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Buyer Beware: PG Classic repro woodgrain steering wheel

Stereolab42

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My 70 Coronet R/T came with its original woodgrain wheel, which worked but was in horrific shape. Instead of waiting half a year for a restorer to tackle it, I figured why not buy a repro for the same price? The only option is the one from PG Classic. I got it and it sure looked fine. However, it had two fatal mechanical flaws:

1. The splines are too tight. It won't go on the shaft the same distance as the original wheel, leaving an unsightly gap. (However, it does go on just enough that it's arguably safe...)
2. There is an internal short between the copper horn ring and front plate/spline hole. The first problem here was the black wire from the horn ring had actually rubbed through its insulation against the front plate, but even after fixing that there is still a short. Since everything is welded/bonded together, I have no hope of fixing this and proper horn operation is impossible.

The utter lack of basic QA here is shocking. Thirty seconds with a multimeter would have revealed #2. Maybe #2 is even a fundamental design flaw, and the vendor had no basic electrical understanding of how the horn ring works!

So this was an expensive $450 lesson. Going with a cheaper aftermarket wooden wheel from Classic Industries and hoping for better luck. To be fair, I've bought other repro items from PG Classic that turned out fine. But you simply can't &*(#$ up on basic quality assurance for items this expensive.
 
It wouldn't surprise me a bit if the same repo wheel offered by several vendors was made in the same Chinese factory.
 
It wouldn't surprise me a bit if the same repo wheel offered by several vendors was made in the same Chinese factory.
I can attest to this.
My reproduction wheel came in a box with "Authentic Restoration Product" tape right over the "Made in China" label.
Authentic it is not. Liveable, with a little elbow grease but absolutely not worth what I paid.
 
So this was an expensive $450 lesson. Going with a cheaper aftermarket wooden wheel from Classic Industries and hoping for better luck. To be fair, I've bought other repro items from PG Classic that turned out fine. But you simply can't &*(#$ up on basic quality assurance for items this expensive.
Are you returning it for exchange or refund?
 
I will vouch for this as well. I have had mine on my Roadrunner for maybe 6 years. I bought one when they first came out. The horn seems to work ok, but this wheel is starting to lose its clear coat over the faux woodgrain. God only knows how quick it would come off it this were a daily driver. The screw holes for the horn ring assembly were horrible and I broke a screw off in the hole and had to re-tap them. I would redo a real wheel if I did it again for sure and not a repop.
 
The wood grips come loose on my first one. Luckfuly I bought from BE&A. Same wheel as the PG. he swapped it out without issue. I traded the car so not sire how the second one held up.
 
FYI, Mike sells them when he can without restoring yours. I didn't have one to restore but I bought a nice wood grain wheel from Mike. He's fair on his prices.

MTB2041.JPG MTB2042.JPG MTB2044.JPG MTB2046.JPG
 
So I was able to salvage the PG repro... used a file on the splines which gave me a bit more "inset", still not ideal but enough. As for the copper horn ring, I was able to pop that off after prying out the cancel spring. Fixed a short there, and put more rubber under the cancel spring. Finally have a completely working steering column for the first time. My god what a nightmare. Replacing my entire dash harness was a breeze compared to this.
 
The reman standard steering wheels don't fit either. The splines are machined too tight and would need filing to fit all the way on the steering shaft.
 
Bottom line:
You just can't get anything good any more.
I'm constantly disappointed with the quality of almost everything these days.
 
I bought a '69 black plastic wheel from PG for my Bee (and a '70 for my Bird -still in box). Smooth and identical to my OE I that removed. Only thing I had to do was tap a screw hole that was too tight and hollow out behind said hole for screw clearance. Splines went onto shaft smoothly.

beerestoration2018 1723.JPG beerestoration2018 1724.JPG beerestoration2018 1729.JPG
 
I installed the repro steering wheel on my 64 Belvedere and had similar problems. Splines first had rust on them that would not let the wheel slide on the shaft. I filed the splines and got it to fit with the horn working also but the gap is still too large. I am glad for all the new repop items but it would be nice if there was more concern to the quality and fit. I have restored cars for about 45 years and finding parts then was very hard and sometime impossible so you had to used the old parts over.
 
Bottom line:
You just can't get anything good any more.
I'm constantly disappointed with the quality of almost everything these days.
Thanks China....:hifu:
But it's cheap...:poke:
Being a Toolmaker for the last 40 years I've had to compete with this crap for over half my career.... did I mention it's cheap
 
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