E34 535i steering wheel / hub / slip ring question

[84318i]

Hi,

Looking at realoem I am not seeing what this big metal spacer is on my 535i that almost seems like it could have been added by PO for some reason?

It looks too big to be a slip ring that you sometimes need to replace when it wears out, is this a factory part? I haven't had a chance to remove the airbag/steering wheel to inspect it closely ...but from the photos does this look factory to you guys? It has a factory airbag wheel.

Thank you

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[ross1]

I've never seen one. I'll bet is just an adapter for a driver with short arms. Any signs of modifications to the pedals?

[The Chauffeur]

Just from the pictures, it doesn't look stock to me. I have a late '90 production model 525, and my slip ring was gloss black; it also seems to be missing a trim ring that goes attached to the back of the steering wheel itself. What year is your car? '89-'91 were kind of transitional years for steering wheel shafts, IIRC...

[84318i]

I've never seen one. I'll bet is just an adapter for a driver with short arms. Any signs of modifications to the pedals?

PO was actually a tall dude, but didn't mention anything about it (of course). Pedals don't appear to have any modifications and feel normal otherwise.


Just from the pictures, it doesn't look stock to me. I have a late '90 production model 525, and my slip ring was gloss black; it also seems to be missing a trim ring that goes attached to the back of the steering wheel itself. What year is your car? '89-'91 were kind of transitional years for steering wheel shafts, IIRC...

89 535i/5speed. Yeah it doesn't look stock to me, so I was trying to figure out what the heck this thing is.

[The Chauffeur]

Take what I'm gonna tell you right now with a grain of salt; my knowledge on this is purely empirical, as I learned the hard way when I swapped my stock steering wheel last year...

On a second look, that might be the back of your steering wheel, minus the vinyl trim collar. As I said before, '89 to '91 were kind of transitional, and there seems to be two kinds of trim collars, at least during this period. And now that I remember the details, the slip ring is very flat, and it goes inside the steering wheel, between the airbag and the hub.

Here's a picture of a trim collar like the one I had on mine (sorry, ebay picture, with obvious watermark... :D)

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As you can see, the back of the steering wheel is very shallow, nothing at all like yours.

And here's the only picture I've found of the back of the earlier version, with a deeper trim collar; as you can see, the back of the steering wheel itself is way deeper, also:

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My guess would be yours is like the second picture, and maybe the trim surround was damaged or something... As I said, I learned about this differences the hard way; info on this is very fuzzy, and after looking around on the web, I assumed mine was the early version, so I got a mid-'80s sport steering wheel (the clunky one that looks like a cow's head :stickoutt)... It's still in a box here, at least it was cheap!

But the only way to really know would be to disassemble the whole shebang, maybe somebody else can shed more light on this...

[84318i]

That does make sense ! I plan on taking the wheel off in the next few days and figure it out , I'll post pics if there is interest with update .

I am hoping I could remove that whole spacer thing if it's not part of the steering wheel, otherwise maybe I'll just have to get a different wheel to clean it up .

[The Chauffeur]

Another reason that makes me assume it might be stock, is the fact that you have the early style column stalks: longer and with more angular kinks. Later stalks are stubbier, smoother, and not as deep. As a matter of fact, the early style stalks sit very close to the back of the late style, shallower steering wheels, getting in the way during a turn (again, ask me how I know... :()

And another thing (maybe unrelated?): do you have a telescopic steering wheel? that might be another difference... Mine, for the record, has a telescopic one. When you take into account production years, trim levels, and not to mention, different markets, it looks like there's a myriad of tiny differences between each and every individual car, for no apparent rhyme or reason, until you dig more and more and get to the "huhhhhh... so that's why" moment...

[84318i]

Another option maybe I should look into, is to find a cheap steering wheel like you've posted with the deep trim collar section and see if that would fit the car w/o that thing. But, I'll need to remove the stock one first.

[The Chauffeur]

Before you do that, I see you have an E30 also; is it a late production one? if it is, its steering wheel might fit (assuming it has the stock steering wheel). From what I've gathered, IIRC, it seems BMW changed steering wheels from coarse splined shafts to fine ones in the early '80s, so ~'82 to '91 they were all supposedly like the one in the second picture I posted; then they changed them to the shallower ones like the first picture, and then they changed the hub around '94, but that's another story...

And here's yet another thought... maybe the PO had to replace the steering wheel and the best available option was a post-'91? So it might be a late, shallow steering wheel with some sort of spacer to make clearance for the column stalks??? Man, the mystery keeps getting bigger... :D

[84318i]

Before you do that, I see you have an E30 also; is it a late production one? if it is, its steering wheel might fit (assuming it has the stock steering wheel). From what I've gathered, IIRC, it seems BMW changed steering wheels from coarse splined shafts to fine ones in the early '80s, so ~'82 to '91 they where all supposedly like the one in the second picture I posted; then they changed them to the shallower ones like the first picture, and then they changed the hub around '94, but that's another story...

And here's yet another thought... maybe the PO had to replace the steering wheel and the best available option was a post-'91? So it might be a late, shallow steering wheel with some sort of spacer to make clearance for the column stalks??? Man, the mystery keeps getting bigger... :D

It's an early one (84) .

[84318i]

Ok, so I've removed the wheel airbag and wheel today and this is what it looks like. It seems that metal spacer/ring thing IS part of the wheel ?

I've looked on eBay for other early e34 airbag wheels and they don't appear to look like this so it's confusing.

https://preview.ibb.co/geesa6/IMG_5766.jpg (https://ibb.co/hBEQv6)
https://preview.ibb.co/i8LLTR/IMG_5768.jpg (https://ibb.co/fRJ78R)
https://preview.ibb.co/k5r5v6/IMG_5769.jpg (https://ibb.co/bx1ihm)

[84318i]

Here is an example I finding on eBay for 89ish e34 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E34-5-Series-E24-E32-Factory-Leather-Airbag-Steering-Wheel-4-Spoke-1987-1990/322402274842?

PN - 32301157280

[The Chauffeur]

Ok... mystery solved! It has to be stock, in my opinion... The steering wheel is secured to the shaft with a bolt (vs a nut on the pre-mid '80s cars), but the back of the steering wheel has that big, hollow space with that "toothed wheel" look (just like the second picture I posted, a pre-'91).

Add that to the early style column stalks, and I'm 99.99999999999...% sure it's just missing the trim collar; looking around on realoem, it seems it's not sold as a separate part, oddly enough... so you'll have to find a used one, or an aftermarket steering wheel...

[The Chauffeur]

Here is an example I finding on eBay for 89ish e34 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E34-5-Series-E24-E32-Factory-Leather-Airbag-Steering-Wheel-4-Spoke-1987-1990/322402274842?

PN - 32301157280

This is the only one I've found on ebay that looks like it might be the same as yours, in my opinion (it's the one from the second picture I posted):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Steering-Wheel-E24-E28-E30-E32-E34-M5-M3-airbag-lenkrad-volante-volant/302532557378?hash=item4670587a42:g:h0gAAOSw03lY75l 7&vxp=mtr

[Tre0Tre34]

Would agree that your wheel is the same as the ebay wheel linked to above.

All looks exactly the same as the wheel my car came with (early non-telescoping), but the vinyl trim has somehow been removed from yours. I dont believe it was designed as a removable part which is why it doesnt have its own part number

[84318i]

Yep, saw one of these at a local parts car but since there was no key I couldn't remove the wheel.

So, maybe another option is to get a momo or replica style hub adapter and standard 6 bolt wheel? What fits these early e34s?

[The Chauffeur]

Yep, saw one of these at a local parts car but since there was no key I couldn't remove the wheel.

So, maybe another option is to get a momo or replica style hub adapter and standard 6 bolt wheel? What fits these early e34s?

DON'T use #2008, that's for the late one... Maybe #2006? It looks taller and the back looks exactly like yours:

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[84318i]

DON'T use #2008, that's for the late one... Maybe #2006? It looks taller and the back looks exactly like yours:

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Interesting , if I use ecs tuning navigation link and try the "does it fit my car" guide it shows that the #2006 doesnt fit e34 and the #2008 does

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-momo-parts/momo-steering-wheel-hub-adapter-street/2006/

Vs


https://www.ecstuning.com/b-momo-parts/momo-steering-wheel-hub-adapter-street/2008/

[84318i]

Turner shows another option being omp hub https://www.ecstuning.com/b-omp-parts/steering-wheel-hub-adapter/od-slash-1960bm23-1~om/

[The Chauffeur]

Mmmm, I wouldn't trust 100% on ECS's fit guide, I know that for sure...

My car had the later model steering wheel, and the momo 2008 is the adapter I have in use. The other two adapters look the same, but I bet one is for coarse splined shafts, and the other for the fine splined ones...

[84318i]

So I pulled the momo hub with wheel off my e30 and it fits the e34 fine, splines are the same but it needs a spacer or washer as otherwise even with the nut and washer in place the wheel moved up and down on the shaft about 1/8"