Quite a few people have said I'm giving the best information on step by step, seems other videos they must be skipping or not showing everything. I had somebody comment on the video the other day saying rather than using a screwdriver to release the steering wheel an Allen key works as well
Disconnect the negative/ground not the positive and make sure you unlock all doors and keep something in the trunk to keep it from locking you out and to be extra safe let the ecu power off before disconnecting ground
99% of the time I remove the negative first, it was just for a better view on the camera for this one, the negative is really tucked away in the corner. I've taken the positive off first loads of times over the year and never had an issue. I've actually just fitted a new battery to my car tonight as the stop/stopped working, so had to nip out and buy a new AGM battery, would have made a video on that but didn't think anybody would be interested 😄
30 minutes! Wow that's fast. Really appreciate the kind words. You should put some videos up of your car, I absolutely love an m140 or even the m135, was tempted on one after I sold my Focus RS
Sorry you had to watch it 3 times 😂 but glad you've done it in record time mate! 20minutes is really good going. Plus this of all that money you've saved paying a garage 👍
Done this today, thanks for the video. I found that instead of using a screwdriver (fiddly and keeps jumping off the spring) using a large Allen key (one that just about fits the hole) works perfectly first time as if it was made for the job.
@@CraigsChannel actually my car was owned by a brickie and the orange brick powder had coated the wheel and made it peel apart. Even the plastic trim and buttons were corroded. So I got a complete replacement from eBay. I took a look at the replacement wheel before changing them over and tried to see what angle I'd need to press the springs in with the screwdriver, then I tried a large Allen key and it was fit straight in and engaged right away.
@@energymc22 happy days as long as you got it sorted, can only imagine the state your old wheel was in! I've been tempted to buy a second hand wheel and releather it or use Alcantara to sell it on
If you were local I would have to it for you, that one I had on and off I don't know how many times. Sold the 435d and took it off to recoup some money back but the guy who bought it wanted the wheel
Brilliant video mate,so many vids on this but this one is the best by a mile as you cover every single detail needed to do the job from start to finish,clear,simple,faultless step by step guide,Bang on,cheers.
Without blowing my own trumpet I've had a few people say the same thing, plenty videos out there but mine seems to have helped the most. Always nice to know I've helped somebody and saved them a bloody fortune taking it to a garage lol, I think mu friend was quoted £200 for this job
Absolutely top tier video! Everything was explained thoroughly with masterful attention to detail. Good job by John with the camera too! Very much appreciate the help! Thanks for the vid!
My friends just put a deposit on an m4 Competition so looks like I'll be doing this once again to his m4, hopefully have a walk round video on it as well 😁 Thanks for the kind words and really glad I could help you out, saves you paying the deals or a garage £££
Absolute scumbags! I remember years ago my friends Golf R32 got broken into, they pinched his seats and steering wheel, but left £20 or £40 in the ashtray for him 😳
You doing the window yourself as well? Its not a hard job, plenty videos on here to save you some £££ local scrap yard or breakers yard will have a window
People are so shocked when you take them out in a fast diesel, I took a few people out in the 435d and they were like 😳 super shocked how fast it was, I'm not sure of the figures on the 435d after the map but I'm guessing pretty much the same with what you're working with. Have you any other plans mod wise or happy as it is? I'm currently hunting for a new car but the prices are just insane
@@CraigsChannel Same engine I think so I imagine same power from the map roughly. Had mine done at GAD tuning in North Shields, top guy there. I'm leaving as is, it's plenty fast and eats up the miles, perfect car I reckon. I hope the market settles, can't carry on with the crazy prices.
I took the 435d over Leechmeer in Sunderland The Performance Centre, they had it for about 4 hours so they could live map it, normally places just do a plug and play map, but they put it on the rolling road they've got. I think next year prices will settle, but we'll just have to see
I literally just picked my mates m4 competition last week. The steering wheel is absolutely knackered, somebodys had hand sanitizer on their hands and touched the wheels what's took all the colour out, so... he's looking at getting his wheel retrimmed, did this Royal place take your old wheel or what?
@@CraigsChannel they send you a wheel out that’s retrimmed to yr specification, then you send the wheel you’ve taken off back to them All really clear on the website & a big gallery of pictures to give you ideas on how you want yr wheel to look.
@Blinkin badger How much did you pay if you don't mind me asking? I'm still tempted on buying a wheel cover you stitch yourself, possibly make a video out of it as well 😄
I'm thinking should I tell him to do this or spend £130 on a cover and do it myself! I'm pretty handy with fiddly stuff so wouldn't mind the challenge 😄 I'm guessing your new wheel looks awesome? Did you get a colour little strip on the top? Like solid red or blue line
At least you saved quite a few quid from taking it to a garage, the other year my mate was quoted something stupid like £200 from BMW, absolutely bonkers what they charge
I've actually had loads of positive comments saying all the other videos just don't explain things properly and mines helped loads out changing their wheel so I'm happy with that 😁
@@CraigsChannel going to take mine off and pop an alcantara cover on. Cheap solution but we’ll see. If I don’t like it I can take it off and swap it out with a professional job
I've not see the covers? Unless do you mean the one you put on yourself and do the sticking to hold it in place? I've seen them, look really good, just take your time stitching and it'll look class
Hi 👋 it’s nice and very much clearly explained Vedio 👌 and I wanted to replace my normal steering to sport of my BMW X5 F15 model 2014 so it’s going to be the same system I guess
Should be around 62.5nm, my torque wrench isn't very accurate so just go by hand. I've never had an issue yet and tbh you'd know if the steering wheel was getting loose before it fell off lol
Thanks so much for this, just swapped my M Sport one for the tri-stitch M one, would have been stuck without your video! Like you said loads of videos on RU-vid but they all seem to go, here’s how you remove the airbag and then *poof* you’re looking at a removed bare steering wheel with no clue how they got there... maybe it’s by the same people who wrote Haynes manuals?
I try doing all my videos in as much detail as I can 😂 like my walk rounds of my cars on here, I just try to give as much info to people who watch them as possible. Glad you managed to swap the wheel over, once you've done it once it's a doddle, bet it looks a lot better now?
Craig's Video Channel yeah much simpler once you get the hang of it. Had to drill holes for the paddles in the new wheel as well which was painful. 100% better, the M-Sport wheel isn’t bad but the look and feel of the M tri-stitch wheel is much nice especially with the different trim 👌🏻
@@BackgroundTrait Ah so the wheel you bought was a manual and you've converted it to paddles? Maybe you should have made your own video showing people how to do that lol
Craig's Video Channel Id love to say it was bought as a mod but I got a really good deal on a ‘as new M wheel (owner swapped it straight out for alcantara), but realised it was probably cheaper because it was a manual wheel. Drilling was a b***h very hard to get right, there’s a video on here with instructions but I wouldn’t recommend it, 100% would buy a paddle wheel next time! Thankfully at least had your instructions to get it back together 😂
Am watching from Pakistan this is amazing, am going to set up a business doing steering wheels , what country are you from mate as you don’t sound American or English
I'm English Eric, North East in a small town called South Shields 😁 Thank you for watching from such a far ❤️ I've actually just changed another steering wheel last week on my friends BMW M4
Great vid. Only thing I couldn't swap over to the new wheel was the lane departure loom as part of it is attached under the leather of the old wheel. Who needs lane departure anyway 😄
@@CraigsChannel with lane departure cars, the steering wheel is a little different. There's vibrators inside the steering wheel which vibrate each side of the wheel depending on which the side the blind spot hazard is detected. Having to transfer all that over sounds like a nightmare.
Edit: I have had it before where RU-vid spuriously deleted comments. My comment was a warning about doing this. I removed the positive terminal from my battery on my 4 series 420d 2013 and then instintively closed the boot. Big mistake. I couldn't get into the boot to reconnect the battery. The fix was to use the positive and negative terminals under the bonnet to supply power. This worked even with the battery disconnect. Just a warning for anyone who this happens to. I'd advise putting the back seats down if you disconnect the battery so you can get back in the boot. Don't be an idiot like me.
No, RU-vid does it all the time, I'm not sure if it's certain things people write or if it's a word they thinks spam and instantly delete the message, it's so annoying as I don't want people like yourself thinking it's me deleting them. If you check all my videos I reply to all comments
It was something I wasn't overly keen with. The guy who bought the car wanted it on, so did a deal and refitted it whilst he was transferring the insurance over
@@godamighty I think I'm so used to leather it's weird having Alcantara. My best friend has a 330d and hes getting his re-done in leather, I did tell him to just buy one and I'll fit it, but hes paid somebody to change his from leather to Alcantara
You have to use the stage 2 or you will get error message that no airbag is installed. Unless you recode the vehicle. Look on RU-vid video. Stage 1 airbag vs stage 2 airbag. I think if the wheel itself is EU then it should recognize the stage 1 but not stage 2. And if the wheel is US then it will recognize stage 2. hope this helps. Video will explain it better. 😉
Yeah I agree I should have removed the negative. I've removed the positive on loads of cars over the years and touch wood no issues yet. If I make another one I'll make sure to do the negative 💪
I just tried for almost 2 hours to remove my airbag. The right side got done in seconds, popped right out. No matter what i can not locate and push in the spring on the left side. I gave up and now that i put it back together my airbag is off center leaning to the right and i have PDC malfunction errors.
Sorry for such a late reply! Out of everybody's who's watched this video I've honestly never heard anybody have an issue removing the airbag, are you lining the screw driver up and pressing hard enough? If you were local I'd have been more than happy to help you out, done this on loads of cars now
@@CraigsChannel yea I eventually got it off, but the airbag is still off center now. The right side I can easily feel the clip and take it on and off with ease. The left side took me 2+ hours to get off, could not feel the clip at all.
I'm wondering if it's been off before for some reason and who ever took it off bent the clip. Maybe when you get time, take it off again and check the clip isn't bent or moved to one side, that's all the problem really could be
Hi Craig, Excellent video and precise instructions, congratulations. Craig, after reconnecting the positive on the battery do you need to retune the radio, clock or anything else that needs to be re-adjusted after being without power. Cheers, Mark
No Mark, I think there probably a kind of back up battery somewhere in the car, like what you get in laptops, so when you turn it off it still saved the time and stuff. Not sure how long I had the battery disconnected when I did the video, maybes 30minutes or so, but you shouldn't have to set anything 👍
@@markludwig3759 I've never heard that! Not sure what it would do, but I mean feel free to do it 😄 I removed thay wheel about 4 or 5 times, the day before it was sold I removed the Alcantara wheel then the guy who bought it asked me to buy it and refit it lol
@@CraigsChannelyes thats it, i had a spare screw and now know where its from, i havent screwed that back in, is it essential to do so? ive fitted the wheel and everything is fine. Not sure if its worth taking off to screw that in?
I'm really now sure! It just looks like an earth. I mean if everything is working it's totally your call if you want to refit it! I suffer OCD so I'd probably just fit it, buts that's me 😂
No problem at all, I seen a few other videos and they didn't help so thought I'd make my own lol. Have you gone for the Alcantara or just a newer shape wheel?
My airbag don’t make anymore the click when i try to fit in how can i do? If i pull the cable it goes out easy i thinked about the clip but lothing is brake it just don’t stand good
@@CraigsChannel i think than i resolve it i put the clip up the let it click and for the moment no problems the only thing who happened is than i broke a little plastic part but nothing special i think for the moment the auto run with no problems i hope is not going to explode one of the days…😅
Great Vid mate, looking to retrofit cruise control so this is great to see how to re-assemble the wheel. Any tips for how to code the CC or do you know a local service that would do it? im in the North East.
You'd be best off maybe trying some local remap places as they'll have the software to code your car, or maybe even pop into a few local garages as there diagnostic systems also let you do like that. I never go far enough to even use cruise so it's a pointless feature for me being round the doors. Are you going for a normal leather or Alcantara steering wheel?
@@CraigsChannel Cheers for getting back to me, I've already got the normal M sport leather wheel but just wanted to upgrade from the LIM only to the Cruise and LIM version as i'll be doing lots of motorway driving. i'll have a look around for some places unless you know any near cramlington?
@@Stix0nFire You could try JM Imports my mate Jurgen runs that place, they do all kinds of magic like that. Might be worth popping in or giving them a bell?
Is there any problems you can run into once disconnecting the battery like system not working etc as I know it’s not great to disconnect the battery in smart cars as it might forget important information for the car’s dynamics ? Thanks
I've never heard that before. If that was the case every time you get a flat battery or need to change a battery you'd have to start from fresh. I know modern batterys have to be coded into the car, think its 2016 and above. Doing as I did on the video thought you shouldn't come into any issues at all. Nobody in the comment sections had an issues. If you were local I'd have done it for you. I'm actually off to pick an M4 up next week and think that's getting a steering wheel upgrade 😁
Thanks for the reply and help I’m currently thinking of swapping out my F30 steering wheel for and M sport one and just wondered if I’d run into any issues with system problems down the line after I’d finished hope not tho as you said.
What's the difference with the normal and M sport one? I honestly don't think you'll have any issues. I'll possibly do a new video with I get my hands on the M4 and do one with closer shots this time
No problem at all, if you get stuck I'm always around. Try to reply back to everybody who takes their time to pop on my channel. Hopefully I can get a little video up of the car! Done a few walk rounds which seemed popular
@@CraigsChannel I'm going to get a retrim for my M140i steering wheel from Royal in Alcantara soon and based on having watched your video I reckon I could do it myself. Cheers.
@@simonorsborn You will mate I've got with in you lol. I've tried to explain best I can, when I did it there wasnt any in depth videos so thought I'd make my own. If you were local I'd of gave you a had. Love a 140i absolute rockets
Do you know if changing the original steering wheel with a bottom flat carbon fibre one will affect my car insurance? Just changed mines by looking at your video. Thank you so much for the detailed explanation. 🙏🏻
Technically speaking any mod should be declared, but if I changed the steering wheel to a flat bottom one I'd just say it was standard if ever I did have a crash, but tbh I don't think they'd notice
You can remove the steering wheel with the battery still connected, but when you plug it back in, it might throw up an airbag light. Sorry to hear yours has been pinched twice, that's really really unlucky. Maybe buy a Disklock? I had one on my mk3 Focus RS
People will probably say disconnect both, but as you'll see I only disconnect one side, done it to loads of cars now with no issues! So totally up to you, it'll only take you an extra 15secconds or so to remove the other one. As for waiting I just remove the airbag pretty much straight away
Tbh the airbag wouldn't go off even if it did have power you'd just get a fault code. The only reason an airbag should go off is when the car knows its been on a crash 😁 there won't be any power once you disconnect anyways. Also if your cars a 4 series open the door before you disconnect the battery as thr window on them goes down when you open the door
Am gona try this but am shit at stuff like this ...gettin a wheel from royal steering wheel for my 435d...getting acces to the battery in a f33 is a nightmare..no hatch or little twist things...
I want to put the digital m Performance steering wheel on my 340i M Performance. But it only comes with white stitching😒. I have M color stitching in my car. So I wanted to purchase the M3 version. It has the tri color stitching. Does anyone know if this will work plug and play as F80 and F30 parts are interchangeable? I currently have an M Performance steering wheel.
You could ring BMW and ask them, just ring a couple of local dealers see what they say. Dont say your fitting it, say you want them to fit it and want to know if it'll work
@@CraigsChannel Thanks, I found the answer in the installation instructions. It says if you currently have the M Sport steering wheel all parts will move over. I will just have to buy the back cover with the slit in the middle. Found that! 😉.
@@CraigsChannel yeah doing exactly what you done but putting an alcantara one on. Either way I’m just gonna follow your video now. Just wanted to make sure it definitely didn’t need recoding. Thank you for an informative video 👍🏼
@@GNLPR0DUCTIONS No mate no need for re coding, your basically putting the same back in again. They'll just be trying to get money out of you, should maybes take you an hour if you take your time to swap it over
@@CraigsChannel I've had it since 2017, tried to maintain and recover as much as possible. The red strip has sponge coming out of it increasingly over time, its time :( Should have purchased racing gloves, but was unaware of maintenance requirements early on
@@WhisperTheBand I didn't even know you had to maintaine them. Couple of my friends have RS3's and they come standard with Alcantara so I'll have to let them know. My Civic Type R had Alcantara seats and the arm rest, when I bought it the arm rest was really nasty, I used a product from Auto Finesse called Toral, amazing for cleaning Alcantara. So are you just sticking with Leather now? What model BMW you got?
@@CraigsChannel You definitely have to maintain them every 1-2 weeks. Might not show at the start, but once it shows, permanent damage would have already occurred. Ill stick with leather for now, but I'll be taking the carbon trim from the alcantara steering wheel and adding it to the leather one. I own a 440i Coupe
It honestly doesn't make a difference, if you're more comfortable doing the negative just do that. I've done loads of wheels for people over the years and never had an issue removing the positives, so totally up you 👍
Is it the standard radio or one that's been fitted aftermarket? This one I changed the steering wheel 3 or 4 times and never lost any stations. In fact none of the ones I've changed have, maybe you were just unlucky? I'm honestly not sure why they were lost