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      06-11-2018, 08:48 AM   #1
str8shot
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E70 LCI non-sport to sport steering wheel with paddle swap

Did a sport steering wheel with paddle swap today.

Happy to say the paddles worked perfectly with no coding or wiring required!

Got the wheel for $150 off ebay, and the sport airbag cover for $30. Lots of guides on swapping the airbag guts to the sport airbag cover so I'll skip that and go right to pictures.

Before:




Airbag gut swap:




After:




I gotta say the sport wheel is much nicer. It's a smaller diameter for sharper turning radius, and much fatter for that sporty feeling.

Paddles are pretty cool, but I doubt I'll use them much. Just wanted them so I could downshift at will when towing my boat.

One thing I noticed - before I'd have to lower the wheel entirely to get it to feel right when driving. This one I had to raise by ~30%, so there's that bonus.
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      07-09-2018, 11:55 PM   #2
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Where'd you get the wheel for that price? I'm seeing $400 range. Interested in picking one of these up.
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      07-10-2018, 12:54 AM   #3
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Also, do you have the part number of the steering wheel you used? Looks like 32306789975 but just want to be sure for my own purposes.
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      07-10-2018, 02:32 AM   #4
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neat work well done..
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      07-10-2018, 08:18 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by str8shot View Post
Did a sport steering wheel with paddle swap today.

Happy to say the paddles worked perfectly with no coding or wiring required!

Got the wheel for $150 off ebay, and the sport airbag cover for $30. Lots of guides on swapping the airbag guts to the sport airbag cover so I'll skip that and go right to pictures.

Before:




Airbag gut swap:




After:




I gotta say the sport wheel is much nicer. It's a smaller diameter for sharper turning radius, and much fatter for that sporty feeling.

Paddles are pretty cool, but I doubt I'll use them much. Just wanted them so I could downshift at will when towing my boat.

One thing I noticed - before I'd have to lower the wheel entirely to get it to feel right when driving. This one I had to raise by ~30%, so there's that bonus.
Awesome job with the steering wheel and airbag swap. They weren't that hard huh

Overall I like the updated steering wheel look
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      07-11-2018, 09:57 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CMendez View Post
Where'd you get the wheel for that price? I'm seeing $400 range. Interested in picking one of these up.
Ebay - found one with no airbag for cheap.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/X6-2011-Ste...8AAOSwhqVbEqFQ
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      07-11-2018, 10:01 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CMendez View Post
Where'd you get the wheel for that price? I'm seeing $400 range. Interested in picking one of these up.
There's actually one on ebay right now for $125.

http://r.ebay.com/HGf87E
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      07-11-2018, 01:26 PM   #8
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That's great you got the paddles to work, though I'm a little surprised.

Years back when I got my E70 there were a number of us members here doing steering wheel swaps, and the consensus seemed to be paddles didn't work on the 35d or any 35i/50i that didn't come with either Sport or M Sport. At least not without additional work - not plug 'n play.

Agree with you the paddles - I swapped from an M Sport steering wheel to an X5M to get the paddles as my early 2012 build didn't have them, and I've never really used them.

Steering wheel swaps are one of my favorite mods, they make a nice improvement.

Quote:
Originally Posted by str8shot View Post
There's actually one on ebay right now for $125.

http://r.ebay.com/HGf87E
Really good deal! For others looking to do a steering wheel swap, it might be worth looking into the M Sport or X5M steering wheels, depending on how much you want to spend.

Here's an M Sport w/o paddles -

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E70-E71...AAAOSwAINa7b3N

Here's an X5M wheel. The differences from M Sport are:

-different style paddles (late 2012 and all 2013 35i/50i M Sports got paddles)
-///M tri-stitching instead of black
-different button configuration, but still a direct swap

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Multifuncti...kAAOSwT7Va35CA
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      07-11-2018, 08:46 PM   #9
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Thanks, but actually picked one up today at a BMW recycler in Austin. Paid $200 but the wheel is in really good shape and included trim and buttons. Now just waiting on airbag cover...
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      07-11-2018, 10:21 PM   #10
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Do the buttons still work after the swap?
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      07-18-2018, 09:23 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by werdn View Post
Do the buttons still work after the swap?
Everything works on mine after the swap including the paddles, with no coding or anything. Str8 plug and play homie.
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      09-24-2018, 07:04 PM   #12
Modern Autos
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Hi guys, where did you get the airbag cover? Thank You.

Last edited by Modern Autos; 09-24-2018 at 07:06 PM.. Reason: edit
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