Today is an exciting day because we’re going to finally start upgrading our 325ci convertible that we got. And just for the record it has now turned over 207,000 miles. So I've put about 1500 miles on the vehicle and it’s still running great. But we’re gonna make it even more fun to drive by first and foremost installing this BMW M Sport steering wheel. Now this came all the way from the good folks in Lithuania. Found it on eBay. It’s a refurbished wheel, and it cost me a little over $400.
But given how inexpensively I picked the car up for I figured I’d splurge and put this very cool wheel in it. And I’ve watched the KZitem videos and it looks pretty straightforward so I’m going to give it a try. Wish us luck. But the wheel isn’t the only thing going in. We’re also going to put in a new coin holder and center pocket and a new set of cupholders. These were, I think, less than $30 each. Got them on eBay too. And this one was maybe $45, and it’s the under armrest storage pocket, which is really worn out and kind of disintegrating in the car.
So we’ll put in these three sort of center console area things, and we'll put in, more excitingly, the brand new M Sport steering wheel, or at least the refurbished wheel all the way from Lithuania. That’s the goal for today, let’s hope it goes well.
The first rule when you’re replacing the steering wheel is to disconnect the battery because airbags are in steering wheels and it’s really bad when airbags go off when they’re not supposed to. So, looking at the over-engineered process that BMW has put together to access the battery, you have to take the cover off. And now we have to disconnect the negative battery cable.
This is probably the trickiest part of this replacement because you can’t really know exactly what you’re doing, you just know that there’s a hole in the side of the steering wheel, the backside of the steering wheel, that you have to punch into with a screwdriver and push in until you feel a spring release that releases the airbag. And there’s two of these, one on each side. I think I just found it, yeah there’s the spring. So now I’ve pushed in and look at that. There’s the airbag coming out, largely, on that side. Now can I find the second side just as easily? Let’s see. Oop, found it. Look at that. And I probably didn’t stab too many critical things in the process.
All right so now that we’re here, we have to undo these connectors. And that releases that one, and this one’s got a similar design, so let's give it a try. And look at that. And they’re free, airbag is out.
So next we have to pull off the right connector here, and there’s a drop clip here you push down on, and it should release. And it did. And then there’s this one that apparently just pulls out, and it did.
OK, this is a 16 mm bolt that is in the center of the wheel. I’m going to try to turn it without hurting anything. And someone was really effective at making sure this wheel never came off while you were driving, that’s great. Steering wheel is locked so it should be OK to just push on it. I have a way to increase my torque, and I think I’m gonna go get it. It’s a small jack handle that I can put on the end of this to get more torque, so we’re going to go grab that.
I’ve always got this trick I can use when I need more torque. It’s a jack lever that also happens to fit over my ratchet. And a guy said something about levers and moving the planet, so here we go. Well, something moved, so let’s see what it was. It was the bolt! They talk about breaking a bolt loose, you just got to see it and hear it. And here we go, there’s that bolt. That one was really in there. And that’s good, cause nobody wants a wheel to fall off while you’re driving. According to the KZitem videos this thing will just come off. And apparently they’re right.
Next step, reassembly. There’s a channel that’s a little wider, that I’ve seen in the videos, and here it is. And there’s a matching, slightly wider channel to make sure you don’t get this wrong. So it looks like it wants to go on about like this, and that’s about the angle the wheel was at before. There’s these two other little points down in here that want to match up and they seem to have matched up happily.
Now, this one goes here. And this one goes here. And the 16 mm, that I may not get quite as tight as it was from the factory, but we’ll get close. OK, I’m not gonna go nuts on that bolt. I mean it’s really not gonna come out at that level of tightness. So, that is where we’re gonna stop. Now, we’ve got to put the airbag back in. So, now we put this back here and we assume that those wires aren’t going to get bound up somehow, problematically.
Look at that. There’s an M Sport wheel on my 325ci convertible that wasn’t there 20 minutes ago. Put the battery back in and fire it all up because in theory all these steering wheel controls should work.
Негізгі бет Автокөліктер мен көлік құралдары 2001 BMW E46 325ci Ownership Update #1 Steering Wheel Replacement
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