Sticky steering wheels.. how do you prevent/stop it?

That80sGuy

Well-known member

Donor 2011
Joined
Jan 11, 2009
Messages
5,354
Reaction score
147
Location
Georgia
Sticky steering wheels.. how do you prevent/stop it?

What causes the plastic on steering wheels to become sticky..even after cleaning them? Should I consider sealing or coating them in something?
 
I was Google'ing this, as I am going to restore a Championship Sprint and the steering wheels are sticky. Most (all) of the hits on Google have to do with actual car restoration. Some claim they have scrubbed a steering wheel in hot water and dish detergent and the stickiness went away for a long time. Some claim it comes back quickly.

You can repaint a hard plastic steering wheel, but the CS wheel is softer than that, so in my case I don't think paint or dye would work well.
 
Maybe plasti-dip? http://www.plastidip.com/

Its softer and flexible. I need to do the steering wheels on me Demo Derby and Pole position. I think I'll give the plastidip a try.
 
I would say it's just the rubber degrading over time.

Wonder if slicone spray would help? Just guessing here...
 
I think it's just 20-30 years of hand grime. :eek:

Seriously, clean it a bunch of times. Start with Simple Green... repeat... repeat. Then end with hot water and detergent.

My Stocker steering wheel was terrible. I hate things that are sticky or grimey. It's pretty good after a LOT of cleaning.
 
I just had this happen with an old plastic cordless mouse that I'd used for years. Plastic body; got a little sticky so I wiped it with a damp paper towel -- then it was very sticky! Tried a wet paper towel and that made it worse.

Tried everything I knew to clean it with and it just made it worse.

Finally I figured it was the plastic breaking down or something and threw it away.

It was very weird.
 
I don't know if it is grime.

It is probably the rubber breaking down. I had some rubber pieces inside of my Xybots joysticks completely disintegrate into goo.

That was some strange crap.

Kerry
 
I don't know if it is grime.

It is probably the rubber breaking down. I had some rubber pieces inside of my Xybots joysticks completely disintegrate into goo.

That was some strange crap.

Kerry

Maybe that's what happened to my mouse as well...

I couldn't stop it.
 
I don't know if it is grime.

It is probably the rubber breaking down. I had some rubber pieces inside of my Xybots joysticks completely disintegrate into goo.

That was some strange crap.

Kerry

Yup!

I encountered similar with a drywall sander last weekend. It's rubber pad was gooey on places and deformed. I still used it as the goo picked up sanding dust, but it def is the rubber breaking down.
 
It's simply plastic degradation. You can use hot water and soap to remove the nastiness, but in time it will return. How long it takes before it's nasty again I don't know, but I doubt there's anything you can do to stabilize it. Plastic is not an inert substance so aside from keeping the plastic clean and out of sunlight/heat there's little you can do. Folks who collect vintage Star Wars figures are quite familiar with this problem as sometimes you'll buy/find figures that are tacky to the touch. They clean right up with soap and water, but after a few years they'll be tacky again.
 
It's simply plastic degradation. You can use hot water and soap to remove the nastiness, but in time it will return. How long it takes before it's nasty again I don't know, but I doubt there's anything you can do to stabilize it. Plastic is not an inert substance so aside from keeping the plastic clean and out of sunlight/heat there's little you can do. Folks who collect vintage Star Wars figures are quite familiar with this problem as sometimes you'll buy/find figures that are tacky to the touch. They clean right up with soap and water, but after a few years they'll be tacky again.

I noticed this with some of my loose SW figures from my childhood. What a way to feel old...
 
Back
Top Bottom