No problem, here you go! I'll try to get one at night too.
). Based on your review and write-up I ordered the turn signals from CJ Pony Parts as well. As noted they arrive directly from Winjet and are a fairly straight forward install. I think they look better than some of the more expensive ones, and no hyperflashing... Thanks for the tip!
Steering clear of Trouble
One of the few disappointing things in my S550 when I got it was the steering wheel. My S197 was a Base model GT and had a real leather wrapped steering wheel, but my Premium model S550 was wrapped in vinyl, go figure. Time to fix that.
I went on ebay and ordered a Carbon Fiber Steering Wheel with Alcantara grips from Spec-m for a good price. I know it's made in Taiwan, but they and China are putting out decent stuff these days.
The carbon fiber is excellent quality, there are no noticeable flaws other than the backside where the seam is, which is not visible once installed.
The Alcantara is nice and soft with red stitching. There's one minor flaw in the stitching, barely noticable as well.
I like Alcantara. I imagine it comes from rare llamas only found in the Alcantara region of Italy. There's no guarantee that this is from Italy, so technically it might just be Sparkling Suede.
Installation is surprisingly easy, even though you have to remove the air bag and transfer over all of the electronic components. The Workshop Manual has a process for checking that the airbag is properly working before fiddling with it to ensure it doesn't go off in your face, but I decided that the safest method was just to disconnect the battery.
To remove the airbag there is a hole on each side of the wheel used to access the springs holding it on.
The Workshop Manual says to use a 3mm Allen key while CJ Pony's video suggested a 4mm. I found the 4mm to work better. Just stick it long way into the hole and push to release the spring, popping out that side of the airbag and cover, then repeat on the other side to release the rest. Here are the springs you are feeling around for so you can envision what you are blindly poking at from the sides.
Next unplug the three plugs from the back of the airbag by pulling out the tabs then pulling them free. Here are all three tabs released.
The nice thing about these and the rest of the plugs in the wheel is that they are all color coded, so you don't have to remember which plug goes where. Yellow goes in yellow, grey goes in grey, etc.
Speaking of grey plugs, pull that one out at the top, this one just has a standard push tab.
Now, using a 24mm or 15/16" socket, remove the central bolt. This is kind of the only thing holding the wheel in place. Pull the wheel and Voila!
Now you can take it inside and out of the heat to start removing all of the pieces. There are 8 T20 screws easily visible that need removal to get the four pieces of the controls and the silver piece at the bottom off.
The bottom piece should come off now, just jam a trim removal tool in from the bottom and pop the clips. The two silver control pieces should also come right out with a bit of persuasion and after removing their corresponding plugs. Here is a view of the underside of the pieces so you can see where the clips are.
The black control pieces have an additional screw which is exposed once the silver pieces are gone, remove those and they should practically fall off. Just remove their plugs and set aside.
Now flip the wheel over and pry off the large plastic piece on the back, which only has a few clips keeping it in place. This will expose the weight which has 4 light blue rubbery things holding it in place, push them through from the front and remove the weight. Then flip it back over and remove those springs that released the airbag by squeezing them together and pushing them up or down, whichever way seems easier.
Now compare the core of the old wheel to the new one so you can see how much better it is.
The new wheel is overall the same size but a little bit thicker in most places. The grips are much more pronounced and it has a flat bottom for racing reasons and because it looks cool.
Now reverse the process and put everything on the new wheel. Note that the blue rubbery things on the weight seat into the wheel so that the weight doesn't actually touch the wheel core.
Trying to push it further than it should go using that 4mm Allen key could poke a hole in it... not that I did that. Nope.
The outer pieces push into the rubber around the core. The bottom part of the back piece and the bottom silver piece might not push in as flush because they border carbon fiber rather than Alcantara, but they should get right up against it. Don't forget to plug everything in as you reinstall them.
Once everything is back on check that it is all seated properly and flush. The only thing that shouldn't be completely flush is seen from the underside, where there is a small gap on each side.
Finally, pop it back in place in the car, torque the bolt to 35 lb/ft, plug everything back in and pop the airbag back into place. Now, drive! After you reconnect the battery and close the hood, of course.
It looks gorgeous and feels great when driving. The carbon fiber isn't too hard or slippery and the Alcantara is comfortable and has great grip. The only complaint that I have is that the stitching is a bit hard. I imagine that tough thread is needed to hold it together, but it does detract a bit from the softness of the Alcantara grips. Hopefully it softens up with use and then it will be perfect.
Yea, sometimes it's the little things that you don't want to lose, I get it. Fortunately I didn't have heated steering, and living in AZ I don't have much use for it anyway. I would think that Beith would make wheels that keeps the feature though, check it out if you don't mind the price.