B7 Wheel & Piano black trim......Fitted!!!

[phoenixv6quattro]

Hello gents. Fitted these at the weekend. RasA4 was kind enough to come round and lend me the tool for removing the old steering wheel and securing the new one. He also gave me a crash course for removing most of the lower facia so the trim could be fitted. I didn't even have to ask him, he just volunteered. Top fella that!.....

Got the B7 wheel used off ebay for £80. Its in top nick, not a scratch on it and the leather is in VGC. Its the S-line edition with red and white stitching (sexy!). There is NO airbag module. What you can see below is just the airbag cover. I explained why I did this on my last thread.......http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?93326-A-few-new-bits-fitted........

Its funny how a different/more modern wheel can change the way the car feels and modernise a once tired pre-facelift interior. I am very happy with it. Altough it is actually the same size, it appears and feels smaller.

I got some wood trim off ebay for a very cheap price. I took it to a friend of a friend who owns a body repair shop. He had never heard of Piano black, so I showed him the back of my iPhone and told him to spray it all in that colour. Its actually more or less exactly the same. He sprayed it up, baked it and then polished it for an ultra shiny finish. Paint is rock hard too! The grand total to buy the trim and get it sprayed was less than £50. Obviously I was very happy due to it being INSANELY expensive from Audi. You honestly would not be able to tell the difference!

The doors took 10 mins each (front and rear), and with RasA4 helping/leading the way, the dash was about 80 mins.

RasA4, feel free to post the pics you took on the day whilst helping me (his camera is the ******, and mine is just plain ******!-iPhone!).......

Next up are black interior door levers (currently being powder coated-thanks again for the spares Mark, en route back to you shortly), A digital Tyre pressure/heat monitoring system (I have had two high speed blow-outs in the past and want to keep an eye on the temps and pressures-its just me being cautious).

Sexy eh!



Ollie

 

[aragorn]

Oooh i like the Tyre information thing! Does it use special valves?

The black trim looks excellent too, just need to finish it off either by fitting a facelift console, or having the surround on your console painted piano black too!

The wheel does look good. The flat bottom ones i wasnt to keen on but that one is better. I just wish there was a way to be sure the airbag could be made to work Plus our car has the stupid early column, so we cant fit any newer wheels to ours.

 

[olds_kool]

looking very good!
as aragorn said next should be facelift console to get rid of audi 80 looking switches, knocks 10 years off interior

think you get sensors to stick inside wheels for that monitor? awesome piece of kit

 

[Lee Goodall]

Looks very nice.. top work!

Facelift console would be the cherry on top :icon_thumright:

 

[simon1303]

how did you get around the airbag warning light?

ive an early car (96) that needs a new wheels as its starting to look tatty, i was thinking of going aftermarket but heard that the aribag warning light will constantly be on?

my other 2 cars dont have airbags (aircooled VW's) so not really a concern not having one anymore.

 

[aragorn]

You could probably just unplug the airbag module?

 

[rasA4]

having the surround on your console painted piano black too!

i believe the surround is painted in black, maybe its the iPhone camera

 

[rasA4]

Good to meet you Ollie, funilly enough the airbag light hasn't come on for some strange reason... it does come on as usual when car is started for a second.

will post thos pics up soon, unfortunatley i didnt take any with the trim in.

 

[voteforpedro]

Hmmm. Personally I am not sure about the steering wheel. It makes the rest of the car look archaic! As said, maybe some facelift dash buttons will freshen it up a little. New trim looks good though.

 

[griswold]

That wheel looks awesome i want one but first I think a set of quattro mats you got there where did you get them?
found a set on ebay but didnt reply about quattro logo pic i asked to see

 

[phoenixv6quattro]

Hello fella cheers for the replies......The TPMS is wireless. It is very simple in its operation. All thats needed for installation is for your old valves to be swapped up for the ones supplied in the kit (all alloy, very sexy too!). The kit is £160. Money well spent (mine arrived this morning) and you get get these ones from many places but I got mine here....http://www.rockshore.uk.com/tpms---tyresure-tyre-pressure-monitoring-system-1689-p.asp.........

Yeah as Ras stated the console surround has been painted exactly the same colour as the trim. Its just the camera letting itself down again. Ref the console itself, I'm not going down the route of facelift due to the ballache, but those 80 buttons will be getting swapped up. The Quattro matts I had commissioned when I first got the car as it didn,t have any. Audi wanted a ridiculous amount and these custom ones were actually cheaper at £80. Nice little touch. You can get any custom mats/embroidery outfit to make you some.

For some reason that is unknown to me, no airbag lights have come on when the airbag was removed and no airbag was re-installed. I agree wtih you aragorn, it would be nice to test a newer one in an older model, but who (from the b5 lot) can afford to buy one and test it (somehow) to see if its worthwhile. So I didn't!! lol!! The steering wheel feels better everyday. Got a really nice feel to it.I sold my old wheel on ebay so I only actually coughed up 50 for it!! Result!! Everyone thats seen it in the flesh thinks the same. It really suits the car.

Cheers Gents

Ollie

 

[voteforpedro]

Just drive it at a wall at 30mph. Then you will be sure if the airbag works or not.

 

[Geeman]

Ollie... the wheel and trim looks awesome! Excellent job. Very cool.

 

[Keithsri]

Is there a difference in the coloumns?i think i read that somewhere?? Ild love to fit a new wheel to mine,its 98 Pre-facelift... even a b6 one would do,will it fit or how can i chek the sizes easily??


BTW, yours looks fantastic,the wheel really freshins it up and the black trim is classy

 

[Geeman]

Oillie... where did you get the air-bag cover from? (and how much?)

 

[aragorn]

Keith: the changeover was sometime in 1997 afaik, so your '98 should have the later column.

Geeman: ebay i think!

 

[Foxmeister]

Thats looking bang on mate, really liking the newer wheel aswell.

I was also looking into facelift centre etc but noticed it being a right c^?t sourcing the correct parts etc for it, so will be knocking up some different panel and switch arrangement when i get the chance to. Wot u got in mind??? Got that package sent of aswell, should be with you shortly, appologies for hold up.

 

[phoenixv6quattro]

Hey Geeman yeah It was ebay. Theres a guy on there who only sells wheels and airbags. Here is a link to his shop............http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/AGE-S...29QQ_sidZ128963505QQ_trksidZp4634Q2ec0Q2em322
Foxy, I'm planning on relocating the audi 80 switches (lets face it, they are the only element of the pre dash that makes it look som old!) somewhere else and putting them on toggles instead of buttons. Then where the holes will be I will either fibreglass over the top and flush it off, or put the TPMS there. Then the only things on the console will be the tpms, head unit and digital aircon display.Prob be doing this in the next few weeks.
Keithk, as Aragorn says you should have no prob doing the same thing as me. Mines a 98 pre too......

Cheers fellas.

 

[rasA4]

The doors took 10 mins each (front and rear), and with RasA4 helping/leading the way, the dash was about 80 mins.

RasA4, feel free to post the pics you took on the day whilst helping me (his camera is the ******, and mine is just plain ******!-iPhone!).......
Ollie

Right pal sorry for the delay i thought i took more pics than these

 

[phoenixv6quattro]

Fair play mate! Thsnks for sticking those up buddy. I got your message ref S4 parts. I have been so busy at work lately I completely forgot about it! Thanks though mate....