Fitting of new steering wheel

[Ken]

Just popped into my local ex dealer for some t/up paint and while I was there asked how much it would be to fit a supplied wooden wheel.

This is the quote.............
the cost of fitting a supplied Wooden Steering wheel , swopping over and resetting the cruise control is £88.13 inc vat.

resetting cruise? what is that exactly. The 1.8 obviously never had cruise so this is new to me

Cheers

Ken

[Phil]

I have no idea Ken, I expect the service advisor was getting confused with SRS as the airbag would need removing. Don't you fancy doing it yourself?

[Ken]

I have no idea Ken, I expect the service advisor was getting confused with SRS as the airbag would need removing. Don't you fancy doing it yourself?

Thats the idea Phil but its the resetting of the cruise that has me confused. The guy is good at his job so he's not getting confused with SRS or anything.

Ken

[Christopher]

I would have though that if you powered down the car removed battery connection and refit new steering wheel the car would not even know the wheel was swapped - what is there to reset?

I could understand it if the old wheel had no cc and the new did but this is not the case??

[Ken]

I would have though that if you powered down the car removed battery connection and refit new steering wheel the car would not even know the wheel was swapped - what is there to reset?

I could understand it if the old wheel had no cc and the new did but this is not the case??

Thats what I thought as well, I thought it was plug and play type thing with no resetting needed :shrug:

[Raistlin]

Speaking as another who both has cruise control and has swapped steering wheels, I don't know what on earth he is talking about.

[David3807]

Just out of interest Ken the Book time for "Replace Wheel with wood effect wheel" (that was what was on my invoice. I dont touch things that have ANY chance of going Bang ) was .75 hours.

[Jules]

Me thinks its just technical Jargon, so they can bump up the price.
My Local Rover Dealer (now defunct) stated the airbag would have to be "reset".........what total rubbish!

Takes me approx half an Hour max to do a wheel change.

[Raistlin]

Takes me approx half an Hour max to do a wheel change.

29.9 minutes of which was waiting for the arming circuit to discharge after disconnecting the battery ;)

[Jules]

Yes I used the discharge time to find my Torx drives No27 & 19 20 &21 MM sockets IIRC !!!

[Ken]

Cheers all

I have sent them an email asking that they explain exactly what it is so when I get a reply I will let you know. If I get no reply it will confirm what Jules said "Me thinks its just technical Jargon, so they can bump up the price"

[Duotone]

Jules..
I thought you needed a T30 torx screwdriver and a 16mm. socket..
My changeover took about an hour + 30 mins. for leaving the battery disconnected.
I had to change over the backplate..

Dave T

[BT@Home]

I agree with T30 and 16mm wrench.

I did mine over the weekend, and even swapped over the back piece (as mine only has radio controls, but the replacement had cruise too).
Took me close to an hour in total (no idea how long i left it after battery off though, but it was more than 30 mins).

[JohnDotCom]

I've done three now all in under an Hour and there is nothing to Reset, Recalibrate or Anything else.
Why do these Dealers try and rip you off all the Time. Max charge should not exceed £45 in any part of the Country for time Taken IMHO.

Ken it sounds like a Trip to Wales for you, Synergy and New Wheel, Jules Fan Mod, whats next? :D:D

[Raistlin]

You'll laugh...but I borrowed a BD visor and gauntlets from work before I attempted the job.

Didn't need them, of course but I felt a lot more confident doing the swap.

[Ken]

Ken it sounds like a Trip to Wales for you, Synergy and New Wheel, Jules Fan Mod, whats next? :D:D


A trip to Wales? I went to Barry Island back in the 60s cos it had a fair and girls. Ended up trying to keep out the way of mods and rockers having a fight on the beach :)

[JohnDotCom]

A trip to Wales? Ended up trying to keep out the way of mods and rockers having a fight on the beach :)

Much the same now,
But its the Police you have to keep out of the way of with their Mobile Police Cameras. :)

[Raistlin]

Much the same now,
But its the Police you have to keep out of the way of with their Mobile Police Cameras. :)

So THAT's where all the Policemen are? ;) :getmecoat:

[Jules]

Jules..
I thought you needed a T30 torx screwdriver and a 16mm. socket..
My changeover took about an hour + 30 mins. for leaving the battery disconnected.
I had to change over the backplate..

Dave T

That's why I put IIRC !!! (perhaps we should have a new forum abbreviation IIRIC,) If I remember incorrectly :o

[Jules]

You'll laugh...but I borrowed a BD visor and gauntlets from work before I attempted the job.

Didn't need them, of course but I felt a lot more confident doing the swap.

Hey nothing wrong with health & safety Raistlin!
It's all Butch the lads on building sites & road works I'm sorry for, you know the ones where they don't bother with ear defenders, goggles gloves, masks etc

What really makes me cringe is watching a worker with a petrol grinder/cutter with no goggles. Hell they will all be Deaf & possibly Blind before they retire.

[Greeners]

What really makes me cringe is watching a worker with a petrol grinder/cutter with no goggles. Hell they will all be Deaf & possibly Blind before they retire.

Sad thing is, statistically, a lot of them won't retire...

[madone]

Speaking as another who both has cruise control and has swapped steering wheels, I don't know what on earth he is talking about.

I concur mate

[baxlin]

Speaking as another who both has cruise control and has swapped steering wheels, I don't know what on earth he is talking about.

Ditto :) :)

[Moonstone]

Could the T4 just be for clearing errors set during the replacement? (e.g. airbag disconnection) Desirable but not essential?

[JohnDotCom]

I have not had those error lights come on when Undertaking this,
But any errors could be turned off with my Unit at Home if they did.
The T4 could clear Faults as you say but why would any be recorded changing the Wheel?

[rollsey1]

Pete from Lates did mine without disconnecting anything - very quick but not sure that it should be tried without prior consideration!

[Ken]

Cheers all

I have sent them an email asking that they explain exactly what it is so when I get a reply I will let you know. If I get no reply it will confirm what Jules said "Me thinks its just technical Jargon, so they can bump up the price"

As promised here is their reply..............nothing at all :o

[Simon W]

Not sure if you've changed it yet Ken - if you haven't the tricky bit is the two T30 Torx screws that bolt the airbag module to the steering wheel.

You need a T30 screwdriver - the 'bit & handle' types are too fat and get stuck in the plastic moulding without reaching the screws.

Once you've changed the wheels over, getting the Torx screws to locate in their sockets again can be a real pig. They don't line up easily.

[Christopher]

Simon, Ken came over and we changed his steering wheel - his new black/walnut one looks lovely! ;)

The biggest problem we had was losening the the bolt holding the wheel in place - looks like it was from factory fit but it was damn tight and we almost gave up a couple of times - but we persevered :)

The torx screws were OK as I have a long shafted set of torx keys ;)

[Simon W]

Glad to hear you had no probs with those pesky Torx screws - even with a long screwdriver it took 90 mins or so before I could get mine to line up (re-assembly).

The main column bolt was very, very tight on mine. I tried it without an extension bar on the wrench (no chance), a short extension bar (still no chance) and finally two extension bars together. It still wouldn't budge so I gave the wrench a hefty whack with a rubber mallet. This did the trick but the nut gave way all of a sudden and the wrench handle whacked me in the chest - damned nearly broke a rib!

[Christopher]

The main column bolt was very, very tight on mine. I tried it without an extension bar on the wrench (no chance), a short extension bar (still no chance) and finally two extension bars together. It still wouldn't budge so I gave the wrench a hefty whack with a rubber mallet. This did the trick but the nut gave way all of a sudden and the wrench handle whacked me in the chest - damned nearly broke a rib!


yes, we used a long hollow pipe I had handy and after a sharp jolt on the end of that it gave way! :)

[Simon W]

I have seen trickier ones though Chris - e.g. changing the rear wheel bearing on a Triumph Herald. We tried everything to get the old one off (hub puller, gallons of WD40, blowgun, etc, etc) but it didn't want to know.

In the end we took the half axle off the car and sent it to my dad's factory where they put it on a hundred-ton press. It took a force of seven tons to break the taper on the tiny bearing. That's three and a half Volvo estates!

[Christopher]

No - it wasn't that bad Simon!! ;)