Modifying stock Nardi wheel to be a d-cut style wheel?

[Airbrush1]

I've been searching for the right steering wheel for my mazdaspeed... there are plenty of awesome aftermarket wheels out there, but my wife is weird about me not having an airbag. I talked to a friend that had Dallas custom steering wheel do a d cut wheel for his 370z a few years back, but they told me that they don't offer that service. I have been unable to find a shop that can do it for me through a Google search, but have found photos of other cars that have had it done.

I can't imagine that it could possibly be too hard to do in all honesty. I have a leftover Nardi oem wheel from my old nb in the basement collecting dust, and I'm considering taking the initiative to cut it up and create my own d shaped wheel from it. I'll obviously have to have a professional recover the wheel afterwards, but if I can find someone willing to re-weld it together for me, I have no doubt that I can make the modification happen easily.

Does anyone see any pitfalls (other than possibly destroying an old wheel, and the possibility that it won't be quite as strong as before?) I think I can fix any strength issues by welding the wheel back together, and then welding a sleeve over the welded section as well.

It's late, and I need more stuff to do to my car

[RustRat]

There is one guy from Poland that can reshape and recover stock wheels. Many local NC owners (from Greece) have done this, some of them asking for a D-cut wheel.

I don't know, though, if it's worth the trouble from so far. And his services are not that cheap.

[Airbrush1]

I got a bug up my ass and I've already begun the disassembly process I'm going to make this work!

[Airbrush1]

I'm not worried about cheap per se, I want oem quality and fit, and a functional airbag so that my wife will drive/ride in the car with me without worrying about it. If I can make the modification to the bottom of the wheel, then having it recovered should be similar in price to any other recover job. Perhaps I'll do a kickass job on it and start a trend

[Airbrush1]

Ok I have it cut up.... I still have some adjustments to do before I'm fully comfortable with the look (bend is a tiny bit uneven at the moment) but for a first try, I like it!

[—Martin—]

peeksures?

[speedypenguin]

I think it's a "Guardian" steering wheel? My friend has one, but not a D-Cut style. He was considering a D-Cut conversion.

[RustRat]

Yeap, that's who I meant, Guardian Designs or somethings. Diy is always better though, waiting for photozzz aswell.

[Airbrush1]

First I pulled the leather off of the bottom of the wheel
I then measured and removed the padding in the area that I wanted to modify
I made sure to take the padding off in large pieces so I could reuse as much as possible later in the process!

[Airbrush1]

I put the wheel lightly in a vise and cut the vertical portion out of the T connector

At this point I thought that perhaps I could simply torch the metal where I wanted to bend it flat, and sit on the other side of the wheel to put enough pressure on it and make the bend. That might have worked if I had something other than a pencil torch, but instead I only managed to burn my hand a bit and inhale some rubber fumes

Next step, I removed the whole T connector from the wheel. It seemed like the thing to do considering that by only removing that piece, I couldn't screw up any measurements.


Next came a lot of cussing and trial and error to make the bends "right". The wheel rim itself is hollow, but surprisingly strong. Heat didn't help at all (again, I may not have had enough), and what leverage I could gain by sliding a screwdriver into the pipe only resulted in bent screwdrivers. My next bright idea was to use the handle from my floor jack. I slid it over each end, up to the remaining foam, and cranked on it until things started to move in the right direction.

[Airbrush1]

The jack handle idea worked. I still have some fine tuning to get the bends perfectly even, but I think I'll be able to make it as close to perfect as possible.

I trimmed the remaining foam a bit and put it back on for a trial fit

[Airbrush1]

I still have lots of work to do on the wheel. My initial impression is that I may have been better served by actually cutting a larger section out of the bottom, and finding a straight rod that would fit easily inside the opening of the stock ring. If measured correctly to intersect with the third spoke support of the stock wheel, I think that a careful trimming of the foam with an eye on reassembly would make this a much easier project.

All in all I have about two hours in this. I think it will work, even if I have to purchase/locate another bare wheel to work with and try some more things out.

[etikoner]

Wow. Kudos for getting even this far. Doesn't look half bad, either.

[Hyper]

I think it's a "Guardian" steering wheel? My friend has one, but not a D-Cut style. He was considering a D-Cut conversion.

That steering wheel looks pimp!!

[ravestation]

Yeah, Tom aka Guardian is reshaping wheels, etc.