Hello everyone, I was wondering if someone could help me, when I tried blacking out my steering wheel like the 2011 r56's I painted the middle ring on the airbag module glossy black but it didn't stick very well, I took it to where I work to have the guy who painted my rims do it professionally. Looked great when he gave it back but when I tried to put it on it was to big!? turns out the soft rubber expanded when he put it under a hot lamp to dry, now I am left with holes in my steering wheel. Here's the thing, they don't sell this trim separate if you want it you have to order a whole airbag module which is 510$ I don't think it's worth the little piece of trim. I have tried looking for MINI's in a junk yard out here in AZ, no luck in finding any, which is odd. So my question is what can I do? can anyone help?

 

Sounds to me like the shop should be looking for a replacement for you. They should know how certain materials will react in certain situations.

Sorry, I can't offer any help beyond trying to find a MINI in a salvage yard or look for one being parted out on eBay. You'll probably have trouble finding someone willing to take the ring off a good airbag module tho since it'll probably make it harder for them to sell that part.

 

Find a used airbag because that is a none replaceable part

 

Also, this is why 3D printers are useful now. I'm not sure if you have access to a shop that could help, but if you do, they should be able to do it for a few bucks their cost but they will need pretty good dimensions to make it happen.