wheel.

To summarize, this steering wheel started off as extremely gooey, maybe one of the worst out there. I scrubbed it with blue Dawn, a little water, and a small plastic brush to get some of the gooey crap off; immersed it in a tub of soapy blue Dawn water for 3 days and scrubbed it again (still sticky); immersed it for 3 more days in fresh soapy water and scrubbed it again (almost done); and soaked it for 3 more days in fresh soapy water and gave it a final brushing and rinse (done).

I then sprayed it with a couple light coats of SEM Tac Free. In theory, it might help prevent the sticky from coming back. The Tac Free is clear but it blackened areas that had turned slightly gray from the cleaning (looking dried out) and made the wheel look like new again. I only sprayed the wheel, not the horn cap.

Then, I wrapped it with a Wheelskin. The size I used was 16" x 2 3/4". I stretched it while on the wheel as I went, firmly holding the edges of the wrap and pulling them toward the center of the wheel. You can pull firmly on the thread (it's really strong), but it's still not enough to pull the edges together fully. It's better to stretch the leather by hand and then pull firmly on the thread while sewing the edges togther. Also, they used a hard glue when they folded the edges over. It was spread unevenly, with some globs sticking to the edges and even some glue smeared on the inside part of the wrap. The glue will show through the wrap, so the excess needs to be removed. While you're wrapping, the edges might separate, which is not a problem, but glue particles might break free. You need to get them out, or they will show through the wrap. As the instructions say, Tight is Right! The wrap feels fantastic - it makes the rim much wider, almost like a modern wheel. The instructions say it will take an hour. It took me several, so plan accordingly.

The GMC emblem is original repainted. The red-orange is Duplicolor Chevy engine paint. It's the red-orange, not the orange-orange (two different paint numbers).

The woodgrain is 3M Marine Teak.

I glued the aluminum trim to the wheel with Loctite slow-dry super glue. It sets in a couple minutes and dries completely in 24 hours. After holding it in place for a few minutes, I clamped it overnight just to be sure.