Straightening a bent steering wheel?

[simon1966]

Hi All

I wanted to change the steering wheel on my E55 for the later type with paddle shifts from E63.

I bought one online, but it has been badly damaged in transit It has come complete with full steering column, switches etc so is quite heavy and has clearly been dropped from a great height to cause the damage to the wheel. The rest of it is fine as the wheel has clearly taken the hit Sods law as I don't want the rest of it!

I'm not having much joy with the seller If he lived closer I would pay him a visit but.......

Anyway does anyone know if it can be salvaged or is it junk? I'm not too fussed if the leather gets damaged as I was planning on getting it re-trimmed anyway.

 

[markmifsud]

why bother trying to fix it? just send it back as damaged goods

 

[nick mercedes]

You might get it a bit better, but it's never going to be true again, can't you claim from the seller/carrier??

 

[Sp!ke]

I'm no expert but I would have thought that you could get it looking near perfect without too much difficulty using a vice and a couple of planks of wood.

Whether it would be safe or not would be another matter.

 

[Druk]

It might well be junk. I stripped a wheel not long ago and found the internal ring under all the padding was forged aluminium. This stuff doesn't take kindly to bending. It's likely a safety feature to deform easily in a crash

 

[Lit91]

Hi All

I wanted to change the steering wheel on my E55 for the later type with paddle shifts from E63.

I bought one online, but it has been badly damaged in transit It has come complete with full steering column, switches etc so is quite heavy and has clearly been dropped from a great height to cause the damage to the wheel. The rest of it is fine as the wheel has clearly taken the hit Sods law as I don't want the rest of it!

I'm not having much joy with the seller If he lived closer I would pay him a visit but.......

Anyway does anyone know if it can be salvaged or is it junk? I'm not too fussed if the leather gets damaged as I was planning on getting it re-trimmed anyway.

Looks like the one that was recently on ebay for about £250.....

Maybe he tried saving costs on the shipping package size??

Jokes out of the way, if it was through ebay, you don't need anything from the seller. Just open a paypal case, they will be in your favour, this clearly isn't acceptable!!

 

[Giantvanman]

Could these guys advise Steering Wheel Restoration - Steering Wheel Restoration Services

 

[simon1966]

Looks like the one that was recently on ebay for about £250.....

Maybe he tried saving costs on the shipping package size??

Jokes out of the way, if it was through ebay, you don't need anything from the seller. Just open a paypal case, they will be in your favour, this clearly isn't acceptable!!

It was on ebay, but I asked for some more pics as the listing wasn't clear and then seller contacted me direct and deal not done through ebay. My fault for going with it, but I generally trust people to act as I would. I paid via paypal, but I'm not sure I have much in the way of rights etc. I have sent loads of pics to the seller for him to deal with courier (parcelforce). It is totally out of my hands as parcelforce will only deal with the seller who packaged it and arranged shipping.

The seller said he will arrange parcelforce to collect, but he won't give me my money back until he goes through the claim process. I'm not comfortable with that as he will have had the goods back plus my money and I have nothing. I can't see why he won't return the money when the collection is arranged, it is all under his control. Other than of course he thinks if his claim doesn't work then it's my tough luck and he has nothing to lose and will still have my money plus the damaged goods back. At the moment he doesn't have any incentive to get it sorted as I have paid him and I'm left with a damaged wheel that is no use unless I get get it repaired!?

 

[simon1966]

I'm no expert but I would have thought that you could get it looking near perfect without too much difficulty using a vice and a couple of planks of wood.

Whether it would be safe or not would be another matter.

This is sort of what I was thinking.

 

[simon1966]

It might well be junk. I stripped a wheel not long ago and found the internal ring under all the padding was forged aluminium. This stuff doesn't take kindly to bending. It's likely a safety feature to deform easily in a crash

That's a good point, I hadn't thought of that, I assumed it would be steel.

 

[Lit91]

It was on ebay, but I asked for some more pics as the listing wasn't clear and then seller contacted me direct and deal not done through ebay. My fault for going with it, but I generally trust people to act as I would. I paid via paypal, but I'm not sure I have much in the way of rights etc. I have sent loads of pics to the seller for him to deal with courier (parcelforce). It is totally out of my hands as parcelforce will only deal with the seller who packaged it and arranged shipping.

The seller said he will arrange parcelforce to collect, but he won't give me my money back until he goes through the claim process. I'm not comfortable with that as he will have had the goods back plus my money and I have nothing. I can't see why he won't return the money when the collection is arranged, it is all under his control. Other than of course he thinks if his claim doesn't work then it's my tough luck and he has nothing to lose and will still have my money plus the damaged goods back. At the moment he doesn't have any incentive to get it sorted as I have paid him and I'm left with a damaged wheel that is no use unless I get get it repaired!?

It depends which way you have paid via paypal.

There are two ways: Paying for goods OR Paying as a gift.

If you did the goods option, then you're covered - this is where the seller is charged a percentage of sum paid.

If you paid as a gift, there is no cover, so in this case your best bet is fixing the steering wheel, although I don't think that it would be: 1. Cheap, 2. Viable

I'm not sure how the frame looks inside, but if it is metal, I'm sure bending it back will weaken the bent points, meaning that it could potentially snap.

Once its snapped, I'm guessing theres no way back...

Best bet is to contact paypal & find out your grounds....

 

[simon1966]

It depends which way you have paid via paypal.

There are two ways: Paying for goods OR Paying as a gift.

If you did the goods option, then you're covered - this is where the seller is charged a percentage of sum paid.

If you paid as a gift, there is no cover, so in this case your best bet is fixing the steering wheel, although I don't think that it would be: 1. Cheap, 2. Viable

I'm not sure how the frame looks inside, but if it is metal, I'm sure bending it back will weaken the bent points, meaning that it could potentially snap.

Once its snapped, I'm guessing theres no way back...

Best bet is to contact paypal & find out your grounds....

Paid as a gift so he didn't incur charges. As said I think I'm stuck unless he does the right thing. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't like the idea of returning it without getting my money refunded

 

[Lit91]

Paid as a gift so he didn't incur charges. As said I think I'm stuck unless he does the right thing. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't like the idea of returning it without getting my money refunded

Well, there is a major element of risk returning it then...

Give the steering wheel refurb companies a call, to see what they suggest, would most probably ask you to bring it in for them to repair...

Try royal steering wheels, seen quite a few impressive re-trimming jobs, unsure if they do repairs to wheel structure, but don't see why not...

 

[nick mercedes]

Paid as a gift so he didn't incur charges. As said I think I'm stuck unless he does the right thing. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't like the idea of returning it without getting my money refunded

Doomed then.

Where in Surrey are you, as I know someone who *might* be able to help you get it back into shape.

 

[Lit91]

Actually saying that, you ran an exactly same element of risk by paying for the wheel.

He didn't have to send it...

 

[simon1966]

Doomed then.

Where in Surrey are you, as I know someone who *might* be able to help you get it back into shape.

Worcester Park, but I am willing to travel to sort it out if possible.

 

[simon1966]

Actually saying that, you ran an exactly same element of risk by paying for the wheel.

He didn't have to send it...

I agree I did run same sort of risk originally, but now it's clearly a problem and I'm not getting anywhere.

 

[simon1966]

Well, there is a major element of risk returning it then...

Give the steering wheel refurb companies a call, to see what they suggest, would most probably ask you to bring it in for them to repair...

Try royal steering wheels, seen quite a few impressive re-trimming jobs, unsure if they do repairs to wheel structure, but don't see why not...

I had originally spoken to Royal Steering wheels about getting my existing E55 wheel re-trimmed so it would be them who I would use to re-trim this. I hadn't thought about them doing straightening, I will give them a call.

 

[neilrr]

What is the seller's attitude?

You, or more likely he, can put in a claim with Royal Mail or whoever the carrier was.

 

[simon1966]

What is the seller's attitude?

You, or more likely he, can put in a claim with Royal Mail or whoever the carrier was.

I'm now struggling to get any response from the seller.

I contacted parcelforce straight away and they said that only the seller who packaged it and arranged for the delivery can deal with any claim. The last correspondence I had from the seller was that he needed the steering wheel back before he can do anything. I can understand that from the point of view of dealing with his claim, but not in refunding my money. He said collection was being arranged for yesterday but nothing happened.

Maybe I'm wrong but I can't see why he won't refund the money as the parcelforce collection can only be arranged by him. I could be waiting months or maybe never get any money back if the stuff is returned without.