Steering Wheel Thumb Grips SORTED'ish!!!! A solution?!

[shuntridge]

Well i have i think got a solution for the steering wheel of certain doom in the 172. I have bought my car with the thumb grips destroyed and with a bit of fiddling came up with this solution.

Let me know what you think, made from Polymorph!!

Painted in a blue to see what it looks like but might get some of that blubber type paint as in the VW's to make it feel / look better

 

[shuntridge]

Link to the site for Polymorph is here:

http://www.mindsetsonline.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=550

Very easy to use!!!

 

[Pl8yer]

Thats the dogs! I need some! Im desperate to replace my thumb grips!

 

[Pl8yer]

Was it easy to shape and mold???

 

[shuntridge]

It is very easy indeed. The polymorph is rubbery when warm and as such you can mould it to a very nice shape. The best thing is you can mould it perfectly to your thumb size!!

I did one mould first and let it cool, chopped of the excess. Then warmed it up again and smoothed it out. I will upload all the photos of the process later and you can see how easy it was.

I even surprised myself HA HA.

 

[Pl8yer]

It is very easy indeed. The polymorph is rubbery when warm and as such you can mould it to a very nice shape. The best thing is you can mould it perfectly to your thumb size!!

I did one mould first and let it cool, chopped of the excess. Then warmed it up again and smoothed it out. I will upload all the photos of the process later and you can see how easy it was.



I even surprised myself HA HA.

I take it you moulded it from the steering wheel and not your old thumb grips?

Great job though looks really good... Maybe different colour though.

What sort of paint did you use?

 

[pendulumx]

I think your on to something there!

 

[fatboymal]

Did you take a mould from the old thumb grips?

 

[Sash]

Will it not start to reshape during the summer hot weather? Cars do get fairly hot...

 

[shuntridge]

The right hand thumb grip had already gone on mine so cut it all off!!!

It was a bit of a faff to do that bit, the rest was easy.... here's how!!

1. Remove thumb grip completely including the seating area, this will be the bit that the polymorph will go into ensuring a snap fit later.

2. Warm the polymorph in fresh boiled water, nice and hot. The granules will form together. Mould into a flat shape in you hand and form round the exposed thumb grip, pop a bit of oil on (I used olive oil) as this will help releasing them later. Mould into shape, you can mould to the perfect size of your thumb and fingers. Cut of excess with a craft knife, car full though!! The polymorph is clear when hot and goes white when cold. You can see this in the pic below.

3: Remove both grip when completely cold!! The oil should help with this. You can then trim of any excess and give a light sand.

4: Pop them back into boiling water for a few seconds so the go clear again and pop them back on the steering wheel. You can then smooth out any lumps and bumps. Keep them wet as your fingers will glide over them more when moulding.

5: Sand down very lightly with wet n dry.

6: I used high build primer to get rid of any small imperfections.

7: Wet n dry to a smooth finish.

8: Paint (use a nice colour, i just clearly picked up the first can at hand!!)

9: laquer.

10: Go ooooooooooooh!!!

11: Let them dry overnight

12: Fit them on and praise the lord for polymorph!!!

 

[shuntridge]

Will it not start to reshape during the summer hot weather? Cars do get fairly hot...

Melting (workable state) point is 60oC so if it gets that hot they could go soft, or you will die of heat exposure ha ha!!

It does not have a plastic memory so stays in shape, would just go squigdgy if it did get that hot.

 

[shuntridge]

Did you take a mould from the old thumb grips?

I did not have one on the right hand side so cut the rest that was left off and worked from that, easy enough though.

 

[shuntridge]

I think your on to something there!

Hope so. It would be a nice idea if it could help a few people as it was a pain with a crap steering wheel. I was beginning to fall out with the car!!

 

[Ben.A]

Melting (workable state) point is 60oC so if it gets that hot they could go soft, or you will die of heat exposure ha ha!!

It does not have a plastic memory so stays in shape, would just go squigdgy if it did get that hot.

It could potentially see 60 degree surface temp pretty easily to be honest. Car manufacturers test interiors up to 85 degree ambient air temp, surface temp due to sun exposure is tested up to about 115 degrees. What you've got looks good, just be aware it might get gooey.

 

[shuntridge]

It could potentially see 60 degree surface temp pretty easily to be honest. Car manufacturers test interiors up to 85 degree ambient air temp, surface temp due to sun exposure is tested up to about 115 degrees. What you've got looks good, just be aware it might get gooey.

Cheers it just needs a little development and a few more people to experiment with it, looks like Renault forgot to do the testing on the wheel also though when they designed it ha ha.

Not the perfect solution i know but better than £380 +vat or whatever a new one is now.

 

[Sean6545]

Iv tried somthing similar in this thread, good idea on the poly stuff though

http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?576647-My-thumb-grip-attempt&highlight=

 

[pendulumx]

Maybe the next step is heat them in an oven at 60oc through to 80oc and see what the effect is?

 

[The Boosh!]

Looks like something out of Max Power. Not a fan myself.

 

[Arctic_182]

will this be enough to do 2 thumb grips?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250g-POLY..._Body_Shop_Supplies_Paint&hash=item45f5a59d4b

 

[Dan@M.A.D]

Look bad! Just the colour maybe but not a fan. Isnt this car on ebay?

 

[shuntridge]

Looks like something out of Max Power. Not a fan myself.

HA HA exactly what i thought when i put them on the car!!! I just wanted to see what they looked like / what finish i could get with paint and MG Trophy Blue was the only colour i had at hand. I have ordered some of the black VW rubberised paint and will let you know what the outcome is.

 

[shuntridge]

Look bad! Just the colour maybe but not a fan. Isnt this car on ebay?

Yep the colour sucks!!! Only an experiment though / first prototype.

And yes the car is on fleebay..

 

[shuntridge]

will this be enough to do 2 thumb grips?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250g-POLY..._Body_Shop_Supplies_Paint&hash=item45f5a59d4b

I would get at least 500g of it then you can do a good mould. It is easy stuff to work with and at that price aint to bad.

 

[Scott™]

Dislike them sorry. I think they look cheap.

 

[shuntridge]

Dislike them sorry. I think they look cheap.

Painted them back now so should look better than the foul blue.

Idea is that they are CHEAP and not £100's as a new wheel is. Certainly looks / feels better than my steering wheel hanging to bits.

 

[Scott™]

I look forward to seeing the black ones

 

[shuntridge]

Back to Black... erm sure there is something there....

Anyways starting to look better, this is just satin plasikote stuff and not the VW rubberised stuff but does look better and not the "Max Power" look of the blue ones.

 

[pendulumx]

Have a pic of the black ones fitted? I think it will look much better than the blue

 

[Dan@M.A.D]

i would go for more of a matt finish myself but black will look 10x better

 

[shuntridge]

Have a pic of the black ones fitted? I think it will look much better than the blue

Just waiting for them to dry and then give them a light flat down with some 1000 grit wet n dry. Should be on in an hour or so and will pop a picture on here of them on.

Certainly do think they will look better in black. Did drive 60 miles last night and the blue was getting on my nerves quite a bit.

 

[shuntridge]

i would go for more of a matt finish myself but black will look 10x better

It is satin finish, again all i have in the shed ha ha!! It is still wet in the picture but should matt off when dry. The rubberised paint i have ordered is a matt finish as in the door handles in VW's that should look awesome.

 

[fatboymal]

I have ordered some of the black VW rubberised paint and will let you know what the outcome is.

Plastidip, or something else?

 

[shuntridge]

Plastidip, or something else?

Just went to the local car paint shop and they said they can put it in an aerosol. We shall see what it turns out like. He said it is the same stuff that VW / Seat use on their interior parts to give the "soft" touch.

 

[shuntridge]

The pair of black ones drying. Certainly look better than the blue ones.

 

[Ben.A]

I think its the satin finish that makes them look cheap. Whilst the black looks better than the blue, it still doesn't look brilliant, once you get the matte finish done on them I reckon it'll look a lot better and factoryesque

 

[shuntridge]

I think its the satin finish that makes them look cheap. Whilst the black looks better than the blue, it still doesn't look brilliant, once you get the matte finish done on them I reckon it'll look a lot better and factoryesque

Yep defo with you on that one.

Quite a bit of work but now I have done one pair the next ones will be easy and fairly quick to do and once I get the correct paint I think indeed they should look good enough to be happy with them.

At least people can see how to make them now and it does not cost a fortune plus they can put whatever paint they wish on them.

As an added not you can add food dye to the polymorph to colour it, could look a bit mad / crap / good?!!?

 

[shuntridge]

This is the steering wheel with black plasti-kote paint on. They are a satin finish so not perfect yet. Should be a great deal better when rubberised!!

I am sure these defo look better than blue!!

I would be interested if any other people had a goo to see the results.

 

[pendulumx]

Well that is loads better already.

 

[C2kev]

old thread but whatever, just been looking at this stuff and you can dye it any colour with food colouring so maybe get a better finish