Thanks Markos, appreciated. M.
Restoring / wrapping Petri steering wheels
- Thread starter Sven
- Start date
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- petri petri 380 petri 400mm
Thanks Markos, appreciated. M.
wow i never noticed the instrument cover on your car is one piece
when did they do two pieces
surely much easier to work witrh
when did they do two pieces
surely much easier to work witrh
"74-"76 is the "later" one-piece dash.
Belgiumbarry
Well-Known Member
We don't talk about car related things we would've done differently.This is the wheel that was on the first coupe I ever owned. I gave it away.
I know some have had the spokes satin nickel plated, no chrome.
Ah that makes more sense…because mine doesn't look chrome to me and hence my questions about the metal used and finished applied.
Here's what mine looks like. Nickel plated? @Markos what do you think? Chrome or Nickel plated?
If nickel plated, the question still remains…how best to tidy up nickel plated spokes? I don't want to make things worse obviously!
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If you take the wheel to get chromed, it
will definitely be worse. I asked for satin chrome, which a show chrome shop can’t do. Mine was bead blasted after which gives it a satin look but leaves it “sparkly”.
I can’t say one way or the other. As the article below mentions, take it to a firearms specialist and have them tell you. Note that I said “hard chrome” above, not “chrome”. I mentioned handguns because it is a common finish for firearms and industrial finishes. I have enough nickel plated stuff in my house to know that the Petri doesn’t look like pre-brushed nickel to me. You would have good results nickel plating it, but I still don’t think it is nickel.
Looks at the blue as pink reflections that you get off the back of a Petri wheel (including the puck above), and tell me if you have ever seen nickel do that? Attached below is a hard chrome example, I’ll leave the pic at the bottom.
Here is a video of the two side by side. Warning to folks in California or at work, there are closeups of firearms in the video. You will likely also have fun advertisements in your browser thereafter until you clear your cache.
youtube video - nickel handguns vs hard chrome
Here is an article, quoted below:
how to tell the difference...
.
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@Michael Kaye,
If you have your wheel plated, it is the job of the plated to tidy up the spokes. They have to chemically strip the old chrome. That may be enough. Good chrome shops then coat
the part in copper. Copper is soft and works just like body filler. It fills all of the imperfections and the plate shop then sands and polished the copper. Most of the finish work with plating happens before you do the last coat. With nickel you can brush it after (they actually manually scratch the finish).
A hard chrome finish is done almost entirely on the underlying metal. So if you want it smooth you need to smooth the metal first. Same goes for anodized aluminum.
If you have your wheel plated, it is the job of the plated to tidy up the spokes. They have to chemically strip the old chrome. That may be enough. Good chrome shops then coat
the part in copper. Copper is soft and works just like body filler. It fills all of the imperfections and the plate shop then sands and polished the copper. Most of the finish work with plating happens before you do the last coat. With nickel you can brush it after (they actually manually scratch the finish).
A hard chrome finish is done almost entirely on the underlying metal. So if you want it smooth you need to smooth the metal first. Same goes for anodized aluminum.
@Markos thanks for the info. I’m from the UK so to be honest I’ve never seen or held a firearm.
At this moment I don’t really want to go the restoration route - I was just interested in what I could do at home with polish and a cloth to improve it.
Now I am not sure what approach to take as I’m not clear exactly what spokes are in terms of metal and finish. What I don’t want to do is to make it worse.
I wonder if @Keshav or @Wladek have any thoughts about the metal, it’s finish and how one could polish it at home?
At this moment I don’t really want to go the restoration route - I was just interested in what I could do at home with polish and a cloth to improve it.
Now I am not sure what approach to take as I’m not clear exactly what spokes are in terms of metal and finish. What I don’t want to do is to make it worse.
I wonder if @Keshav or @Wladek have any thoughts about the metal, it’s finish and how one could polish it at home?
I think that both are a good resource on the subject. @Keshav has cleaned up a number of Petri wheels, and @Wladek plated his. You can polish out the pits on existing chrome to a degree, but it will get shiny if you work it too hard. I don't recommend refinishing the wheel unless you are all-in for a leather top coat. One can surely locate a hard chrome or nickel plating service in the UK. The firearm references are helpful because it is consumer grade with consumer-friendly finishes. They do small batch jobs which is helpful for hard chrome. The issue with that process is that many of the hard chrome outfits are for huge industrial outfits.
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Thanks again Markos. I’ll have a go following your earlier advice (WD-40 and 0000 (super fine) steel wool) and see how well it cleans up.
Thanks again. M.
I'll begin with saying that I don't know much about Petris, or steering wheels in general.
My experience with cleaning up an old Petri is this, I had (still have) a Petri 40 with badly pitted spokes, and without doing any research, I took some autosol and went for it.
My goal was to remove some of the visible pitting, at the cost of removing the satin finish at the same time as I thought that shiny spokes wouldn't be so bad as long as the pitting went away.
However, the pitting remains, and I went through the -whatever- metal finish the spokes are made of, and the copper? base underneath was revealed.
Whatever the top finish is, it's pretty soft as it didn't take long to get through it with autosol chrome polish.
That's why I doubt it's chrome or hard chrome, it seems way too soft for that.
Just my $0.02
My experience with cleaning up an old Petri is this, I had (still have) a Petri 40 with badly pitted spokes, and without doing any research, I took some autosol and went for it.
My goal was to remove some of the visible pitting, at the cost of removing the satin finish at the same time as I thought that shiny spokes wouldn't be so bad as long as the pitting went away.
However, the pitting remains, and I went through the -whatever- metal finish the spokes are made of, and the copper? base underneath was revealed.
Whatever the top finish is, it's pretty soft as it didn't take long to get through it with autosol chrome polish.
That's why I doubt it's chrome or hard chrome, it seems way too soft for that.
Just my $0.02
fwiw ,,, I've used a product called QUIXX with great results on several old steering wheels, including my Petri, and countless other car parts.
an old soft rag and tedious gentle rubbing. Chrome, pot-metal, aluminum ... works very well and i really like the stuff.
Here's a link, it seems to be readily available worldwide too.
Quixx metal polish
an old soft rag and tedious gentle rubbing. Chrome, pot-metal, aluminum ... works very well and i really like the stuff.
Here's a link, it seems to be readily available worldwide too.
Quixx metal polish
Basically, the wd-40 is a lube for the wool...that said, I'm a fan of wd-40 for squeaky doors, and such, but not of the ingredients (mineral oil, etc) in the stuff that can/will go where you don't want it sometimes. When I had my belt-line stripped and polished, instead of a top coat, I use carnuba wax and 0000 steel wool (masked off with blue painter's tape, of course..), followed by just a good waxing. Might be cleaner alternate than the wd.
And as finishing materials always say on the can, "first test in an inconspicuous place", like the back side...
And as finishing materials always say on the can, "first test in an inconspicuous place", like the back side...
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Michael bought his wheel from Hans and I’m pretty sure Hans did all that was doable before he sold it. He is a professional Petri guy. ONLY very superficial ‘dirt’ can be cleaned off but most of the imperfections are below the surface and can’t be removed without scrubbing the top layer and leaving a chrome look underneath.
Therefore, if the Petri isn’t near ‘perfect’ to begin with, there’s not much that can be done in its favor other than a whole repleting as done by Wladek and Markos. That’s a long drawn job and has to be completed with a leather wrap.
Very good 38cm Petri can still be found with patience although not cheap anymore.
I bought a Csl wheel the other day (thanks to Stevehose) and only out of pure luck did it transform into a nice one. Pure good fortune. Not something one can expect nor repeat.
Therefore, if the Petri isn’t near ‘perfect’ to begin with, there’s not much that can be done in its favor other than a whole repleting as done by Wladek and Markos. That’s a long drawn job and has to be completed with a leather wrap.
Very good 38cm Petri can still be found with patience although not cheap anymore.
I bought a Csl wheel the other day (thanks to Stevehose) and only out of pure luck did it transform into a nice one. Pure good fortune. Not something one can expect nor repeat.
Gransin, thank you. This was my concern all along so I appreciate you showing the effects of over rubbing (but I’m sorry you had to experience this in order for all of us to learn).
I hope you managed to salvage the wheel in the long run.
Thanks Keshav. I know you told me this before but was interested in others experiences (seems lots of people have had slightly different results from rubbing and polishing).
Also I am still curious as to what metal the Petri is actually made from and what finish was applied to the spokes.
Do you, or anyone else here, have a definitive answer to this.
Thanks Michael
You can also clean the wheel with alcohol. Spray the wheel with “chrome” (aka silver) spray paint and wipe it clean. The paint will only be left in the dark pits.
Petri wheels are mild steel. That is why they weigh 3x as much as a momo.