The Upholstery Forum

Hi Everyone, I just took an old Nardi steering wheel apart and found that under the leather was an amber coloured resin, not foam like I expected to find. Does anyone know where in North America ( preferably canada but at least east coast US) I could find someone who provides a service of building custom molds for resin or silicon to re-make this wheel? Or am I going to have to do it myself (I did find a few videos on YouTube.) And if not can you suggest a good alternative? I thought I was going to use closed cell foam and suppose I still could... Please keep in mind that this is for a 20.02 BMW that has NO power steering.

Thanks in advance :)

@Michelle_Trillium , what city are you in?

Outskirts of Montreal, Quebec

Hmm. I not sure how to help you here. I think you will have to find some foam rubber to cover the wheel first. Can you post a picture of the steering wheel? I might be able to help more if I can see it.

I have worked on something like that before. Unfortunately for my project it was terribly bad so I scraped it off and then glued a piece of foam onto the surface. After, I placed the vinyl or leather material on it. It was pretty good. Trust this helps!

@Michelle_Trillium , you best post a picture of the under surface you are wondering about.

Here are some pix @John @BigRig

Hello, may I give you advice about your project that you going to do, in my opinion you should find the same diameter steering wheel and just accurately take off rubber it from that and cover your bmw steering wheel with it, and after that inject some amount of glue between rim and rubber and in conclusion cover it with leather. Maybe it seems silly but I would do it. P. S. I'm sorry for my English) it just not my native language

Oh boy. I have never encountered a project like that. Your going to have to find some foam rubber that you can glue to the wheel and then shape it how you like. I wouldn't use standard closed cell foam because it will likely now stand up to the abuse a steering wheel receives. Also Alex has a really good Idea and that might be the way to go...

Hi, not sure if this is helpful by that looks like a Nardi steering wheel. That are very common on the first generation Mazda MX5 - Miata in the US. They come with either a wood finish or covered in leather. I have a picture of a wooden one I refurbed. Just wondering if you would be better sourcing one of these? Rather than trying to remould.

@Michelle_Trillium , you pretty much have a wrecked steering wheel there. I am on the thoughts of finding a replacement. I just dont see you shaping that back to form and have it looking uniform once covered.

I kept all the pieces which are pretty large and will attempt to glue them back on then cover in a layer of foam and leather. If it doesn't work we'll buy a new one. Thanks for all your recommendations!

Ok! I didn't realize you still had all the pieces. Yes you can glue the pieces back together using 2 part epoxy. Then if there are any missing sections you can use sandable epoxy like JBweld to fill them in and sand smooth.