What in the world are these things?

[sbelcher]

On the steering wheel there are those grey things near the bottom of the wheel and I was wondering what the **** those things are... I took mine off to paint them and broke one in the process... and want to purchase a replacement.. any idea of what i would type in to find one? or anyone willing to send me one???

[AndrewButler05]

They're simply accents, I don't like that they are grey. I think it would've been smart to paint them the color of the car from the factory. It may be easier to just buy a bare steering wheel for like $50 and then put your airbag you have back in it. Considering our cars are no longer being made (Duh, lol) it will be next to impossible to get this simple little piece of plastic even from the dealer.

I'm buddies with the owner of one of our local body shops. I had him fix a couple rust spots on the lip of the driver side rear wheel well, I asked him while he had the paint if he would paint the accents. I took them off and left them in a Ziploc bag in the seat. When I picked up Chewy they were stuck in a piece of cardboard laying on a plastic bag in the seat. They turned out awesome and kind of have the same two-tone color of the body. (Light from front, getting darker as you move towards the rear.) He said that he had just enough leftover paint to paint them and he would have otherwise threw it out. He thought that was an awesome Idea, and really liked my car. I think that's why he cut me a deal. He only charged me $125 flat to fix the spots and painted these for nothing. I dropped it off, and had it back two days later at 9 AM exactly the time when I dropped him off.

I thought about doing the accents myself, but It would've been hard to find a color that matched the factory paint. Being that this is factory paint, it will be YEARS before it wears off of the steering wheel. Especially being inside the car and not exposed to the elements.

Here's a small pic of the final product:


-Andrew

[sbelcher]

It looks awesome! I almost got mine to factory but in the process when I was taking mine off it was cold outside and when i pryed it up it broke off... i glued it back on but now you can see where it is not together.. makes me angry! might just put some carbon fiber of them and that way you will never know!!

[AndrewButler05]

It looks awesome! I almost got mine to factory but in the process when I was taking mine off it was cold outside and when i pryed it up it broke off... i glued it back on but now you can see where it is not together.. makes me angry! might just put some carbon fiber of them and that way you will never know!!

Carbon fiber would be the easiest fix, but getting new ones and painting them would look the best. It's up to you. I think either would look fine.

[Thymeclock]

On the steering wheel there are those grey things near the bottom of the wheel and I was wondering what the **** those things are... I took mine off to paint them and broke one in the process... and want to purchase a replacement.. any idea of what i would type in to find one? or anyone willing to send me one???

These are the first things that fail on a Chevy over time - the plastic interior parts. You tried to remove them. Big mistake. If you try to do that, they break. Then it looks ugly. You aren't supposed to remove any plastic parts. You are supposed to be motivated to buy a new Chevy because of that.

You should see the steering wheel on my '88 Chevy Caprice. The phony chromed plastic strip embedded in the steering wheel cracked and fell apart decades ago. I don't miss having it. And I won't dishearten you by saying what an old plastic dashboard looks like on a 25 year old Chevy. It's also cracked, but the car still runs, actually quite well. Ultimately that's all that matters. (Especially if you own a car much longer than Chevy ever expected you to keep it...)

[AndrewButler05]

These are the first things that fail on a Chevy over time - the plastic interior parts. You tried to remove them. Big mistake. If you try to do that, they break. Then it looks ugly. You aren't supposed to remove any plastic parts. You are supposed to be motivated to buy a new Chevy because of that.

You should see the steering wheel on my '88 Chevy Caprice. The phony chromed plastic strip embedded in the steering wheel cracked and fell apart decades ago. I don't miss having it. And I won't dishearten you by saying what an old plastic dashboard looks like on a 25 year old Chevy. It's also cracked, but the car still runs, actually quite well. Ultimately that's all that matters. (Especially if you own a car much longer than Chevy ever expected you to keep it...)

My mom and dad both have an '88 Caprice. Both of the steering wheels are doing that as well. :/ Both of theirs still run just fine. One is carbrated and has power windows and rear defogger, the other is fuel injected and doesn't have power anything, they both do have Criuse.

Chewy has been garage kept and that is what has saved me. The plastic isn't brittle, I was VERY careful when I removed mine.

Just my 2¢

-Andrew

[hussien ali]

Is this a good