I hate to write a bad review. but this part earn one. I have a 69 Eliminator, and when I restored the car 15 year or so ago I installed a NOS horn switch made in the 90's. Installation went fine, it was easy to install and all looked fine until the horn started working when it wasn't supposed to work.
Bought this one as the description tells "This is far superior to the switch Ford put out as a service part in the 90's." Good I thought, maybe I will have a well functioning rim blow switch again.
Before instalation I carefully read the instructions, watched a vieo and started to install the horn switch on my steering wheel. I don't usually describe myself as clumsy, but today I started wondering if I am. The problems started right away. While the original Ford horn switch easily came out and went into the steering wheel, this one was near impossible to install. The rubber felt stiff and cheap and a bit oversize, and even when lubricated I just could not easily fit it into my steering wheel. I spent a long time trying to work it in place, carefully as possible, but it just did not fit right. Then I decided to remove the few inches of the horn ring I had installed and check the grooves to look for problems. Also reinstalled my old horn switch once again and it fits perfect. Then made a second attempt and I struggled just as much as the first time. After a long time working very carefully the switch finally was in place. BTW, I checked the switch for every 3 inches for shorts with an ohm meter, and it was fine. Then attached the wiring to the horn contacts and tested the switch. It worked two-three times, then shorted and horn sounded constantly. Diconnected the wires and looked all over the switch and noticed that in 2 places the rubber had started to sparate and exposed the copper contacts. Then removed the horn switch again, comparet it to the original, and they are not really the same. The really big difference is the rubber qiality. Wile the original, most likely made in the 90's still is soft and pliable, the rubber used for the reproduction is a very different quality, Harder and extremely fragile and the rubber will easily spliit and get damaged. Even the shape is not the same, which may explain why the newer is so hard to install.
Just to see what it takes to split the rubber on the repro compared tp th original I made a little test to the end of the horn switches. the reproduction came apart witvery very little force, hardly any, while te rubber in the original held up fine. Poor rubber quality on reproduction parts is not something new. 40+ years of restoration have shown the decline in quality over the years, even from the places that used to be good like Dennis Carpenter. I habve rubber parts bought some years ago that now are useless as the China rubber is getting so hard and brittle fast. I also have NOS rubber parts that are often as good as when they were new. My theory is that these switch es wrere produces a number of years ago and then over time the rubber has gone from bad to worse and now they are just not good anymore.
So I ended up putting my 90's non working horn switch back on, at least it fits right and looks good. A New $5 horn button switch has been installed under the dash and ut works flawless.
The new $150 switch (including shipping and tax is garbage and will end up in the shelf of shame where I put really really bad reproduction parts that I like to show people.
