» Site Navigation | | » Recent Threads | | | | | | | 10-23-2012, 11:47 PM | #1 | Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: SW Florida Posts: 4,275 | M Tech Steering Wheel Question I searched for an hour... I purchased a 4 spoke M3 wheel a few months back. I removed Zippy's wheel to find that the Clock Spring and wiring is completely different. The M-Tech wheel has airbag and horn wires. The horn wires are what I am dealing with here. I put the wheel in Zippy anyway and drove it for a day. I was able to hook up the airbag, but the horn wiring is totally different. Has anyone retrofit the wiring for the horn on their 1995 to accept a 96-99 steering wheel? Please help! All I need are a few good ideas. TIA __________________ Sean 1995 Active | | | 10-24-2012, 03:31 AM | #2 | Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: norcal - 94590 Posts: 3,186 | Sean; I want to say that I, too, tried the same thing, but gave up. I didn't want to do a hack job and I couldn't find a suitable How-To for assistance... I wish you luck! Help this man out! __________________ James 95 active w/leather interior and sport interior conversion, Vaders, full M-Tech exterior conversion. Now m50 swapped* Eibach sway bars, D2 Coilovers, Depo's w/AE's, blacked-out sides and grills, LeatherZ console and door armrests, 1 series starter button mod, and custom finished Style 5's <--- in this color! Named "Roddy": *M50 6 cyl. swap with fan delete, S50 cams and chip, AFE stage 2 intake, M3 clutch and 11.5 lb Fidanza flywheel, 3.15LSD, battery relocated to rear and complete custom exhaust. Sweet! 97 318ti sport, Alaska Blue, Contours, coilovers, Dove Vaders and custom black/grey interior named "Max" 95 318ti Active in Cosmos, S50 swap in progress... named "Pit" SUPPORT 318ti.org! CLICK THE LINK ABOVE! Hosting a forum like this is not free. 318ti.org is one of the best BMW forums on the web because it is member supported, not vendor supported. The cost to become a Supporter is a nominal $10.00... A YEAR! DO IT! NOW! | | | 10-24-2012, 03:35 AM | #3 | Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: SW Florida Posts: 4,275 | Thanks James. Seems like I should be able to solder a wire from the horn button ring to the wires in my steering column in order for it to work. I just wanted to toss it out there before I attempt it. I have a BMW technician friend who told me to get wires out of another BMW before I hack mine to hell...so I did that. now I am at a total loss. __________________ Sean 1995 Active | | | 11-15-2012, 10:39 PM | #4 | Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: gloucester Posts: 15 | Quote: Originally Posted by teetime4one Thanks James. Seems like I should be able to solder a wire from the horn button ring to the wires in my steering column in order for it to work. I just wanted to toss it out there before I attempt it. I have a BMW technician friend who told me to get wires out of another BMW before I hack mine to hell...so I did that. now I am at a total loss. | hey man how did u get on?? and is there a link for takig the staring wheel off as my horn dont work lol | | | 11-16-2012, 03:51 AM | #5 | Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: SW Florida Posts: 4,275 | I might get to this project this weekend. But, it's low on my list of priorities right now. My BMW Tech buddy said that we could figure it out...so I plan on taking pictures to document the job. I'll upload those pictures when complete. __________________ Sean 1995 Active | | | 11-16-2012, 12:47 PM | #6 | Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: gloucester Posts: 15 | ahh amazing cant wait! | | | 11-17-2012, 01:11 AM | #7 | Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Lake in Wisconsin Posts: 67 | Sean, cant wait to see the write up. Cheers | | | 11-17-2012, 09:08 AM | #8 | Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 2,451 | 4 spoke M3 steering wheel? Pics? I picked up a 3 spoke M3 euro steering wheel from the UK that was a direct bolt on. All seems to work great. __________________ 1998 318ti Sport - "Cali" Schwartz II/Schwartz sport interior, Cali top 1998 318ti Sport - "Max" Schwartz II/Schwartz sport interior, S52 1997 318ti Sport - "Tiny" Schwartz II/Schwartz sport interior 1995 318ti Active - "Blanca" Alpineweib III/Schwartz leather interior Other Current Bimmers: 2006 530i / 2000 2.3L Z3 / 1997 1.9L Z3 / 1999 540it 1997 318ti Sport - "Huera" - RIP 1995 318ti Active - RIP 1995 318ti Sport - "Tiny" Sold 1994 325i Sedan - "Jade" - Sold 1991 318ic - "Bert" - Sold 1985 635csi sold 1984 533i "Max" Sold 1984 318i sold BMWCCA #160411 SUPPORT 318ti.org! CLICK THE LINK ABOVE! Hosting a forum like this is not free. 318ti.org is one of the best BMW forums on the web because it is member supported, not vendor supported. The cost to become a Supporter is a nominal $10.00... A YEAR! DO IT! NOW! | | | 11-17-2012, 10:21 AM | #9 | Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: gloucester Posts: 15 | yh mines a 3 spoke m tech wheel with air bag so thats why i aint takled it lol | | | 11-17-2012, 04:58 PM | #10 | Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: SW Florida Posts: 4,275 | __________________ Sean 1995 Active Last edited by teetime4one; 11-17-2012 at 05:02 PM. | | | 11-17-2012, 09:25 PM | #11 | Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: San antonio, tx Posts: 135 | sent you a pm. mac | | | 05-04-2013, 03:49 PM | #12 | Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: SW Florida Posts: 4,275 | I wanted to update everyone on my 4-spoke steering wheel install. I was at the Pick-N-Pull a few weeks back and removed a steering wheel from a 1995 325ci cabrio. I noticed that the slip-ring was the same as my M3 wheel (part #32341162804). There was a copper stud sticking out of a white plastic sleeve ( CARBON PIN part #32311158475) attached to the STEERING COLUMN SWITCH BRACKET (part #32311159147). This is the part needed to make the connection to activate the horn. I knew right away that this was the part that I needed. The steering column switch bracket in our cars have the circular slot for the carbon pin. Obviously, it is not used on our cars...but it's there. So, installing the new carbon pin is a snap...just slide it in place and you're done. The trick is what to do for wiring. Easy enough tho. There are two (2) horn wires in my car. I disconnected the stock slip ring from the steering wheel and STEERING COLUMN SWITCH BRACKET. (The airbag connection and horn plugs are found together disconnect both) I pilfered the male end of a slip ring for the extra wires/plugs. Splicing the power from the carbon pin (which only has one wire) to the horn and running the ground wire to a ground is all it took. Horn now works. Here is the slip ring from my car. The brown wire is power, the blue wire is the ground. I removed the grey pin from the clock spring and snipped the two wires as close to the grey pin as possible. Snapped the male end into the female end under my steering column. Here is the carbon pin. I clipped the wire on the connection that this fits into (the female end) which had about 5" of wire, then connected this to the brown wire from the clock spring. (once again, the blue wire just gets grounded...I ran mine under the dash to the 13mm bolt that holds the dash on.) Looks great...works great. right on __________________ Sean 1995 Active | | | | Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests) | | Posting Rules | You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts HTML code is Off | | | |