Steering wheel emblem refurb help

[Shawn]

G'day all,

I noticed that the cracks in my steering wheel emblem are much less visible when the emblem is wet, but appear again when it dries. I wonder if maybe a light oil (WD40?) applied liberally, allowed to soak in and then wiped off might go some way towards hiding them.

Does anyone know if this could be harmful to the plastic?

What about one of those vinyl 'nourishing' (eg Armourall) products?

Cheers,
S

[Willie]

Which type of emblem are you talking about? The late dark type
which operate the horn are readily available. The earlier type
which do not operate the horn and are much lighter in colour are
quite rare in good condition.

[Shawn]

The early type - horn button on mine is on the stalk - '58 1000

[Willie]

Oh, you have the same purely decorative type as mine. It was
covered with hundreds of fine scratches and I hunted for some
time for a better condition item at the club meets. You must either do that or carry a wet sponge with you!! If the scratches are superficial
I assume that you could polish a good few out using cutting compound?

[Shawn]

Just FYI - I've given an old badly cracked emblem a generous rub over with regular household olive oil and let it sit for a week. The cracks have almost completely dissapeared! It looks a million times better than it did.

Now just waiting to see if it turns white or disintegrates or something...

Cheers,
S

[Shawn]

An update for anyone who's interested:



Painted the background in as close a match as I could find and Oliveoiled the front...

[Onne]

looks splendid

[Pyoor_Kate]

What did just occur to me is that there are 'cd-scratch repair kits'. I don't know what's in these, but it may be worth an experiment....as a more permanent cure. I'd check that it's not going to do anything too unpleasant on a scrap piece of the right sort of plastic...

[forbesg]

What did just occur to me is that there are 'cd-scratch repair kits'. I don't know what's in these, but it may be worth an experiment....as a more permanent cure. I'd check that it's not going to do anything too unpleasant on a scrap piece of the right sort of plastic...

Hi Kate, good thought. Unfortunately, CD's are made from a plastic called polycarbonate, the badge is something else (my guess is some type of resin). So it may not work.
A word of warning though... Be careful when putting using chemicals on plastics, as many (such as polycarb) suffer from something called chemical attack. Which may cause cracks, stress and/or crumbling.

Having said all of that, good luck!!

[betjent]

An update for anyone who's interested:



Painted the background in as close a match as I could find and Oliveoiled the front...

Hi mate
What colour did you use for the background - the name of it ?
Want to do the same with mine

cheers
carsten

[Shawn]

G'day,

It's a Humbrol brand oil based Enamel (Model aeroplane paint) dark red. It's not metallic like the original paint, but does ok as a colour match. I'll see if I can find the little tin with the colour number on it tonight.

Cheers
s

[Shawn]

G'day again - it's Humbrol #20

Cheers!
s