Delmarco's First E90 Mod! Z4 E89 Steering Wheel to 2011 335xi Swap!

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Delmarco's First E90 Mod! Z4 E89 Steering Wheel to 2011 335xi Swap!

Compliments of Delmarco @ http://www.e90post.com

3-5-2016

I could NOT bear the boring generic E36-style stock E90 non-sport steering wheel anymore.

I had ordered my parts even before I picked up my new-to-me car from the car sales dealership.

I wanted a Sport Wheel with both Shift Paddles AND Heated function-since my car has the cold weather package. A combo that is rare in the sedans but many SAV/SUV come with this combo.

However the X3/X5/X1/7'er sport heated steering wheels I came across were way too big for a E90 sedan.

Small diameter was a big deal for me and the ONLY donor car that fulfills all three criteria (small size, sport style w/ shift paddles and heat element) is the E89 Z4!!!!

It's like 25F degrees outside tonight and I just swapped this wheel in...It is a direct swap and the DIY takes 10 minutes if you know what you are doing or 20 minutes if you never done it before. JUST UNPLUG YOUR BATTERY FIRST and GET READY TO CLEAR ANY ERROR CODES THAT ENSUE which results from the car knowing that its battery was just unplugged!


The new softer sport wheel is way better feeling than the old stock hard wheel. Handling-from-the-driver's-point-of-view seems sharper and sportier as well.

Over all the DIY wasn't expensive either. Lots of Z4 owners tend to swap in M Sport steering wheels and sell off their brand new stock sport wheels (which is already a great sporty steering wheel) for cheap. I got my steering wheel for $250 brand new off a 2012 donor car in Puerto Rico. The air bag was super tricky to pin down. BMW Dealerships sell them for $900 and one or two may come up on eBay once a season from $300 and up. I have been looking from the time I saw my car and knew I was buying the 335xi so I lucked out in finding the air bag at the same time I bought the car BUT I was prepared to wait it out until the summer for one to come up on eBay. If nothing came up by summer I would have gone to the BMW Dealership and paid the $900.

Also if you don't want to keep your stock steering wheel you can sell it off from $200 to $500 to offset the cost of your new Z4 steering wheel.

DO NOT BUY AIR BAGS OR STEERING WHEELS W/ AIRBAGS FROM EUROPE OR OVERSEAS OR ANY AIR BAGS WITH EUROPEAN SPEC PART NUMBERS! 

Those are single stage (one plug into the air bag) units that do not work in USA cars! Air Bags by LAW in the USA must be dual stage (two plugs into the air bag) and I don't believe there is any legitimate coding that will modify a singe stage airbag into our dual stage E90 cars.

NOTE: Airbags kill people when they go off accidentally AND when they don't go off in an accident SO I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANY SHORT CUTS or FANCY MODS to get around Air Bags!





Picture Hosting sucks in 2016 and it is easier to do a video DIY. I have a YouTube channel where I will do video step by step of my mods.

More unique Delmarco E90 mods and projects to come.


In the meantime here are some pictures I took earlier in the week of my deep sea blue E90 beauty next to my former E46 330i.

3-6-2016

Video isn't up yet. This week I will have a bit of time to put it up.


Here is the step by step of my journey:

FIRST - I got the steering wheel on eBay from a fella in Puerto Rico - $250 plus $18 shipping. This was after a few days of looking. They are a lot of Z4 E89 stock sport wheels floating around eBay/Online for sale anywhere from $200 to $1000. I needed specifically shift paddles and heat but if you are just looking for the sport wheel then your search will be quicker. You can also buy just the steering wheel part from Europe or overseas and it will work. JUST MAKE SURE ON THE WHEEL YOU ARE BUYING THE BUTTON FUNCTIONS for (voice command/phone/volume/recirculate/mode/skip-reverse) MATCH UP YOUR CURRENT STOCK E90 STEERING WHEEL.


The minute I realized I was going to buy my 335xi I started looking for three things on eBay: the Z4 steering wheel, the Euro Rear Fog Lamp LCM and the seat back with the net pockets. I know how long sometimes it takes for exact BMW parts to show up on eBay or online classifieds so I started my search early on-even before picking up my new car.

SECOND - I got the first [INCORRECT SINGLE STAGE/EURO SPEC AIR BAG] off eBay for $300 but I had to return it. This air bag set off crazy codes in my car which is how I learned my lesson to NOT buy air bags from Europe or countries outside the USA.
FINAL -I finally got the correct USA air bag from a forum member over at Z4 Post and he charged me $400free shipping.

3-8-2016

A video showing the differences of what air bags to buy.

I made the mistake of buying the wrong airbag first so you won't have to. lol.

4-15-2016

Yeah it will work on all years E90!!!! The wheel trim are so easy to get for cheap but the airbag is a bit of a journey! In the end it is sooooo worth it!