Hi All
Thought I'd add an update on the work I'e done on my steering wheel.
The wheel didn't have a lot of wear as the car had done 50+k miles, but it was dull looking with standing unused for so long, and had various chips and scratches to the center spokes, I assume from keys, watch straps etc.
I had no idea how to go about doing this and have never seen or have access to view a "new" steering wheel for reference, so I've basically followed everything I've read from the various Z forums This basically went as follows:-
I removed the wheel from the column and stripped it of all component parts and gave it a good scrub/clean in soapy water to remove the initial dirt/grime. Pic's 1 & 2 show the wheel at this stage.
I then stripped the paint off the center spokes, mainly using a drill/flapper wheel to get the bulk of the original black satin paint off - Pic 3
I then masked up the wheel and applied a few coats of primer to the center spokes.- Pic 4
Next I painted the center spokes with a few fresh coats of satin black - Pic's 5 & 6
After leaving for a few days for the paint to harden, I masked up the freshly painted spokes for protection while I addressed the outer wheel.
I cleaned and smoothed the wheel with various grades of grit paper, from 800 to 2000,, taking care not to sand to hard and remove the original colour.
I then applied coats of clear varnish (I think it was 3) and sanded between coats to maintain the smooth finish - Pic's 7 & 8
I had found that there was some corrosive pitting to the center outer ring that creates the contact for the horn switch. I polished this out as it would certainly have caused contact problems latter on. This ring is shown in Pic 7.
Finally I reassembled and refitted the wheel to the steering column, by this point I had now refitted the column and dash to the car. - Pic 10
It's hard to tell the final finish/colour by digital pic's as they all seem different depending on flash, shadow etc, but I'm quite happy with the end result.