Steering wheels are a big interest in mine (sadly enough), and seem to be of relative interest to the community. There are a lot of places to go and a lot of choices. From what I've seen, for most to buy a custom wheel, the price must be under the price of a M3 wheel (which is roughly $550). Sometimes a custom wheel can approach that price, for some extra bells and whistles.
I want to know what you guys look for in a wheel! Take the poll, and tell me your dream fabric combo, if you want added thickness, if you want tri-stitching, and if you'd want thumb grips.
If you have a wheel, tell me how you'd specced it below and how much you paid. If you haven't bought one, tell me how you'd want it and how much you'd pay.
Check eBay. There's a guy in Poland that makes custom wheels for about $350-400. Dallas Custom Steering Wheel is another place but I'm not sure about their pricing.
As for me, I'd go with top/bottom half Nappa and left/right half perforated Nappa with tri-stich, padding, and thumb grips.
He'll do anything you ask for. I got leather/perf leather with extra padding. He offers two levels of extra padding. I got the thicker option. At first wasn't thrilled with it, but like it now. When I do the M Roadie I may not go that thick again though. I don't like the thumb pads personally. I skipped the tri-stitch because my touring is not an M and there is no tri-stitching anywhere else in the car.
Once you said redline, I already knew your complaint. Redline is the reason I'm doing this thread. I have never (forgive me, I'm young) never regretted a purchase over $10, but theirs was a regret that came at the expense of my wheel and my wallet. Never been so unhappy. See my "1 year" link in my sig if you want to see those results...
Can I see how yours came out? Mine was $158 plus $13 for shipping back the old one for a replacement that was just as bad. I will NEED a rewrap, which is why I'm grabbing opinions, although I'm seeing if there is a popular option because I could MAYBE offer something for the community....
I like the stock wheel; the only thing I really miss are thumb grips. The factory leather is very slick, especially right after it's been conditioned with some 303.
I have a used ZHP wheel and a new leather cover from RedLineGoods.com. Unfortunately, redline's response to customer inqueries is **** and their "instructions" don't help at all. There are large details missing. How far do I strip my wheel? Why did you include thick padding when I didn't order it? What thickness padding was this designed for?
My wheel and cover have been sitting there for a while. I wrapped my wheel in 1/8 neoprene, but apparently that was too thick. The included 1/8 inch foam is the same thickness though so I'm confused.
Anyway, provide a product for similar cost with BMW specific notes and we'll all be happy.
I vote steering wheels should only be as they come from the factory. My favorite all time is Professional Genuine BMW M3 w/ tri-color stitch followed by black stitch.
I don't like the idea of some dude in a barn putting "padding" or some other crap on the wheel. It's painfully obvious looking at it that it's been jerked off and things don't fit or look quite right.
I would have to agree with Mango. Something that looks like it's from the factory since I am an OEM+ kind of guy. There are nice steering wheels out there but I feel like ones with perforated leather belong on a Porsche or M car. Nappa leather would probably be a very close second for me. Then again, these don't look half bad
Something that looks like it's from the factory since I am an OEM+ kind of guy. There are nice steering wheels out there but I feel like ones with perforated leather belong on a Porsche or M car. Nappa leather would probably be a very close second for me.
The thing is, my car never came with an OBC, so I have the old 4-spoke with no buttons. If I install a normal triangle wheel, the buttons would do nothing (which I don't want) and I don't even want to begin thinking about the cost/time to do a proper retrofit. That's why I'm especially interested in a triangle wheel with no buttons, as pictured above.
I checked realoem on the earliest 323 sedan (least likely to be compatible). Port for buttons should be there in your column. Just saying, if you would want to do buttons someday
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