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MG MG Y Type - Melting steering wheels

I had been viewing the video accompanying the recent February sale of an MG YB on the Mathewson's Auctions website*, when the old fellow in the short film declared that the discolouration on the driver's seat had been caused by the steering wheel melting. I was adamant that the MGY type wheel melted, and laboured the point.
Mine hasn't. It's still in chipper original condition.
Judging by the way the old fellow was so easily distracted during the course of the film, I considered two possibilities:
!. The old fellow is not a fan of the Y type.
2. He's losing it.
I wonder if anyone has had a melted wheel?
All the best,
Andy

*Mathewson's, Auction Results, February Classic Vehicles and Memorabilia Auction.
A J R Felthouse

Andy,
Many years ago, I was waxing my YB when I decided to spruce up my steering wheel rim. It was dull and ratty, I assume the wheel was original to the car.
I wiped the rim with the wax applicator. I believe I was using Turtle Wax, but this was over 30 years ago.
To my complete surprise the plastic liquified and dripped away over the course of a week or so.
I am a degreed chemist and know of no plastic that can dissolve like this: with no additional solvent the polymer apparently "unzipped" and reverted to monomer units. I recall the liquid did have a distinctly organic odor. Perhaps Dave Mullen or Ben Cordsen can offer their technical insight.
I ended up with the bare metal core of the wheel rim. Fortunately, as the wheel is the same as that used on TD/F's and many other contemporary cars, I was able to acquire a new one.
I have been mindful of cleaning it with only mild soap and water since!
Rocky
Rodney C "Rocky" von Dullen

Sheesh, Andy - what a can of worms this could be. With the scarcity of good condition originals now, does this mean we should be giving our steering wheels a treatment of some sort? - a coating of two-pack clear for example? Or would that itself be too risky? Rocky's approach sounds the best for now, but I would love to also protect against future accidents.
John.
J P Hall

Ha ha ha ha---Reminds me of my old Grandfather years ago. He was complaining that the gears were sticky sometimes in his Morris 8. I drove it quite a few times and couldn't fault it. He turned up home one day and said he'd fixed his gearbox and wanted to show me what was wrong with it, Went for a look and he had a little plastic bag over his gearknob with a rubber band around it. Proud as punch he was. Turned out to be same as Rocky found, some sort of polish he had used on his car had got to the gearknob and made it go sticky, He kept a polishing off cloth in the car to give it a bit of a wipe around every now and then and every time he did that the gearknob was getting sticky--I still have a brand new gearknob that I bought for him but sadly didn't get to fit it. So if your knob melts i have a spare.

willy
William Revit

John
i reckon 2pak would be ok, it dries out fairly quickly but you'd never know what might happen.
i think, for everyone else's benefit you should do yours (and your knob) and report back---------
William Revit

Hmmm, yeah thanks for the invite, Willy. I might have to get back to you on that.
My original YA steering wheel sat too long in a hot tin shed, cracked and fell to pieces. I tried to rebuild the rim (there was only the metal inner left) with epoxy resin, but gave up in disgust. Ergo, I'm scarred.
J P Hall

If you want to bring up Bakelite to a really nice finish just use a minute amount of Linseed oil on a cloth and give it a wipe. Use the smallest amount possible though!
Paul Barrow

Hi all, I raised the issue on the TD-TF BBS, as most of those users would not read the Y BBS. The following comment was provided:

"Dave Hill wrote elsewhere about the chemistry of the original wheels. They are not strictly 'plastic' as we know it. A combination of celluloid and nitrate as a plasticiser was used.

"The originals were made from celluloid and suffer from celluloid rot involving loss of the camphor plasticiser and other degradation processes, which cause shrinkage and cracking. The marbled effect was achieved by loose blending of two or more colours of celluloid, with alcohol as an additional softening agent during processing. The alcohol is driven off before use."

So if the polish or cleaner used had an alcohol base could that be the reason for the breakup of the wheel?

Like most Steering Wheels, mine is cracked. The one which came with my TD is just a metal ring and spokes. I am thinking of making a laminated timber one.

Stuart
Stuart Duncan

A page on our website you might like to consult Steering Wheel Repair is https://www.mg-cars.org.uk/imgytr/swheelrep.shtml

Paul Barrow

The original steering wheel in my YT (same as YA) cracked with age. The steel is sound but the moulding delicate. I removed the wheel, stored it for the future and installed a spanking retro Motolita timber & aluminium wheel. Looks good but given my time over I'd keep my original wheel and retrim it with leather. I did that with my ZA Magnette. More original looking but a better feel. I didn't fancy an ostentatious re-moulding in bling hot-rod look on the YT.
R Ades

This thread was discussed between 09/02/2023 and 13/02/2023

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