Member Since: 06 Sep 2008
Location: Reading
Posts: 304
steering wheels - heated?
Having read a few comments in recent posts I'm confused about heated steering wheels.. yup I'd love one (was surprised when my D3 didnt have on).. is it now possible to do or is it too much grief\will only work on some cars.
From the various posts, it sounds like you need a heated wheel (duh), possibly a new clock spring, a button on the wheel to turn it on & some wiring to be in place so it all works. What are the gotchya's etc?
I'd love to get this & the FBH mod sorted, esp when it's this cold!
Cheers!56 HSE
9th Jan 2010 9:00 pm
buellbeast
Member Since: 30 Jul 2008
Location: Exile
Posts: 1885
You pretty much got it nailed there. A new heated wheel , switch pack and a clockspring. Fitting is fairly straightforward, although i'm looking at posting up a "how to" very soon
FBH is a worthwhile modification as well.
9th Jan 2010 9:07 pm
fade2grey
Member Since: 06 Sep 2008
Location: Reading
Posts: 304
and while I'm in the mood to tinker with all this.. how do I get the steering shroud & airbag out without blowing myself up? 56 HSE
9th Jan 2010 9:08 pm
bellautos
Member Since: 02 Feb 2006
Location: NorthYorkshire
Posts: 2532
Ok il try and explane this as easy to understand as i can. starting with a few basics.
The "ClockSpring" as its most commonly knows it a electrical/mechanical part of the steering that transfers electrical connections from the fixed part of your car to the tuning part EG your steering wheel buttons.
If this was not fitted then every time you turn the steering wheel the wires would wind up in knots and cause problems
On the non factory heated steering wheel cars the "Clock Spring" has a socket which would have 2 wires in it MISSING, that would be used for powering the heating ellement.
So basicly you need to change the "Clock Spring" for a heated wheel clock spring so we now have 2 extra needed wire connections for our new heated wheel ellement.
Now after you have added the extra electrical/mechanical connection for the wheel you need to know where to get the wires from to plug into it.
The wheel side it easy, there will be a wireing loom on the wheel that plugs direct into the newly fitted clock spring, the other side of the clock spring will also need the wires to come from somewhere.
In some cars there will be a spare unused 2 pin plug toucked up under the steering wheel cowl these probabaly are the ones we need, they are normally located next to the rest of the wires that also go into the clock spring from the fixed side of the car.
IF for some reason you dont have these wires in your cars loom its not a problem, all you need is a 10A feed wire and a ground wire.
You can take the ground wire from the ground point on the floor under the trim next to the drivers door.
The 12V 10A feed could come from a number of places depending on if you want easy route or a more complex totally hidden route, EG in some cars there is a sunroof unused plug in the roof which has already beind fused, run a wire from that to the back of the clock spring.
Or run a seperate battery 12V 10A feed in the grommet on the bulkhead , the same grommet that people use to run the FBH wire.
Basiccly all you need if not already there is 2 wires 1xgnd 1x 12v thats the easy part lol.
For the airbag removal i use a cavity wall tie that ive modded, you can get them from B&Q for about 3p, or you could use a old steel coat hanger.
I prefer the wall tie because its stainless steel and a bit harder material which seems to hold its shape better.
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