[GripAndRip]

I've seen a few custom steering wheels on here. I wanted to see if anyone has suggestions. I'm currently trying to convert over to paddles for my 2011 E90. I have the non-sport wheel, but it's heated. Being as cold as it is in Denver... I love this feature. I've fallen in love with every wheel above sport, but sadly none of them are offered with heating as an option. I've come to realize that I can buy a sport wheel with heat and paddles in terrible condition and get it "converted" or rewrapped to my liking. It will be cheaper than buying a new wheel. But the question is whether heating functionality is maintained still or not. Anyone have experience with this? I'll include photos of rewrapped wheels so you guys can see the style.


You can find rewrapped wheels on eBay, but it's hard to find a paddle version or heated wheel that way. The method I'm thinking about is buying a terrible condition heated sport wheel with paddles and sending it to a place to have it fixed and changed. It's common they do a core exchange or you can send your wheel in if you have a spare.

So far I've emailed these two places and I'm waiting to see if they can maintain heating as an option.

Royalsteeringwheels.com
meinlenkrad.de


Quick and easy. I want a wheel offered above sport but with heating and paddles. I'd probably get m stitching

[GripAndRip]

Picture didn't post. You can find the examples here.
royalsteeringwheels.com/bmw-3-series/

[ZeeVaughn]

Also check out coby wheel, they should be able to rewrap one for you

[GripAndRip]

Originally Posted by ZeeVaughn

Also check out coby wheel, they should be able to rewrap one for you

I saw them too! I feel as though the heating element in these wheels is just a higher resistance wire net or something. If they can just transfer it to the thicker wrap I'll be set. I'm gonna look for wheel schematics to see how it works. I'd pay an extra hundred in the wrap process just to maintain that. Imagine having a custom m-sport or performance wheel with heat. It would be one in 10,000 haha. Plus some of these guys do an amazing job, some of their wheels look better than the OEM versions they mimic.

[Ali-E90]

FYI - there are some decent wraps available on Aliexpress for cheap. Tedious install but save a ton of cash, and be proud every time you drive!

Here's mine on a non-sport wheel. Feels 100x better!

[GripAndRip]

Originally Posted by Ali-323i

FYI - there are some decent wraps available on Aliexpress for cheap. Tedious install but save a ton of cash, and be proud every time you drive!

Here's mine on a non-sport wheel. Feels 100x better!

Can you wrap a sport heated wheel and keep the heated function?

[DrRobert]

I've been looking into this myself recently. I have a 2011 E90 with sport and cold weather packages, I only use the heated steering wheel a few times per year but love it when I do. I recently installed a M Sport steering wheel, and it is a huge improvement over the sport steering wheel, and it was also a direct swap with the airbag, paddles and multifunction buttons. I got it for $300 on eBay and it was totally worth it. But I gave up the heated steering wheel to get it. I asked about this at my local indy shop where I get all my mods done, and they recommended this place: DCT Motorsports. I haven't checked them out but their shop is not too far from me and I plan to some time soon.

The only other option I've found is that apparently the Z4 standard and M-Sport steering wheels are interchangable with the E9x wheels, but the airbag, paddles and buttons are all different and the airbag in particular is very hard to find and costs like $900 if you buy one new - that's just for the airbag, so with the wheel and all the buttons, paddles and trim it could cost close to $2K for this, which is ridiculous.

Please post your progress if you come up with a solution!

[lnxguy]

Anyone ever think of swapping in an e70 sport steering wheel? Heat + paddles. OP and I are in the same boat, lol want a new wheel but do not want to lose heat. I just don't know how big this is compared to the base e90 steering wheel. Anything must look better then that ugly thing, lol. The best would be the e89 Z4 wheel, but like someone mentioned above that's a whole lot of $$$$

Similar to the below.

[GripAndRip]

Originally Posted by DrRobert

I've been looking into this myself recently. I have a 2011 E90 with sport and cold weather packages, I only use the heated steering wheel a few times per year but love it when I do. I recently installed a M Sport steering wheel, and it is a huge improvement over the sport steering wheel, and it was also a direct swap with the airbag, paddles and multifunction buttons. I got it for $300 on eBay and it was totally worth it. But I gave up the heated steering wheel to get it. I asked about this at my local indy shop where I get all my mods done, and they recommended this place: DCT Motorsports. I haven't checked them out but their shop is not too far from me and I plan to some time soon.

The only other option I've found is that apparently the Z4 standard and M-Sport steering wheels are interchangable with the E9x wheels, but the airbag, paddles and buttons are all different and the airbag in particular is very hard to find and costs like $900 if you buy one new - that's just for the airbag, so with the wheel and all the buttons, paddles and trim it could cost close to $2K for this, which is ridiculous.

Please post your progress if you come up with a solution!

I'll keep everyone posted as I try to find a solution. One of the eBay retailers came back to let me know that he doesn't do the heating because it is hard to layer with the new leather. He said it is visible under the leather and doesn't look good. If the OEM found a way, why can't anyone else.

I'm in Denver so I use the heated wheel everyday practically from Nov to late March. That's why it's so important to me. Plus it would allow for me to have a high performance wheel at a cheaper price and it would give me one of the top tier wheels with heat which is unheard of...

[GripAndRip]

Originally Posted by lnxguy

Anyone ever think of swapping in an e70 sport steering wheel? Heat + paddles. OP and I are in the same boat, lol want a new wheel but do not want to lose heat. I just don't know how big this is compared to the base e90 steering wheel. Anything must look better then that ugly thing, lol. The best would be the e89 Z4 wheel, but like someone mentioned above that's a whole lot of $$$$

Similar to the below.

In the end, this would probably be the option I go. It looks great. I'd swap the paddles for LCI or DCT. I like the way those paddles operate more than ssg and I like them aesthetically.

[lnxguy]

The newer wheels come with the updated black paddles with the + and - on the,. Looks way better. Here's a better pic of what I'm talking about. My only concern is the size of this wheel compared to the e90 stocker. I don't want some monstrosity staring me in the face anytime I drive

[GripAndRip]

Originally Posted by lnxguy

The newer wheels come with the updated black paddles with the + and - on the,. Looks way better. Here's a better pic of what I'm talking about. My only concern is the size of this wheel compared to the e90 stocker. I don't want some monstrosity staring me in the face anytime I drive

I like this wheel. You could always buy the sport e90 wheel and then swap in DCT or LCI paddles after the fact. Someone is selling them on here for like 180 OBO

[lnxguy]

I think those paddles look fine to be honest. It would be cool to wire it up so the multifunction heated steering wheel button actually works to. The one on the column is a pain in the ass.

[GripAndRip]

Originally Posted by lnxguy

I think those paddles look fine to be honest. It would be cool to wire it up so the multifunction heated steering wheel button actually works to. The one on the column is a pain in the ass.

Haha yeah sometimes I forget if I hit it or not and have to actually look around the wheel at the column to see if it's lit up. Happens pretty regularly when I'm tired in the morning

[GripAndRip]

UPDATE:

I found this. But it still isn't exactly what I'm looking for. It seems as though this company can wrap your heated wheel in alcantara or with M stitching and retain heat. However, it looks like an alcantara steering wheel cover that has been stitched over the wheel. I don't think he can change the grip to be more aggressive (thumb rests etc) or change the frame to be flat bottom.

Thought it was worth a post for anyone looking for a little M spark in their heated wheel.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...7&postcount=31

[GripAndRip]

UPDATE:

The German company got back to me today. They have stopped providing their services to the US due to customs and tax reasons. On top of that they said they can't retain heating in their wheels. It isn't looking good. I'm still waiting on royal steering wheels.

[6ixSpd]

OP, I was in the same situation and gave up. I contacted Dallas Custom and Colby Wheel, both said they wrap/glue and stitch on top of the existing OE leather. I think this would effectively reduce the amount of heat you'd feel through the wheel and that's a deal breaker for me.

In the end, I'm still rocking my standard sports heated steering wheel as I use it all the time in the winter up here. Can't imagine giving that up now that I have it, lol.

I guess in the Summer months one could swap to a normal M Sport wheel and swap back to the heated one in the Fall, lmao.

PS. I've a set of LCI paddle shifters for sale in the Classifieds incase you're in the market.

[GripAndRip]

Originally Posted by the6M3

OP, I was in the same situation and gave up. I contacted Dallas Custom and Colby Wheel, both said they wrap/glue and stitch on top of the existing OE leather. I think this would effectively reduce the amount of heat you'd feel through the wheel and that's a deal breaker for me.

In the end, I'm still rocking my standard sports heated steering wheel as I use it all the time in the winter up here. Can't imagine giving that up now that I have it, lol.

I guess in the Summer months one could swap to a normal M Sport wheel and swap back to the heated one in the Fall, lmao.

PS. I've a set of LCI paddle shifters for sale in the Classifieds incase you're in the market.

I saw them and sub'd to the thread. I'm definitely trying to get DCT or LCI paddles. Only downside with LCI is I'll have to mess with the board paddle to make it work with the BMS harness. I have an LCI car but no paddles so I need the BMS harness. There's some resistors that need to be short circuited on the LCI paddles.

I've been told they remove the heat wrap, which is under the leather. If they do wrap over oem leather then the function would be there but be faint right? Dallas steering wheels and coby wheels wrap over the existing oem leather. The German and England providers I found actually rebuild the wheel. They change the padding and grip and they even modify the frame of the wheel to make it flat bottom which would require remove of the oem leather

[DrRobert]

I called DCT Motorsports, the place that was recommended by my shop and which I linked above. They cannot do this either. They remove the leather from the stock wheel before rebuilding it. The guy said that the heating element is a mesh that is glued to the leather, and that it is destroyed when removing the leather. So it looks like you either have to get a heated wheel from a different model that will work in your car, or else modify your existing wheel by covering over the stock leather it came with.

[lnxguy]

I'm thinking perhaps just recovering the stock leather with some nice perforated stuff might do the job. The heat should have no problems coming through that. Then you get MSport feel with heat. As of now, I don't care about the paddles, I just want some thumb rests

[GripAndRip]

Originally Posted by lnxguy

I'm thinking perhaps just recovering the stock leather with some nice perforated stuff might do the job. The heat should have no problems coming through that. Then you get MSport feel with heat. As of now, I don't care about the paddles, I just want some thumb rests

Damn mine has to be both. I'm so picky.

[DrRobert]

Originally Posted by lnxguy

I'm thinking perhaps just recovering the stock leather with some nice perforated stuff might do the job. The heat should have no problems coming through that. Then you get MSport feel with heat. As of now, I don't care about the paddles, I just want some thumb rests

Thumb rests are the question. I love the thumb rests on the M-Sport wheel, which the OEM sport wheel does not have. Simply rewrapping the heated sport wheel is one thing; adding thumb rests is another. If someone can add thumb rests over the OEM leather then add a layer of padding and new leather on top of all that, that would be the ticket.