[Don-Corleone]

Hi Folks,

As some of you may have know I decided to replace my stock leather steering wheel by a brand new carbon fiber one with the up/down tip-tronic feature.
After speaking with some of the South Florida crew at the JM meeting this past Sunday I finally decided to do it myself (a good shop would charge between 200$ and 500$ for the install) so I went ahead and did it myself for a 25$ cost! I created a tutorial for whomever wish to install or remove your steering wheel.

This tutorial is to be used as reference only and I cannot be held liable for any incorrect information or wrongdoing if you were to attempt to do the install/removal yourself!

Please note that tempering with the airbag could lead to serious injuries or death!

Tools needed:

T30 Torx wrench
Heavy duty Steering wheel puller (25 $ for the kit at AUTO ZONE) comes with clear and easy instructions
Adjustable/Monkey wrench with different bolts size

1st -start by aligning your wheel straight, then unhook your battery to avoid any issue with the airbag (let the car seat for 30 sec so all the power comes out from the steering column):



2nd- locate the 2 Torx screws that you will remove (they are behind the steering wheel near the up button on the back):





3rd - using the T30 Torx wrench unbolt the 2 Torx screws on each side behind (left and right). Be careful as they might be hard to unbolt, so try to hold the steering wheel with one hand while using the other as a lever. The airbag cover and the airbag will come right off! Be careful when pulling out the yellow socket which is the airbag connector:






4th - Disconnect the white connector from the steering column wire spindle. This connector contains the wires for up/down shift and cruise control. Pull slightly towards the bottom:



5th - use the adjustable wrench to remove the center bolt; you may want to use a little force when doing that as it is tightly bolted:






6th - When the bolt is finally out it should look like this:



7th - Get your steering wheel super power puller kit and follow the install instructions. Make sure to keep the column steering straight after the steering wheel has popped out for an easy re-install.




That's what the puller kit should look after you 've removed the wheel:



8th - Put the new steering wheel back on; reverse engineer first by bolting back the center bolt then plugging back the white socket, then the yellow one onto the airbag unit, then wrench back the 2 Torx screws on each side....

and VOILA:






Thanks for looking and share some + rep if that was helpful :approve: !

Don-

PS: The old steering wheel is for sale check the market place (it has no rips or nicks)

 

[2002REDIS300]

great job, BTW do you like the new leather feel pattern on the new steering wheel??

 

[XaLtezZaX]

good job, definitely sticky material! +rep

 

[Don-Corleone]

great job, BTW do you like the new leather feel pattern on the new steering wheel??

Feels awesome plus the steering wheel is an inch thicker than the older one so it has a sportier feel plus the real carbon fiber matches the rest of the car perfectly and feels very unique. The leather is conoli which +++!

Don-

MORE PICS:

 

[Kev IS300]

nice tutorial.. I thought you had this a long time ago? I was gonna get this steering wheel becuase I really like the CF part and it's thicker than OEM, but it just costs too much for a steering wheel. +rep for you.

 

[PROLIFIK1]

Looks good! Great tutorial! Where could I purchase these steering wheels without the shift buttons? +rep....

 

[Don-Corleone]

nice tutorial.. I thought you had this a long time ago? I was gonna get this steering wheel becuase I really like the CF part and it's thicker than OEM, but it just costs too much for a steering wheel. +rep for you.

Yep I had the steering for a long time but the car was in Florida and I never got to install it !

Don-

 

[Don-Corleone]

Looks good! Great tutorial! Where could I purchase these steering wheels without the shift buttons? +rep....

Japan or maybe ebay!

A Lexus dealership in Houston or Dallas use to propose them for 600$ plus your steering wheel but I don't think they sell them anymore. They were getting them from Craft Customs.

Mine is a customer order thickness and color of the carbon to match the rest of my car carbon parts thus big $$$!

Don-

 

[baadhabit]

nice DIY and cool looking steering wheel. but yours looks different than others ive seen

 

[chado]

great tutorial! how does the cover/airbag come off, just pops off after the 2 torx screws are removed?

 

[dirtyylicous]

I want that wheel minus the carbon. Thats what i wish the is300 came with stock. Nice soft thick leather. Any idea where i can get that done at?

 

[Don-Corleone]

great tutorial! how does the cover/airbag come off, just pops off after the 2 torx screws are removed?

Yes, it just comes right off; but be careful the yellow connector remains attached so pull out delicately!

Don-

 

[chado]

thanks ^^ btw do you know the torque specs for the center bolt?

 

[IS300luver]

I would love to get my hands on a carbon fiber steering wheel. Very nice tutorial and thanks for doing a write-up. -Brandon

 

[Don-Corleone]

thanks ^^ btw do you know the torque specs for the center bolt?

Not really but what I did I is hold the steering firmly with both hands while my dad unbolted the center bolt...u can also use a lug nut removal kit it is the same size as the std lug nut of the IS.

Don-

 

[Don-Corleone]

I would love to get my hands on a carbon fiber steering wheel. Very nice tutorial and thanks for doing a write-up. -Brandon

Thanks, MODERATORS if you are reading you are welcome to sticky this one !

Don-

 

[Seven0Three]

Great write-up man, definitely worthy of being stickied!:approve:

+rep

 

[chado]

agreed, very useful today

 

[LO 21]

hey don, nice job! any idea where to get that thicker version of a steering wheel with no carbon fiber?

 

[turboa]

great write-up!

The only thing that tripped me up was the fact that the torx screws don't actually come up. From happysmp's thread I realized you had to pull back the plastic cover slightly so the screw can clear the part that locks into the steering wheel cover's hole.

The one question that I have is...
I wasn't really clear on how you "mark the steering wheel" so that when you re-install everything is perfectly aligned.

Before starting I made sure that my wheels were straight (steering wheel to begin with slightly to the left because of alignment i suppose).
Putting in the new steering wheel, there was no real way to mark the wheel anywhere. And when you slot in the new steering wheel you can't exactly place it back in any direction you want...there are fixed positions (several degrees apart) that the steering wheel will be able to slot into so I put it in the slot that was the most straight.

Anyways the result was a steering wheel that was a bit more off center than it was before I started. I attempted to fix this a few times but everytime the same result.

What am I missing here?

Thanks guys.