Help w/steering wheel - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

Marcelo · 27th April 2002, 04:09

Hi all, I've been on the road for 10 days now, leaving the car a the dealer for a (simple?) steering wheel change. I posted a while ago that after checking with the dealer and the BMW tech service, they calimed that there were no conflicts in changing the '99 with the '01 (02?) steering wheel. Allright, airbag must also be changed but I wanted the new wheel...

Guess what? I arrived from Belgium this afternoon, went straight to the dealer to pick up the car, and the old steering wheel was still on...

Now they are saying to me that they need to change no less than:

1) steering axle (first section)
2) wiper/washer control arm and box
3) lights/turn signal controls arm and box
4) servo-steering controls arm and box

why? well...looks like the new ('02) steering wheel is built differently around the axle, so it will not fit directly. Furthermore (but this would ne a lesser problem) the R/T switch is located on the left side of the wheel, while on the '99 is on the right side. This will demand some creative job by the installer, but the big headache is changing the 'hardware'.

Has anyone here had his steering wheel changed from the old one to the new one? Can anyone help me to (again) show the dealer how things are really done by pros instead of amateurish dealerships?? Sorry the sarcasm, but I was really mad, since tomorrow I'm taking off for a trip on the beast and wanted to have the wheel on....

Thanks guys & gals for any help and comments!

Marcelo
'99 Silverstone/ blk

Marcelo · 29th April 2002, 13:46

Hi guys....

Nobody here has any comments about this matter? Maybe it is not possible at all to change steering wheels from '99 to '01 models???

chunpng · 29th April 2002, 19:10

Marcelo,

I posted a previous thread on this subject. According to my local master tech, it could not be done as the 'fittings and controls' are different in the 2 steering wheels, let alone the fact that the air bag is different.

They also said that as a dealership, they will not do the work because of potential liability problems. I'm not aware of anyone successfully swapping the steering wheels as yet.

I'm sure if you spend enough money, you can always find someone to do the work even if they have to custom fit certain parts. The questions are how much, and how safe the wheel/air bag will be in case of an emergency?

I guess gone are the days when cars are simple and one can mod them relatively easily. I never expected this type of problems just swapping a steering wheel.

CP

Marcelo · 29th April 2002, 19:22

Thanks for the reply CP, seems that for once my dealer is right (not that they have much credit...) -they are now getting their heads toghether to figure how much change they need to do and how much it will cost.

WIll keep you posted, thanks for the reply!

Marcelo