Has anyone successfully dyed their steering wheel air bag cover and actually had it stick? I shot my whole wheel with Krylon but the air bag cover stayed permenantly sticky. Are there products out there that dry withough chipping off?
I used the same vinyl dye that I used on my dash pad. The airbag cover is still fine, but the wheel is a different story. It started flaking off as soon as I touched the wheel. Not sure if I didn't prep it right or what. Gonna try the wheel again this weekend.
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2002 2.2L -Base Model- (not for long) Black Cavalier
i would think there is way to much, oil from your hands imbedded into the wheel to EVER get paint to stick/dry right.
Yeah, that's what has kept me from trying it. Maybe if you went over it with some bug/tar remover first. Then cleaned it with alchohol (although that may melt it, dont know) and used some adhesion promoter.
I had thought about just using the vinyl dye on the airbag cover and getting a good steeringwheel cover or something. I wonder how much it would cost to get the wheel leather wrapped..
My Car Domain Page
Wrap the wheel yourself. See Jason @
aplusperformance They look awesome, and come in a bunch of color combinations. I'll see if I can find a pic and post it later.
Gotta keep on livin', L-I-V-I-N
Wheel skins look like this.
Gotta keep on livin', L-I-V-I-N
BTW, where do you get a good vinyl dye, and how do you do it? I hate the plain jane look of the airbag cover.
Gotta keep on livin', L-I-V-I-N
Gotta new sunfire cluster on the way. I was just playing around with the old one and some markers trying to see what it will look like with the rest of the interior. All of my lighting will be red.
Gotta keep on livin', L-I-V-I-N
I painted my wheel back in 04 and it is still black. Granted, I havent driven my car much since then, but I did go to the Bash and a few other shows before starting the right hand drive conversion... Here's a pic from Bash:
Basically, I cleaned the piss out of it. Bug/tar remover, grease remover, just about anything I could find. Then I misted it white for a base coat and then misted black over that. The key is to use as LITTLE paint as possible. Thickness = flakes...
My airbag cover is a different colour grey then the rest of the interior. after my accident they told me that there were no matching airbag covers. it looks stupid
That looks awesome, Weasel! Did you do that youirself or have someone else do it? If you did it, could you possibly e-mail me with more details (pattern, what to use, etc) and if you took it somewhere, where did you take it?
TIA!
My Car Domain Page
Wild Weasel, that is still my favorite Sunfire on the org. Something about red just makes me happy.Thanks for providing all of the useful tips on your site too.
Gotta keep on livin', L-I-V-I-N
Thanks guys!
I did it myself after being quoted some ridiculous prices to have a shop do it for me.
I don't really have much in the way of advice or instructions though. I made the pattern out of the old leather I stripped off the wheel. Then it needed to be trimmed a few times before it fit right. It's tough to make a pattern out of stretched out leather.
I used a sewing machine to attach the two pieces together (notice the seams at the 4:00 and 7:00 positions) and then did the rest by hand. It took forever and I actually had to stitch it at least 3 times before I was satisfied. I originally used black thread for a nice two-tone look but my stitching looked more like what you'd find on Frankenstein's monster than on a nice custom wheel so I tossed the black thread and went with red so it would blend in.
If you're doing an older Cavalier, you'd do well to start with the leather wrapped Toyota wheel. If you're doing a 03+ car, I believe they have a leather wheel on the Sunfires that can be swapped over to the Cavs. Using the wheel meant for leather will give you something to make a pattern out of and will allow the leather you put on it to fit flush as it's supposed to as opposed to sitting on top like those wheelskins ones do. If you're not starting with a wheel meant for leather... you're probably best off just getting the wheelskins kit.
^^^ God, Weasel...that brings back memories! Seems like you did it just yesterday. Have I really been on this site for almost 6 years?
