I'm going to buy a F56 Cooper (non S) automatic, but its steering wheel has no paddles. The only Cooper with paddles is de S with sport automatic, wich includes the JCW steering wheel with paddles.

My question is... is it possible to retrofit a JCW steering wheel (with paddles) in the Cooper Auto?

 

I'm sure the wheel would fit but I doubt you could get the paddles to work. Check with your dealer.

 

Where are you in the world, nulheim?

 

I'm from Spain... sorry for my poor english

 

I've asked to the dealers and the answers are

If the sport auto of the S is the same as the normal auto plus some software changes, there are possibilities. But I don't know if it's the case. Nobody is interested in upgrading the Cooper with the paddles?

 

I have no problem with your English! I just want to know where to look.

There's a great site called RealOEM.com

In Europe the paddles can be had on the 3-cylinder. They are very expensive themselves.

There are more than one steering wheel that can take the paddles. They have different part numbers than the steering wheels without paddles, but I wonder if they are any different, or if the ones that don't have paddles have some sort of cover installed.

The steering wheels are here:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.d...id=56281&hg=32
Oddly, all but the basic steering wheel says, "sports automatic = no"
Which, by process of elimination would mean that basic steering wheel should work with the paddles?

You can see they use the same sttering wheels on both cars, like this one, 32306865134.
The same steering wheel for the paddles has a different number, 32306865135.
You can find the steering wheels for the ones with the paddles under steering wheels for the S:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.d...283&hg=32#3235

The paddles are under switches:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...87&hg=61&fg=35

 

Thanks for the info!

The paddles are for cars with "sports automatic", so I think they are not compatible with the Cooper's regular automatic.

Also, the Cooper's steering wheels come without paddles. If I select a Cooper S, the image includes the paddles:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...98&hg=32&fg=35

With that information, it seems that there is some hardware difference between the two automatic versions, and the steering wheels with paddles are only compatible with the sport version.