Original MGA steering wheels often have the plastic rim cracked, most often in the area of the spoke junction to the rim. The photo below shows the stock MGA steering wheel frame with the plastic stripped off of the rim. There is a steel P-clip spot welded to the rim and spokes in four places.

Photo from Andres Losin, BC, Canada

The P-clip may on occasion break the welds to the steel rim bar, resulting in cracks in the plastic rim. Solution is to remove plastic from the rim in this area, re-weld the P-clip on the rim, then rebuild the plastic using epoxy, followed by smoothing and painting. There are various epoxy plastic repair materials available from common vendors such as Eastwood (www.eastwoodco.com), complete with instructions for use. JB Weld seems to work as well and is locally available in auto parts and hardware and tool stores.

Plastic can be removed from the wheel by impact (hammer) with some risk of damaging the underlying structural parts. It can also be removed by cutting, grinding or burning with a torch, being careful not to apply such high temperature as to damage chrome plating on the spokes. The wheel shown above was involved in a fire, but the chrome on the spokes seems to have survived in particularly good condition.