Steering wheel
Ever since BMW Performance announced its new steering wheel, people had been curious about what it did and how it worked. After fitting it, we discovered that it's very easy to use.
You turn it on by holding two buttons concealed in the thumb grips. You can then select from functions such as stopwatch, lap timer, race timer and quarter mile timer in the center display. There's also a lateral and longitudinal g-meter that shows your acceleration, braking and cornering force. Finally, it has a water and oil temperature gauge, allowing you to look after the motor.
Either side of the center display is a strip of LEDs that operate as shift lights. You can set maximum RPM, choosing when the lights come on. We've set ours fairly high since the lights can be distracting on the road, but would be more useful on the track.
The steering wheel is able to accommodate the multi-function buttons from your stock wheel, either housing them in the OE cover, or you can buy a matching suede cover separately, as we did.
With its thick rim and useful functions, the steering wheel is more than a gimmick, but the high price and difficulty to fit means its not an impulse buy. Unless you're very confident with vehicle electronics, we'd recommend you don't attempt to fit this yourself. It's also recommended your vehicle have the latest I-level flash codes in the ECU in order for the wheel to work, so you may need to have it updated by the dealer. Disconnect the battery before starting since you will be removing the airbag.
These instructions are only a guide to help you. Having watched it happen and tried to pass on the information, we still struggled to follow the procedure. We'd recommend you consult the BMW instructions before proceeding but they aren't generally available, although some dealers have posted them online to help customers. Good luck!
 To remove the airbag from...  To remove the airbag from the factory steering wheel, insert a long, thin screwdriver into the holes on either side of the wheel behind the main spokes. This will release a spring on either side and allow you to pull the airbag off |  Carefully disconnect the two...  Carefully disconnect the two cables attached to the airbag |  Use a 16mm socket on the bolt...  Use a 16mm socket on the bolt in the center of the steering wheel and pull the wheel off. The wheel has indexing marks with an arrow in the center, so will only go on in one position |
 To remove the steering column...  To remove the steering column cowling, adjust the column forward. Then use a plastic blade to pry off the rear section, before separating the top and bottom sections |  Disconnect two cables from...  Disconnect two cables from the back of the steering hub before unscrewing the hub from the column by undoing four T25 screws. You then have to remove the under-dash. There are four T20 screws by the pedals and push rivets around the console. Before removing the under-dash, you must disconnect the foot lights, Bluetooth antenna and chime speaker. Remove the kick panel by first unscrewing the hood release. Use a clip puller to release the door sill and door seal to access the edge of the kick panel. Then lever it off to release clips below. Disconnect the trunk release. You also need to remove the passenger side under-dash to access the wiring |  The supplied wiring harness...  The supplied wiring harness has to pass behind the dash from the driver's footwell to the passenger's since it must be grafted into the car's wiring on either side. There is a small gap to squeeze it through |
 To connect the steering wheel...  To connect the steering wheel harness, you must find pins 1 & 2 in connector X14271 under the driver's side dash |  Disconnect these two wires...  Disconnect these two wires and connect them into the small black plug in the steering wheel harness. You then take the blue and red wires from this plug and insert them back into pin 1 & 2. This will later give you g-force and timing signals. The small black plug goes into the black connector on the new harness |  The green & brown/black wires...  The green & brown/black wires on the harness splice into connector X13376, part of the car access system. It's a 41-pin plug mounted under the dash and the pin numbers vary according to the equipment on the car. For ours, green went to pin 8, while brown/black went to pin 12. These were Scotchlok'd to the respective wires. Plug X10170, needs to have all its wires removed and inserted into branch A7 on the new harness. Each wire goes into the same numbered pin it came out of |