jjbenzo

So we have had our 17 LX for two months now and I guess we were due for some wear and tear. I noticed last week a chip on the backside of the wood on the steering wheel. I imagine it is from either my wife or my own rings, but am not positive on that. How do I repair a chip in the top coat of the wood? Is it acrylic? Really, it just seems like I need some sort of filler to dab in the crater to fill it in to the same height as the rest of the wood. I know this must be a fairly common issue as a new ES I had a couple weeks ago as a loaner had a chip in the wood steering wheel as well. Any suggestions on what I may use?

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Some sort of clear coat, maybe even clear nail polish should do the trick with enough layers.

Fizzboy7

I've lectured my mom about this exact same thing over and over. Yet her wood wheel still takes a beating with her rings. I guess it's going to happen. Hope you can find a way to fill it.

97-SC300

iTrader: (17)

Just have your dealership take care of it. I would not mess with an item that expensive and try and learn touchup techniques myself. Touch-up jobs rarely come out perfect or even close to it, even if done by someone with experience, if you do it yourself, often times you're going to over do it, lay down more material than needed, get an ugly blob, etc. Not worth it on a steering wheel that most likely costs $5,000+ for a bare core without airbag or extras.

jjbenzo

I would love for my dealership to take care of it...but they said that they have no one to repair it and would have to sent it out. For something so minor, I hate to be out of the car for a couple weeks so that the wheel can be removed shipped off, repaired and then shipped back. Ill have to keep checking around.

mmarshall

I wouldn't worry about it, especially if it is on the back side of the wheel, out of sight.....unless you feel it with your fingers wrapped around the wheel to the point where it annoys you. Heck, life's too short to worry about every tiny nick on a car (though, yes, I know I'm one to talk, especially with my own review-harping on the lack of body-side moldings LOL). But, no matter how careful you are, a car usually isn't going to stay in mint-perfect condition...small things here and there are likely to happen, especially if not garage-kept.

As for the nick, you might try a small amount of wood-putty or plastic-wood (DAP makes a well-known brand of that), and then just smooth it out as much as you can, wiping the excess putty off. In some cases, the brown color can be restored by rubbing some brown shoe polish in...but, again, on the back side of the wheel, who's going to see it?.

ArmyofOne

I used this on my ES:


Worked like a champ. Didn't fill in the chip, but stained it so it wasn't noticeable.

Aron9000

I wouldn't worry about it at this point, Maybe when you get near the end of the warranty period and plan to keep the car, if the steering wheel is looking beat up, then raise a complaint. I'd also take off those rings, as they can just beat the hell out of a steering wheel, be it made of leather, wood, plastic wood, hard plastic(think 1950's/1960's Detroit "bake-lite" wheels), squishy soft plastic, it doesn't matter, rings beat the crap out of any surface, even metals. My 1992 SC300 has a few wear marks on the leather wheel, but it isn't real bad, ie its considered character IMO. I've been thinking of replacing it with a newer 3 spoke Lexus steering wheel, but then again I love how original the car presents itself, so what if there is a couple nicks at 12" oclock, and around 8-9 oclock where you get in. You don't notice it unless you look for it.

huy33

How big of a chip or we talking about? Once I accidentally had my key pressed on the steering wheel when I pulled myself out of the car and it created a small cut in the steering wheel. This was one of those regular keys before the smart keys were around. It bothered me because whenever the steering wheel turns, I would feel the cut on my fingers. I used a small polisher (think car buffer) to polish it out and smooth it. Wooden steering wheels still have the clearcoat on it so I was basically leveling the clearcoat so my fingers couldn't feel the cut. The cut was on the back side of the steering wheel so I didn't see it.

Lil4X

That Minwax solution looks good, but $9.99 shipping?? It either weighs 30 pounds or it's being shipped from Shangri-la.

You can get it at Lowes for about $6 - if you're willing to pick it up at the store.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Minwax-Wood...-Pen/999914153

riredale

My gosh, $23 for a little MinWax marker pen? What's inside, gold dust?

This thread reminds me of when I was a little kid and mom left us in the car for 5 minutes at the cleaners. I discovered that if I heated up the cigarette lighter and then pressed it against the plastic steering wheel it left a cool set of grooves where it melted the plastic.

Talk about trashing resale value. But I was just a little kid and mom never punished me. She and dad have since passed away. Sorry, mom, and thanks for understanding my lack of common sense back then.

EDIT: Okay, $6 for the MinWax sounds better. I guess the Amazon webpage is an error.

ArmyofOne

yeah dont buy them from amazon, I think its a box of 50. they are like $7 at lowes lol