I have a 2003 R50 with the original steering wheel. I want to switch to the three spoke wheel. I am in a pending sale to buy a three spoke steering wheel from an 05 R53. Will it fit my car?

 

yea it will fit but you'll have to get the 3 spoke air bag as well....make sure your new wheel has the spots for the mfsw buttons on the back side of the wheel...I found that out the hard way :(

I retro fitted a "sport" 2 spoke wheel from an 04 S into my 02 cooper

 

Was it hard? What do I look for exactly?

 

Wait you retrofitted a two spoke or three spoke? I'm doing a three spoke

 

I retro'd a 2 spoke. I removed my vynal stock wheel and installed a leather sport wheel from an 04 Cooper "S"....doing the wheel is the same....I can't remember if it's a 17 or 19mm socket to remove the wheel (very easy)...be careful when you remove the wire harnesses, you don't want to break any clips....OH, make sure you unhook your battery, don't want the bag to pop in your face!!! Undoing the airbag is very easy, remove the 2 screws from the backside of the wheel....pull bag out towards you ......

 

So wait a second. Will the three spoke steering wheel fit my car. I have a two spoke now. But if I buy a three spoke will it fit?

 

It will fit, but you may have to replace the airbag with a newer model one for that wheel.

 

I did a two-spoke to three-spoke JCW wheel swap, in my 2004 MCS.

Let me tell you, it is very expensive!!!

I have a how-to on my web page, listing all the parts I needed, as well as how much it all cost. Hope you're sitting down for this...

http://web.mac.com/jonnieoh/iWeb/My%...%20How-To.html

 

Ouch...I'm glad that I prefer the 2 spoke! If I got a newer model, I would want to swap to the 2 spoke.

 

Ummm, that was a very hard mod to be honest. At least by the directions. The peices are expensive but i'm not buying any of them from MINI and also I didn't get the JCW wheel, I have a regular sport wheel which is fine for me. I also got the wheel cheap so I just need the inserts. Thank you very much for the directions, they will be of great GREAT help!

 

Very nice web page, BTW.

 

Thanks.

I must say that it was a difficult pill to swallow; the cost of doing that mod, but every single day I drive the car, and hold onto that wheel, I'm glad I did it. It is so nice to have a smaller diameter wheel, which is noticeably thicker, and covered with nicer leather.

Like I say on my site, it's the one part of your car you are CONSTANTLY interacting with, so shouldn't you be happy with it?