Greetings all, I figured I'd share here some information on my efforts to have a 1960 300F steering wheel restored by Steering Wheel Kris out of California.
I initially made contact with him in March of 2024, having followed him on Instagram for awhile. His quote for a 1960 300 Wheel was $2,000 and an estimated turnaround time of 2-3 months. This was slightly better pricing than Dennis at Quality Restoration, and since I wasn't looking for the perfection that Dennis is dedicated to, I was open to giving Kris a shot with this one.
After shipping the wheel and $1,000 deposit, they arrived on March 22nd, 2024. To avoid a long post, with multiple messages back and forth over the following months it literally just got delivered Yesterday! First it was one excuse, and then another, never seeing pictures or proof of updates. Seems like his local customers and buddies got priority over me, even though I had told him I could keep him busy with wheels for years between all my projects and the folks here in the club.
Finally after sending a very serious and consequential message back in December, it seems I got through to him. Even then, after I got pics of the wheel and set him the 2nd payment it took another week of silence and unanswered messages to get the package shipped...
So anyways, here's pics of the wheel in comparison to a Quality Restoration's product on the Left that was done probably 20years ago. Notable issues are porosity bubbles on the outsides of the grips, a few discolorations in the tan (I think from debris or cure issues), the edging between the Tan and Clear isn't crisp and clean like you see on the wheel from Dennis.
I had him add the Flake since this wheel is going in a non-correct 300F anyways, but clarity of the resin seems fine, and chrome is good.
Here's a Google Photo Album with all the pics:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ygTShbRSbnW3SLYb8Ultimately, I could've had Dennis redo it for like $500 more and it would've been done in 4-6months and would've been a better quality result, so a frustrating but I think worthwhile experiment. I cannot recommend Kris because communication is key and he failed me too many times, and the cost savings are minimal in the grand scheme of things.
~Peter Scherer
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