Don't use a wire wheel on the aluminum unless you want a permanent "random
brush" pattern. You could try a heat gun or paint stripper -- my guess is a
PO spray job wouldn't adhere very well to aluminum anyway.
As for eBay, yeah, you pretty much have to double-check anything the seller
says about year, application or provenance. They just seem to think they can
guess on the details, and let the buyer figure it out. I think it's the lack
of face-to-face contact -- if the guy was selling it through the newspaper
classifieds and knew he would be meeting the buyer face-to-face, he'd go to
the trouble of finding out what year it really was so as not to be
embarassed when a buyer showed up. Not to mention he couldn't hide the fact
that it was incomplete.
on 1/19/04 6:56 AM, Paul Root at proot@iaces.com wrote:
> So I got duped on ebay last week. At least in
> my opinion.
>
> I got a steering wheel, for a pretty good price.
> it was advertised as coming off a '75, but it's a
> 70-72 (5 hole). I guess that should have been a flag
> that it had been on at least 2 cars.
>
> It was advertised as 'good used condition'. When I got
> home on Friday and pulled it out of the box, the first
> thing out of my mouth was, "I got duped". In my opinion,
> it is at best fair condition. A matter of symantacs and
> opinion, so I can't go far there. The brushed aluminum
> was painted (poorly) over and there was some rust showing
> through. The wheel part has considerable wear. You can't
> see the "stitching" on most of it. And there is some minor
> cracking on it.
>
> The biggest thing, is there is no hub. There was no mention
> of a hub, but it included a horn button that covered the middle
> hiding the lack of a hub. I guess that's just a case of buyer
> beware.
>
> So I figure get wire wheel for the drill or air tools and clean
> the spokes to see what's there.
>
> Is there any conditioner that can help the wheel area? Something
> like the Letherique that's supposed to do such a good job on leather.
>
> As it stands, the wheel is certainly not worth paying $25 for a new
> hub for it. I'm not sure it's worth half that for a used one in it's
> current condition.
>
> Oh well, live and learn. Too bad, since I like the style and the
> thickness. Especially compared to my '77.
>
> Paul.
--
Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the primer red one with chrome wires
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