73 Steering Wheel Finish

[ChallengerHK]

What was the finish on these, the two spoke, three-hole-per-side wheels? I had always assumed that they were natural metal, but somebody recently told me that they were painted from the factory.

[ted]

polished metal. no paint

[ChallengerHK]

Thanks. If mine is rusted, is there a good way to restore it?

[Bullitt-]

Mine is more of a satin finish even has a brushed look to it, as for removing rust I'd say use some medium grit sand paper & finish with a finer grit. Test the backside 1st to see if there is any plating that might come off.

[ChallengerHK]

Thanks.  Luckily, I've got a spare to practice on 

[72hemi]

I think they are actually plated in a special satin plating. There is a guy on here who restores rim blow steering wheels and he woudl probably know for sure.

[plumbeeper]

 The spokes on the 72-74 E-body wheels were plated with a copper, nickel, chrome just like the rimblow wheels. Most of them were not quite as much of a polished look as the rimblows, but they were still plated the same. If you use any type of abrasive on the chrome like sandpaper you will scratch it. There is no turning back then, the chrome will be ruined. There's only one thing I use to remove slight surface rust that will not scratch the chrome and that is a very fine steel wool grade 0000. Then a very good metal polish like Simi-Chrome or Wenol to hide any fine scuffs. This must all be done by hand, NO POWER TOOLS. If you try to buff this satin chrome too much, it will get too shiney or you will get into the nickel and copper. If the chrome is pitted, it's too late.
 If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Dave

[ChallengerHK]

Thanks for the info, Dave. I have a feeling that the wheels I have are both too far gone with rust for that method to work, but I'll take some pics and post them for your assessment.

[DAYLEY/CHALLENGER]

  4-0000 steel wool......I will take a better pic later.....

http://big-dog.us/challenger/images/Albums/49/index.html