E36 Steering Wheel Tilt/Seat Height/

[Marcus Frost]

Hello everyone,

I've been searching these forums in regards to E36 steering wheels. I'm 6'4" (long legs) and I cannot fit comfortably in an E36 M3 driver's seat because the big, non-adjustable steering wheel.

I do not understand for the life of me why someone would swap in a non-airbag steering wheel into any car they drive on the streets, but I will not own a car without an airbag. Do I have any other options to either swap in another adjustable and/or small steering wheel that HAS an airbag and adapting the airbag plug/harness?

I know there is a webpage about a conversion, but I need a good 1-2 inches for my legs to fit under the steering wheel comfortably, and I doubt that conversion kit will be able to do that. Is there maybe a seat lowering kit that I could get? I know there are ones for other cars out there.

I am really downtrodden about this - hopefully someone will be able to help me out.

Thanks,

-m

[JonUK]

There's a German company that makes replacement airbag steering wheels - they do a 320mm one:



http://www.raid-rdi.com/e/fs_raid-rdi.htm

(look under products, air bag steering wheels)

I don't know what the stock size is, but it looks a lot smaller!

Jon

[Marcus Frost]

Jon,

That is a very nice looking wheel - do you have any experience with the company or their products? They do not seem to have any prices listed on their site, either.

-m

[razaan]

Hey Jon,

My '96 318is seats actually move up and down. Their is a lever on the side of the side that allows the seat to move vertically. Maybe you could get your hands on one(or two) of these seats.

[JonUK]

Originally posted by Marcus Frost
That is a very nice looking wheel - do you have any experience with the company or their products? They do not seem to have any prices listed on their site, either.

I don't have any experience of it, but a friend of mine is ~6'5 and has the same problem as you. Euro coupe's have tilt steering wheels, but it's still a problem for him. I did some research a while back and that's one of the things I suggested to him.

Google threw back another site -

http://www.der-autoladen.de/airbagneu1.htm

They are listed as being 359 euros, which is about 350USD

You can get a list of dealers from the raid site, I would think if they don't have a US dealer shipping from Europe wouldn't be that bad.

Jon

[Uranium]

There is a really nice sport steering wheel made by Hamann. But I can't find a site that sell's them or list info on the size of it.

[DiScoTeknix]

What about the 3 spoke ///M wheels? Aren't those adjustable and don't they have airbags?

[JonUK]

Originally posted by DiScoTeknix
What about the 3 spoke ///M wheels? Aren't those adjustable and don't they have airbags?

The adjustment is on the column, not the wheel....

Jon

[Marcus Frost]

Well, good news. And just for anyone else who references this thread in the future, I thought I'd do a follow up.

My friend brought over his '95 M3 5-Speed Lux and I tried fiddling with the seat some more. Putting it down all the way in front and rear with it back a fair way and I fit! I was very excited. I took the car around the block and it just feels great. I'm hooked again.

Here's to hoping I'll be around here more often as a part of the community.

Cheers,

-m