Holes in Grant steering wheel-why?

[john.thompson068]

I have a brand new model 415 Challenger wheel from Grant and it has these two holes that are in the black plastic ring of the steering wheel. See the attached pictures. So it makes it look like my steering wheel is broken and had pieces crack and fall off. The are on the right side of the steering wheel. One at the one o'clock position and the other at the 5 o'clock position. Unless I get a good explanation here I will email and call Grant Monday to see why my wheel has holes in it.

 

['67 Charger Kid]

It doesn't even look like a clean cut in the picture. I would just call them.

 

[1badgtx]

Dang that looks like crap!!!Must be a universal fit plastic piece...I bet it fits ford mustang too...
Petty Blue 67 gtx

 

[Cranky]

It's so that pressure doesn't build up inside the cap and blows the horn button at ya. Hell, I dunno. What 1bad said makes sense but damn, I wouldn't want them either!

 

[john.thompson068]

Just called them up and the notches are supposed to be there. Apparently they are supposed to aid in removing the horn button by sticking something in behind the horn button. I mentioned that I just removed my horn button by twisting it off the same way I twisted it on. I was told the notches are supposed to be there and to install it as it is so I guess that is the end of that.

 

[MoparMitch]

Can anyone say defect? Even if not , ditch it and buy someone eleses. Grant used to be a really good company. Im sure it's made off shore. too bad it's come to this

 

[john.thompson068]

Pep Boys has this same wheel. I think I will stop by there when I am out later and verify that these notches are supposed to be there. Eventually, I will probably upgrade to a more expensive steering wheel but right now this was the cheapest decent steering wheel I could find. And talking about cheap, look at my other post about the cheap quality of the hub.

 

[john.thompson068]

Well, the wheel at Pep Boys had the same notches. The wheel there had one of the notches lined up on top which made it really noticeable. I might take the wheel apart and move the holes so that they are at the bottom when the wheel is pointing straight.

 

[696pack]

Likely the same wheel is supplied for various other cars that require them to remove the center cap and with your wheel they just exspect you to live with it rather than making a seperate wheel without them.

 

[john.thompson068]

Yeah, looks like I have to buy the $175 version of that same steering wheel, the Grant 1065, to not have notches cut out of it.

 

[Cranky]

Is there anything special about the ring? What's the cost difference between this one and the 175 wheel? If the ring is just a basic spacer, could someone machine a new one out of aluminum or even a solid piece of plastic?

 

[john.thompson068]

Nothing special about the ring. The wheel I have costs $45 at Jegs. It has a foam grip while the more expensive wheel is the exact same one but has a leather grip and appears to have a higher quality ring and center cap area without the cheapo looking holes in it. It would be possible to machine a new ring to put in there depending on the cost. I think eventually I will just go with a 1070 or a 742 if I buy anything else from Grant. They are equally as nice and about $130-135.

 

[HitIt]

looks like you could cut a section of similar sized PVC for that and it would just the same, just without notches.

 

[Nsane]

Take it appart fill the notches with a 2part auto body plastic repair like duramix and finist it and repaint flat black.

 

[john.thompson068]

These are all some good ideas to fix this problem. The wheel also needs a leather grip from Advanced Auto because the foam grip has a cheap looking and feeling groove going around the front of the grip. You can see it in the picture. I rotated the notches to the bottom of the wheel making them less noticeable when the front wheels are pointed straight. I really can't complain for a $45 dollar wheel. I was just looking for the cheapest decent wheel I could find to replace my original wheel. Right now the car is in pretty rough condition and the notches or cheapness of the wheel do not make a difference. Later once the car is painted and the interior is new again, I will spend another $130 on a nicer wheel . Actually, if the rest of the car was as perfect as some of your cars, I would not care at all about these notches or having this wheel. So we will have to wait and see.

 

[70redbee]

Can you trade in your wheel to Grant and pay the difference for the better one?

 

[john.thompson068]

It would cost me another $90 for the better wheel and $20 for shipping to and from and I can't spend $110 right now for this. I already need a new battery and one of those $11 dollar H bar battery hold downs to replace my dead battery and giant zip tie battery hold down. Extra money is not currently available. For now I have to do everything the cheapest way possible or not at all and just enjoy the things that are good about the car like its 560 ft lbs of tq.