Steering Wheel Sharp Edges

[RichieRocket]

Anyone notice the silver plastic trim on the lower edges of the horizontal spokes and on the bottom spokes has a sharp edge?
When highway cruising, I like to keep a couple fingers in the bottom corner between the wheel and bottom spoke but then I hit this sharp edge...
My plan is to use some sand paper or an emery board to sand down that edge without doing too much damage to the wheel or spoke. Depending on how difficult it is to remove, that would be the best way to get at that edge...
Any other suggestions?

 

[buldog72]

wear driving gloves?!

 

[Sonic Boomer]

Do you think this is flash where the pressurized molten plastic forced the mold cavities apart? Commonly, you can find this annoyingly located inside the handle of plastic milk or antifreeze jugs. If so, it is pretty easy to trim by lightly (depending on how thick the flash is) scraping it with a sharp blade oriented perpendicular to the surface. Start light and add force as needed. The blade should be a regular sharp knife - a razor blade is too flexible and will chatter.
The sand paper will do the job, but can mess up the surface gloss/texture.

 

[Sonic]

Checked mine. No sharp edges.

 

[AlphaJaguar5]

It only feels sharp because the Sonic accelerates so fast. If you drive like a grandma it feels like you're touching your grandma's bosom.

 

[Sonic Drivin']

My trim started to come loose at the bottom...
Dealer is replacing steering wheel right now...


Doug

 

[wingman]

I have the same sharp edges on mine. Not the biggest deal to me, but is kind of annoying.

 

[RichieRocket]

I have the same sharp edges on mine. Not the biggest deal to me, but is kind of annoying.

So it seems like there is some variation in the quality of the molded plastic pieces, Sonic's trim does not have this issue

I really only need to knock down the sharp edge at the bottom 1.0" of the 6 o'clock spoke on both sides. Then I could keep a couple fingers in the bottom inside corner.

I'm gonna try it today. Maybe use Sonic Boomer's advice. But I'm hesitant to mess around with a knife there...
My wife let me have one of her emery boards. The board should allow me to break the edge without hitting the other finish surfaces...

 

[Sonic Boomer]

So it seems like there is some variation in the quality of the molded plastic pieces, Sonic's trim does not have this issue

Which car version did you get? I know the LTZ steering wheel is different.

It may well be that these parts are made in a mold that has 4 cavities and one cavity could be flashing while the other three are not. They should still have caught it at the press - flash and sinks are the two most common defects in injection molded plastic parts. Consequently, they will be on any inspection checklist. However their criteria may be visual and I have seen flash that was not (casually) visually obvious, but was easily detected by feel.

 

[RichieRocket]

Which car version did you get? I know the LTZ steering wheel is different.

I have an LT. I looked at the LTZ interior pics on chevy.com, you're right, the steering wheel is definitely different. The bottom spoke is wider.

 

[wingman]

Lt here as well, good idea on the emery board. Did it work?

 

[Sonic Boomer]

On the flash, check any tupperware or, really, about anything plastic and you will probably feel some flash (around the edge). You can trim for practice.
In case I didn't make clear, the blade should be perpendicular to the edge. You are actually scraping off the flash rather than cutting it. If you have some metal stock, that will work too. You don't need a "sharp" blade with a 15 degree edge. A 90 degree edge works great, but the 90 degree corner needs to be "sharp" as in not rounded over. Most sheet metal has a burr from where it was stamped out and won't work well because it will cut into and grab the plastic too much.
I just checked and the back edge of my steak knife blades works great. If your's have sharp corners on the back, give it a shot - you're not gonna mess up your tupperware (you probably never noticed the flash before anyway)!
You need to make a smooth and steady stroke. About the way you would comb/brush hair. Play a little with the angle. I say perpendicular, but actually having the edge dragging (as opposed to cutting if you had a knife blade) works best.

The emery board will probably work fine as long as you don't sand the finish. Either way, if you look around in your house, you'll find plenty of items to practice on, and probably some very similar to your steering wheel. If you have a Sharpie, check the front of the pocket clip on the cap. It is only 1.5" long, but that is about what I'm assuming you have. Or the edge around your keyboard...
HTH

 

[RichieRocket]

Sorry, haven't done anything yet. I'm thinking about trying Boomer's 'scrap' method, but honestly a little scared if it slips or something. That's whay I was thinking of sanding, starting with really light pressure. The edge is at a 'peak' or 'ridge' of where the front and read moldings come together.

On a totally differnt topic:
The other reason I didn't do anything was the crazy warm weather. In the northeast, we tied the record high yesterday 61F !!!!
So I went out for a bicycle ride

The crazy weather is continuing into 2012! In my area we set a bunch of different weather records in 2011
-Most snow in Januray
-Most snow for the entire winter
-Hottest July average temp
-Hottest single day ever recorded
-Warmest average temp for the entire fall season
-Wettest year on record
-Most snow from single snow storm in October (my power out for 12 days)
-Least snowy December

After last year, it's a shock to not have any snow on the ground and none in the 10 day forecast.
Skiers and Snowboarders are really hurtin'

 

[Sonic Boomer]

Sorry, haven't done anything yet. I'm thinking about trying Boomer's 'scrap' method, but honestly a little scared if it slips or something. That's whay I was thinking of sanding, starting with really light pressure. The edge is at a 'peak' or 'ridge' of where the front and read moldings come together.

Whether you sand or trim, look around your house, you'll find plenty to practice on. You do make a good point, it may be hard to trim inside the steering wheel spokes.
I got it: DVD cases, they will have flash and you can run trials on them with no regrets!

Also, you might try a standard red rubber eraser. Depending on the thickness of the flash, the slight abrasive of the eraser may be all you need to take the edge off. But I'm not sure if it will mar the finish.

 

[RichieRocket]

I ended up using the emery board to break the edge, being careful not to touch either the front or rear molding.
In the pic, you can see the white 'chamfer' where the sharp corner was smoothed down.