E36 M3 Steering Wheel on a Pre-03/99 E39 Car

[Graham E39 528i]

by Graham E39 528i

About three years ago, I started upgrading the suspension on my 01/99 528i and made the following transitions (in this order):

Eibach sway rear (then front)
Vogtland/Bilstein Sport front (then rear)
Kraftstab front strut bar
Mason adjustable sway bar links front (rear not done yet)
18" rims with summer tires

As the car progressed with each upgrade, the steering seemed to get slower and slower. I found the 4-spoke MF wheel was frustrating me, as I learned to drive faster on the various suspensions. In my thread on the Mason sway links: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1661923 I stated that one of the outcomes of having the correct length front links with the big front Eibach sway is this:

"The change makes the steering feel even slower, meaning it accentuates that my steering wheel is too big"

The four spoke MF steering wheel is 395mm in diameter and the M-Sport e39 wheel is 385mm. However, I decided I really wanted something still smaller, and so, from that point on, I was on the look out for the ideal substitute.

I toyed with the idea of a classic Nardi wooden wheel (diameter 325mm) and even bought one from an Ebay seller in Japan, shown here:

I was getting all set to make the change, but, in the end, I couldn't live with the idea of having to fool the ECU into thinking the airbag was there (with a special resistor, and all that nonsense). In addition, I realized it wouldn't blend all that well with my interior (the woods don't match).

I spent a good deal of time watching steering wheels come up on EBay, and I got a lot of ideas there. There is an Ebay seller, in Germany, called 'Tainik' who always has a great selection of BMW steering wheels for quite reasonable prices. The thing about Tainik is, he re-upholsters many of his wheels, with what looks to be OEM quality (sometimes offering wheels finished in Alcantara). The e36 M3 wheel is smaller than the e39 M-Sport wheel with a diameter of 370mm (I think).

Anyway, in February of this year, a remanufactured e36 M3 wheel (with single stage airbag) came up, with a thickly padded rim. A dinky M3 steering wheel with new leather! Perfecto!

What would I win and lose with this swap? In my opinion, the pros and cons of this wheel over, say, the e39 M-Sport wheel are:

Pros: smaller (diameter 375mm, versus 385mm), thicker (thickness 34mm, versus 26mm)

Cons: loss of stereo and cruise buttons

Well, in the four years I have had this car, I have used the cruise control once, so no big deal. The stereo can be controlled from the MID, so again no big deal. The telephone buttons, of course, are useless.

After eagerly awaiting the shipment, I received the wheel a week ago, and I did the install yesterday. I took my time and photographed the proceedings, and it all turned out well. The DIY followed was VietSB's classic article on the 'E39 M-Sport Steering Wheel Retro-Fit', to be found here:

http://bmwdiy.info/msport-wheel/index.html

(I consider this DIY to be the best of its kind.)

I found a number of relatively minor discrepancies with VietSB's method, and I will point them out along the way.

The procedure is quite straightforward and consists of:

1. Disconnect battery (10mm socket, 6" extension, 1/4" ratchet)

2. Unscrew airbag (T-30 torx), detach airbag, controls and horn connectors, remove airbag

3. Unscrew steering wheel bolt and remove (16mm socket, 5" extension with breaker bar plus girlfreind to hold the wheel) Note: VietSB says 17mm socket

4. Separate the two halves of the column casing

5. Detach clock spring (3 screws, T-10 torx), detach horn ground wire (T-10 torx), feed harness from clock spring through steering wheel aperture and remove wheel

6. Install new steering wheel using the reverse of the foregoing. Note: I used a torque setting of 63 Nm (out of Bentley) VietSB used 80 Nm


OK chums, here are some pics for your self-delectation:

I then took the car for a spin. The new steering wheel makes a huge difference. I love the way car feels now. Very sporty indeed!

.....then two months later, I added some buttons

[simmomi]

Graham,
As always, great write up! All I can say is...I'M JEALOUS! It looks great!

May have to follow suit on this. Give us a follow-up soon so we know how you like it.

[KTWe3919]

i have a very similar wheel that came in the 02 sport, just without the ///m color thread and some buttons on the wheel itself, but it is awesome the tight feel is soo nice its disapointing getting in any other vehicle.. but looks great as well as the interior itself nice and clean

[Graham E39 528i]

Graham,
As always, great write up! All I can say is...I'M JEALOUS! It looks great!

May have to follow suit on this. Give us a follow-up soon so we know how you like it.

Thank you! I will update the write up with more detail when I get to drive it more thoroughly (yesterday wasn't good, it snowed!)

i have a very similar wheel that came in the 02 sport, just without the ///m color thread and some buttons on the wheel itself, but it is awesome the tight feel is soo nice its disapointing getting in any other vehicle.. but looks great as well as the interior itself nice and clean

What is it's diameter? I wonder why no M badge? Could you take a photo?

[//m320is]

Cant you actually get buttons to replace the plastic caps that surround the air bag? I thought you could install them to retain the cruise, etc. Or am I thinking of a different wheel?

[Jason5driver]

I like the wheel, but not liking the idea of not having the buttons...
Not having the buttons would bug me, big time.
I use the wheel buttons for the stereo all the time.
Why not just get the wheel with the buttons?
The steering wheel with buttons can be had for ~$100...

[FlipredE36]

Cant you actually get buttons to replace the plastic caps that surround the air bag? I thought you could install them to retain the cruise, etc. Or am I thinking of a different wheel?

You are correct. If you have a Sport, you should have this wheel below which will allow you to swap over the buttons to retain functionality.

[Graham E39 528i]

Cant you actually get buttons to replace the plastic caps that surround the air bag? I thought you could install them to retain the cruise, etc. Or am I thinking of a different wheel?

That is the next thing, after I overhaul my rear suspension.

I like the wheel, but not liking the idea of not having the buttons...
Not having the buttons would bug me, big time.
I use the wheel buttons for the stereo all the time.
Why not just get the wheel with the buttons?
The steering wheel with buttons can be had for ~$100...

I hardly ever use them. However, I will get some buttons soon, just for you....

[simmomi]

While I don't use the audio buttons, I would have to retain the use of the cruise control. Losing the CC in lieu of the wheel wouldn't be worth it to me.

[XDewa2008]

That is the next thing, after I overhaul my rear suspension.





I hardly ever use them. However, I will get some buttons soon, just for you....

Will it be a direct swap or is there going to be some wire splicing and such involved?

[//m320is]

Will it be a direct swap or is there going to be some wire splicing and such involved?

I am under the impression that it's a bolt on, plug in type thing.

[Jason5driver]

That is the next thing, after I overhaul my rear suspension.





I hardly ever use them. However, I will get some buttons soon, just for you....

Good!

Link for you...
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1794212

[sfgearhead]

Great writeup Graham, looking forward to seeing it in person someday. I agree the e39 wheel is on the bus side of large.

For those who want to retain the steering wheel controls, I assume an e46 wheel would be the hot setup. But don't quote me, I'm just assuming.

[FlipredE36]

Yep, the E46 wheel will work. I'm currently shopping for one with the alacantra suede.

[Qsilver7]

...For those who want to retain the steering wheel controls, I assume an e46 wheel would be the hot setup. But don't quote me, I'm just assuming.

If you want to retain the MFL buttons...you can also use the 3 spoke steering wheels from the e39 & e38. Of course...you need to stay on the same side of the 3/99 build date that your car falls on. This is the change-over from single to dual stage air bag system.

The single stage 3 spoke and 1st gen dual stage 3 spoke steering wheels have the ///M tri-color stitching and the same 385mm diameter as the e36 3 spoker Graham installed. Then after 9/99...the 3 spoke steering wheel for the regular e39 went to all black stitching...and only the M5 3 spoke steering wheel got the ///M tir-color stitching.

When the 525/530 debuted for the 01 model year...BMW changed the 3 spoke steering wheel (and the 4 spoke steering wheel)...and both got even smaller...and the 3 spoke steering wheel got the round air bag.

So if you want the MFL buttons...it's usually easier to shop for the e38 & e39 sport steering wheels. If you can't find those...then the 3 series wheels are another source.

You can see the difference in size in the pic below of the (385mm) single stage 3 spoke steering wheel I installed in my 97 e38 versus the original (393mm) 4 spoke steering wheel:

@ Graham:

1. Great DIY write up
2. interesting that your steering wheel was held on by a 16mm bolt...in my swap...it was a 17mm bolt. Perhaps we should warn folks to be prepared for either.

(17mm bolt & socket)

[Xeniczone]

I think it looks better without the buttons, but that is just my opinion. I bought a M3 wheel and bag of ebay for $60. The wheel need recovering, but that isn't a big deal. I've never got around to it.

I would like to put the buttons on the back of the steering wheel like the new Chryslers do. They have 3 buttons on each side on the back of the wheel, but these are for the radios use. The cruise control is on a lever on the bottom right of the wheel.

[Graham E39 528i]

Will it be a direct swap or is there going to be some wire splicing and such involved?

Well, the MF wheel, I took off, uses the iBus port at the clock spring. One needs to have pods doing the same thing. Any rewiring will be trivial, I think.

Yep, the E46 wheel will work. I'm currently shopping for one with the alcantara suede.

Fixed spelling. Will the e46 wheel fit the pre-facelift cars? If not, why not? Is it the diameter of the shaft (that is different)?

Great writeup Graham, looking forward to seeing it in person someday. I agree the e39 wheel is on the bus side of large.

Thank you!

If you want to retain the MFL buttons...you can also use the 3 spoke steering wheels from the e39 & e38. Of course...you need to stay on the same side of the 3/99 build date that your car falls on. This is the change-over from single to dual stage air bag system.

The single stage 3 spoke and 1st gen dual stage 3 spoke steering wheels have the ///M tri-color stitching and the same 385mm diameter as the e36 3 spoker Graham installed. Then after 9/99...the 3 spoke steering wheel for the regular e39 went to all black stitching...and only the M5 3 spoke steering wheel got the ///M tir-color stitching.

When the 525/530 debuted for the 01 model year...BMW changed the 3 spoke steering wheel (and the 4 spoke steering wheel)...and both got even smaller...and the 3 spoke steering wheel got the round air bag.

So if you want the MFL buttons...it's usually easier to shop for the e38 & e39 sport steering wheels. If you can't find those...then the 3 series wheels are another source.

You can see the difference in size in the pic below of the (385mm) single stage 3 spoke steering wheel I installed in my 97 e38 versus the original (393mm) 4 spoke steering wheel:

Q, my e36 wheel is at 375mm, the e39 M-Sport is at 385mm.

In your photo the MF wheel looks much larger than 8mm wider. Is it an optical illusion?

[Qsilver7]

Q, my e36 wheel is at 375mm, the e39 M-Sport is at 385mm.

In your photo the MF wheel looks much larger than 8mm wider. Is it an optical illusion?

(EDIT: I started this last night, but fell asleep...I'm just now getting a chance to finish it...sorry for the delay)

It probably is...you can see the circumference (not diameter) of each steering wheel in the pics below.

The 4 spoke wheel is 124.5 centimeters:




And the 3 spoke wheel is 121.5 centimeters:

And on a side note...your new 3 spoke wheel looks like its been redone by a company in Texas... www.dallassteeringwheel.com . They can take any BMW wheel (and other brands, too) and give it a make-over which can include making it thicker, adding ///M tri-colored stitching, perforated leather, or alcantera, etc. Do you have any background info about the steering wheel? Just curious.

Here's some examples of their work below & a link to their website: http://dallassteeringwheel.com/sw1.htm

(e60 M5 - perforated leather & M tri-color stitching)





(M3 - perforated leather & alcantera base & tri-color stitching)





(Roadster - 2-tone w/alcantera & tri-color stitching)

[Graham E39 528i]

Q,

I just measured the circumference of my e36 M3 steering wheel. It came out at 118cm.

The wheel, in question, was shipped to me from Sankt Augustin, Germany (shipped Deutches Post). The airbag came from the UK (shipped Royal Mail), but both items were acquired with one EBay purchase.

I have a question Q. Where can I find out about the different variations of the wheel button pods, that are sold by BMW? I would like pods with the stereo & cruise controls, but lacking the redundant telephone controls.

TIA

[Graham E39 528i]

Hi Brothers,

Today I installed new steering wheel buttons, intended for an e39, on my M3 steering wheel (finally).

[riceballer]

Looks good! How much do you reckon you spent altogether with the wheel and control pods?

[Graham E39 528i]

Looks good! How much do you reckon you spent altogether with the wheel and control pods?

Wheel + Airbag + Controls = ~$650

Well worth it though. I would rate this as my best mod. My car feels much more 'Sports Car'-like. I never realized that a new steering wheel could make such a difference.

[charliehustle1]

I need to do this myself! Thats the perfect setup!

[Curjo]

Just did mine last week with a sport wheel. Need new buttons though as they are a little worn. Where did you get yours from?

[Graham E39 528i]

ebmwparts.com

They were the cheapest.