1995-96 RMW Compatible Bolt-on Steering Wheel

Howdy all,

A couple of questions. Here's my issue:
My recently acquired 95 RMW's steering wheel is extremely worn and worsening. On top of that; the horn doesn't work. I bought a new grey airbag. Would SEM(?) interior paint would work to color match it to beige?

The major question though. Will 1995-2002 S-10 or Full size truck steering wheels work. I would like a direct plug and play bolt on to replace my worn factory wheel while I search for repair solutions.

I've searched, nothing solid. I just want a bolt on wheel with no clock spring issues and a working/ compatible airbag

Thank you!!

Question 1. Yes,SEM the whole thing,done.
Question 2. I cannot answer,never made that kind of swap,but Im sure someone will jump in with an answer. I have swapped non bag wheels with zero issues.

You are not supposed to paint the airbag. I think that if you look carefully on the airbag, you may find a sticker that tells you that, or perhaps it’s in the FSM. Why? I’d guess that heavy paint could flake off at high speed if the air bag deploys, or possibly the solvent in the paint could weaken the cover. Just a guess, but I think, myself, I’d probably paint it.

I used SEM rattle cans, to paint my entire steering wheel, as I found an exact match. I covered it pretty heavily, with repeated coats, then sprayed 3-4 coats of clear over it. I let it dry 3-4 days before use. It looks good and has held up quite well.

paart wrote:

You are not supposed to paint the airbag. I think that if you look carefully on the airbag, you may find a sticker that tells you that, or perhaps it’s in the FSM. Why? I’d guess that heavy paint could flake off at high speed if the air bag deploys, or possibly the solvent in the paint could weaken the cover. Just a guess, but I think, myself, I’d probably paint it.

I used SEM rattle cans, to paint my entire steering wheel, as I found an exact match. I covered it pretty heavily, with repeated coats, then sprayed 3-4 coats of clear over it. I let it dry 3-4 days before use. It looks good and has held up quite well.

Even over the top and bottom leather part?

Years ago I painted an A-pillar gauge adapter with some kind of interior mixed aerosol applicator, it turned out awesome because I took my time and put several coats on it. If the leather part is safe, I'm going to do it.

I'll test that paint on my original air bag with the failed horn switches, then hit with 12vdc to deploy the airbag, should be pretty cool way to test the paint.

Still would like to know about the truck steering wheel compatibility though. GM steering wheels seem to fall apart after years of use and in the sun.

I'll test that paint on my original air bag with the failed horn switches, then hit with 12vdc to deploy the airbag, should be pretty cool way to test the paint.

I'd personally doubt that the paint will have any effect on the airbag, but who knows?

If you are intent on "blowing the airbag", be very careful! Always place the airbag facing up, so the bag blows outward, up from the ground. A friend of mine did this years ago, with the bag facing down and watched the whole unit go high in the air.

The procedure is problematic. What happens if you wire it up, apply 12 Volts, and nothing happens?
What do you do then?

Make sure you use SEM on the leather. They make a couple of different coatings. The Color Coat is for vinyl and hard plastic. Classic Coat id for soft vinyl and leather.

paart wrote:

The procedure is problematic. What happens if you wire it up, apply 12 Volts, and nothing happens?
What do you do then?

Probably shoot at it. I'll deploy it in the middle of the desert. Good thinking though. That's something I wouldn't want to transport afterwards.

Probably shoot at it.

Ha-ha! I'd probably do the same thing!

I think I might risk a 1998 or older S-10 steering wheel while I attempt to restore my original wheel and the new airbag.

I'll report results as they happen. Thanks for the heads up on the SEM paints.

High end solution:

http://www.dallassteeringwheel.com

That looks very high end. I've seen a couple online videos of rewrapping your own wheel, doesn't look too difficult for a RM wheel...maybe in the future.

Remove the cover from your wheel, and use it as a template for the new cover. It just takes some time, and copy the original piece.

Quick update. I got a replacement wheel from Buicknut that was in much better shape. I started to restore it by cleaning it up per SEM instructions using the soap and then the aerosol prep. About 10 coats of Color Coat applied. Giving it time to cure before pulling the masking off the leather part. Then I'll mask up the recently painted areas while using Classic Coat on the leather.

Before prep (pic Buicknut sent actually):


After several applications of Color Coat:


I'm really happy with the results so far. We'll see how the next major step goes.

Hi Sam!

Sorry just seeing this now, but my 96 wheel was re-dyed with SEM too.   Did the entire wheel and it came out great and has lasted over two years now.

I HATE that GM went to these "dyed" black steering wheels, with half plastic and half leather, but they did so we deal with it.   The SEM stuff works!

BEFORE:






AFTER





Well worth the effort!

-Mike

Oh and FYI, the Impala folks have installed steering wheels from 4th-gen Firebirds and Camaros and Monte Carlos on their cars.   Popular mod, and if you change the clock-spring, the wheels work with the CHEVY radios in the Impalas and Caprices.





Now if you want a NEAT mod, find a Buick wheel with the radio controls. These can be found in many mid-to-late 90's Buicks, BUT the real find is a LeSabre or Regal without electronic climate control. The cars with manual climate control did not have the temp controls on the wheel...only radio buttons. HARD to find. The climate control buttons on the wheel do not work with the Roadmaster ATC heads, but finding a wheel with non-worn control buttons is hard enough now...even with the climate buttons.



I do still look in every Buick at the salvage yards when I go...just in case. If I ever find one, my next stop will be to buy a lotto ticket....

-Texas Mike

Radio controls wont work in the Buicks,or dont know?

Andebe wrote:

Radio controls wont work in the Buicks,or dont know?

The Chevy and Pontiac (Bonneville/Firebird/Grand Prix) radio button wheels WILL work with the older Din-1/2 radios in the '94 Roadmasters, but not the 95-96 which have the larger Buick radios and different plugs.   If you have a 94, you can grab a Chevy or Pontiac wheel, a clock spring, and plug in and go!

-Mike

Final steps completed. Color Coated the plastic and Classic Coated the leather insert. The colors chosen were Saddle Tan 15033 for the plastic and Medium Prairie Tan 17063 on the leather. Not too shabby. We'll see if it how it holds up once installed. The shades don't perfectly match each other. So if I would do anything different the next time, I'd choose a much darker version of the Classic Coat for the leather insert to contrast against the plastic. Which I might do on the original wheel installed in the car after I swap it out for this fixed up wheel.

Finished product looks nice.

Andebe wrote:

Radio controls wont work in the Buicks,or dont know?

Look in mid-to-late 90's LeSabre, Park Ave, and Regals for the Buick wheels with the radio buttons. The Skylark offered these too, but mist Skylark wheels were all black.

You have to change/pull the clock spring in the steering column when you install the air bag with the radio controls on it. You don't even have to change the actual steering wheel, you just need the correct-color air bag with the buttons attached to it, and the clock spring from the parts car, which has the wire for that runs down the steering column to the radio attached to it, along with the air bag connector. Easy mod...if you can find a correct color air bag with non-worn buttons.

You see a lot of the buttons with bad wear. If the driver uses a lot of hand lotion...I see these wear BADLY. NOS ones pop up on Ebay now and then, but $$$$.

The Holy Grail ones are again the ones from cars with manual a/c, not ETC. The manual a/c ones have all four buttons dedicated to the radio, where the ETC ones have some buttons for climate control, and those don't work with the Roadmaster ETC, so you basically have some dead/useless buttons.

Happy Hunting!

-Mike

Sam did you paint the air bag iteself to match the wheel spokes? I didn't on my Roadmaster, but did on my 95 Park Ave.

-Mike

I elected to not paint the air bag. I got a replacement beige one from Buicknut. The airbag I got in the wrong color from eBay only has one side of the horn working, so decided not to bother with it. I'm going to test the airbag function next time I go to the range though.

Regarding the steering wheel controls - dumb question: pre-1999 Rivieras had our RMW steering wheel with radio control buttons/climate control buttons AND a 2DIN radio - so what if I took a Riviera wheel, clockspring and 2DIN radio (which looks like the 95/96 RMW radio anyhow), then this whole setup could work (plus - since I read a write-up on making 94-96 RMW climate controls work in Impala SS - maybe the Riviera AC controls aren't that hard to wire in?) I doubt that anyone attempted that so far, but I'm trying to track down a Riviera console and while I'm at it....

I'm pretty sure the same guy that did the climate control swap, also did a Cadillac steering wheel swap with controls on the wheel. I would imagine that it would be similar. His name is Dave "95BRMW"

Do I recall a discussion before where someone got a custom mixed spray can of SEM color? I'm using SEM saddle tan on another project, and it is much lighter than my 96 Roady tan. I really need to do my wheel, but the stock SEM colors are much lighter. By the way, this is my first time using SEM interior paints, and they are amazing. Even after multiple coats you can still see the grain in plastic. I had used SEM exterior painting products in the past, and all of their products seem to be very high quality. I'm paying about $12 per can for the color coat for interior plastic.

The custom colors require a $25 custom mix fee from vinyl pro, and the paint is about $17-23 per can plus shipping. You can check on the SEM site for colors and codes. You can save the custom mix fee if you have the code for your color; http://www.semproducts.com/resources/15-formulas. Give them the code, and they will mix it to match that code. Shipping is about the same price as a can, and the cost is the same for up to about 4 cans. I must go by ground because of the spray can.

Codes are: 64AN light beige 4693, 64 medium beige 4694, 64 dark beige 4695

Fred Kiehl wrote:

The custom colors require a $25 custom mix fee from vinyl pro, and the paint is about $17-23 per can plus shipping. You can check on the SEM site for colors and codes. You can save the custom mix fee if you have the code for your color; http://www.semproducts.com/resources/15-formulas. Give them the code, and they will mix it to match that code. Shipping is about the same price as a can, and the cost is the same for up to about 4 cans. I must go by ground because of the spray can.

Codes are: 64AN light beige 4693, 64 medium beige 4694, 64 dark beige 4695

Thanks Fred!