jusplainwacky

I just got this steering wheel and upon close inspection I found these "marks". I was assured before I bought it that it wasn't a "blem".
The dealer responded and said these are "normal" and are "injection marks".
Is this a bunch of hooey or is this "normal"?

Solid Axle Guy

ask him to exchange it for one with less "injection marks."

jusplainwacky

He said they are all like this...part of the injection molding process...not sure if I buy this.

Plasticman

Certainly injection molding requires "gates" that will leave some excess that needs to be trimmed, but those were not trimmed with care. And the photo with the void showing is strange (looks like a vent that was not completely filled).

I do not know where the gates were for the original wheels, but having the gates on the inside surface, where they are pretty visible don't help (gates are normally placed in the least visible area).

I looked at several aftermarket wheels, and was never impressed by their quality. I decided to have mine leather wrapped, and the "judging" people can.........

Chuck Pelton did a great job!

Good luck,
Plasticman

Frankie the Fink

I have a repro '61 wheel and repro '63 wheel and I don't have anything that looks like those issues....

jusplainwacky

Hmm...sounding like a blem to me.

Plasticman

Frank,

Would help the OP to know where those wheels came from. Any idea?

John

jusplainwacky

Too funny...I was just about to hit "send" and ask the same question!

OldKarz

I think he is filling you with "hooooeeeyy". The first pic no way, the second pic......perhaps.

mcb55-210

First picture looks like the parting line, where the mold possibly blew open during injection, causing plastic to flash beyond the cavity. Doesn't look like much care or concern was taken to remove the flash.

Second picture, possibly a void or knit line. Not sure how the wheels are over molded, but definitely not a quality specimen.

What I would consider a "reject ".

Send it back!

Mike

jusplainwacky

Thanks guys...looks like the consensus is it is a blem.

Frankie the Fink

Not sure; coincidence but the '61 and '63 both came with repro steering wheels along with the worn out originals...so I didn't buy them.

ohiovet

Who is the supplier?

AZDoug

I love my Wheelskins leather wrap.

It thickens the wheel a bit for a more comfortable grip, and goes well with my leather seats and leather door panels.

I installed it myself, took maybe 45 minutes or so.

To the OP: Those are definitely blems, the question is, are all the wheels like that? Corvette repop parts are mostly cottage industries, and you will often not be able to get the quality of the original parts that were made by companies that did this on mass scale and had gobs of experience and lots of expensive equipment.

Being able to get repops at ll, is a good thing.

Doug

jusplainwacky

I prefer not to mention who the dealer is, as my experience maybe an anomaly. It's one thing to bash a dealer when they aren't willing to resolve things and it's another when things "just happens" and it's nobody's fault. Since I am in the middle of "fixing" this with them, I will refrain from naming them.

Solid Axle Guy

smart move

vettemasters

Hello Doug, you sound like you have some experience with plastic injection. My name is Tom from Vette Masters Corvette parts. we are the manufacturer of the C1 steering wheel. You are correct in saying that many of the current reproduction Corvette parts are from the cottage industry. Our company makes approx. 200 parts for the corvette reproduction aftermarket. We have invested years of research and development in our C1 wheel project. they are made on matched steel dies and injected in color just like the original GM wheels that were made at Inland steering division. our prototype wheel was a GM new old stock 57 venetien red wheel (2500.00). Countless hours were spent to insure the proper grain, seams and colors. As a result we have heard numerous reports form customers that have received NCRS top flight status. We made no attempt to improve on the Inland process from the 1950s, we made sure that our wheels have the same grind marks on the seams as the originals. However we are always looking for ways to improve our corvette reproductions. If you have any ideas on how to improve our wheels please let us know. PS. the 1st picture is what we would consider a manufacturing mark, the 2nd is what we would consider a flaw in the process and therefore a blemish. thanks tom Merry Christmas

jusplainwacky

Well...so much for me keeping their identity confidential! LOL

I admire a company that takes ownership of their products and sometimes when you are in the process of growing a business, pressed for time (especially during the holidays), or just trying to get things out the door, "stuff happens".

After sending Tom and email, he requested that I call him...another admirable trait, as emails can really escalate the situation instead of deescalating. We talked and he is willing to do what ever it takes to make things right...including sending me some sample colors of wheels for a better match!

I also admire a company that says...."we are always open to new ways of improving", instead of "you don't have a clue what you're talking about"!!

Very cool.

AZDoug

The manufacturing mark you refer to is something you will probably always see in an injection molded item, there just isn't any real good place to hide it on one of these wheels.

They probably all had marks like that new, heck, i didn't even know these wheels were supposed to have a grain to them until several years ago. There are some hints of the grain left at the spoke connections on my wheel, but that is about it

I have had my car for about 41 years, and every steering wheel i saw back in 1973/1974 was worn smooth, so any trimming marks that would have come with a new wheel were probably long gone.

Edit: BTW, I would probably never have noticed the marks and wouldn't have complained about them if I did, as I would have been happy just to get a wheel that was as original as possible without the age cracks one usually finds on these old steering wheels. A blem is not necessarily a defect, sometimes you simply can't make a part without some evidence of teh manufacturing process. I used see gate marks on original harder plastic steering wheels on 1960s cars and thought nothing of them.

Doug

jusplainwacky

What about some color "hot glue" or plastic epoxy to fill the marks?