E89 Steering Wheel Upgrade - Pics

Z

Z4Mattt

Member
 London
I see lots of E85/E86 interior change pics but not so many for E89s...so I thought I'd post pics of the recent steering wheel re-trim I had done. I'm super happy with it and think it modernises the interior quite a lot.

Original wheel:
GUuSifV.jpg

In progress...
nKvhxvO.jpg

New wheel:
bD5gT0Y.jpg

Nice golden hour shot of the cabin with new wheel:
5xRCo2T.jpg

Zoomed in a little:
Iogtg6q.jpg

I was a bit worried that the blue centre stripe and M-stitching would be a bit much, but they're both relatively subtle and in my opinion make the whole thing more special. Plus they match the BMW & M badges (& my Z is Deep Sea Blue exterior).

The mods I went for were:
- Black Alcantara on both sides
- Smooth leather top & bottom, with 'BMW' blue centre stripe
- Flat bottom mod
- M-stitching
- Horizontal transition leather -> Alcantara (see original wheel, transition is more vertical)

Had it done by Royal Steering Wheels - re-trim starts at about £160 but mine was closer to £230 with all the extras. I still think that's really reasonable. They're quite slow to reply by email but otherwise had a great experience with them.

Post your thoughts/own steering wheel mods!
 
yep, Royals mod is always money well spent.. your wheel looks a treat :thumbsup: I went for the more simple look with the usual nappa and perf leaher combo and a blue stitch to tally up with my dsb paint, extremely happy with it :)
 

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Every single Royals re-trim I see looks soooo good. If my SW wasn't already in really good condition I'd make the jump and get mine done too. Maybe in the next year I'll finally break. I've been considering a heated SW retro-fit too so maybe I'll kill 2 birds with one stone. (Everyone on this forum will say its not worth the cash, but I like to be ridiculous and drive roof down regardless of temp - I went out roofless in the snow the other day :rofl: so a heated steering wheel would make the experience even better).
 
Just while we're on the topic of Royal. Has anyone noticed a change of materials recently?

I had my Z4 wheel done 4 years ago and it had quite a strong leather smell and the leather felt like top quality stuff. I recently had my 335i wheel retrimmed and it has a more chemical smell to it and feels more matte. It's certainly not bad and the quality of work is still top-notch but it got me wondering if they had swapped over to synthetic leather without mentioning it. I did ask them directly but they were vague.
 
They both look great
I really fancy a heated suede/alcantara wheel especially with the flat bottom
Do they send you a wheel to use whilst yours is away!?
 
They always advertise the material used as Nappa leather and I can't imagine with their reputation they'd use anything but what they say. Have to say mine looks, feels and smells like real leather
 
jamesgarbett said:
They both look great
I really fancy a heated suede/alcantara wheel especially with the flat bottom
Do they send you a wheel to use whilst yours is away!?
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They have certain wheels in stock that you can have made up to your spec then send your wheel back once you have fitted your new one, you need to pay a £100 deposit for that service which is refunded when you send your wheel back. If they don't have a spare its a. case of sending in and waiting for it back
 
still happy with mine, a good investment.
 

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Z4Mattt said:
I'm super happy with it and think it modernises the interior quite a lot.
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That looks really good. Are you not concerned the Alcantara will get grubby quickly? If so how can it be cleaned without ruining it?
I have a white leather SW on my Volvo (stupid idea that was) and it gets absolutely filthy very quickly.
 
That looks really good. Are you not concerned the Alcantara will get grubby quickly? If so how can it be cleaned without ruining it?
I have a white leather SW on my Volvo (stupid idea that was) and it gets absolutely filthy very quickly.
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I'm definitely a bit more conscious of how clean my hands are...but I think Alcantara gets a bad rep on the cleaning front. It can be maintained with no more than baby wipes & a microfibre cloth (+ a soft wire brush, ideally), perhaps once every month or two depending on how often you drive.

Personally my Z is a bit of a weekend car so I'm happy with the occasional upkeep. I think if I used it much more regularly I might have stuck to leather.

If I remember i'll post my thoughts on upkeep in a few months' time...
 
Z4Mattt said:
If I remember i'll post my thoughts on upkeep in a few months' time...
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I'm sure we will remind you! :)
I got a set of three "tootbrush" style wire brushes recently from Screwfix (£2.99), there is a really hard nylon one in there; that may be good.
 
Looks fantastic that. Oddly enough my 30i's wheel got delivered to Royal today for a half alcantara/half perforated leather with ivory stripe to match my interior (also Deep Sea Blue metallic). After seeing yours I can't wait!
 
@Pondrew

3 months on: Alcantara still looks like new and I've not cleaned it once.

I've used the car ~2 times a week for short journeys, a couple of weekends away, plus a week's roadtrip to Cornwall. It's also been in the garage twice (new battery, new tyres). Not even been particularly careful with having clean hands after the first week either, just get in and drive.

Might need some TLC soon but think on the whole it's quite impressive and a good indicator that alcantara isn't hard to live with - or at least the stuff they use at Royals isn't.
 
Royal said the heated steering wheel cannot be reshaped. It’ll loose the heating feature. :x
 
ajguk said:
Looks fantastic that. Oddly enough my 30i's wheel got delivered to Royal today for a half alcantara/half perforated leather with ivory stripe to match my interior (also Deep Sea Blue metallic). After seeing yours I can't wait!
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Bumping an old post but just wondering if you have pictures of your completed wheel ajguk? Sounds more or less what I’m keen to go for (DSB exterior with cream interior, so similar).

Really impressed with what I’ve seen from all the pictures of Royal’s work, so keen to give them my wheel for the job.

Also for OP/others - do they modify the existing round wheel to make it flat-bottom, or did you provide a new flat-bottom?

Cheers guys.
 
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