What do these buttons do? There is no info in my owners manual or my radio manual. I assume that it has something to do with Bluetooth. I don't believe that I have that as an accessory. Is it possible to retro fit it w/o costing an arm and a leg? Thanks

 

I beleive it's for bluetooth phones but don't know if it works on US versions of the R53.

 

BT retrofit kit with labor is like $2K+......

 

YIKES! Thanks, so much for doing that.

 

If you ever decide to get an aftermarket radio that has build in hands free functionality you can buy the Axxess ASWC adapter and those buttons will then work. If you go the stock route it will be spendy. I ended up spending <$250 for everything and I did the labor myself.

I just upgraded my radio from the stock radio on my 2006 Mini Cooper S to a JVC KDR820B [http://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KDR8....html?tp=5684] and it has mulit color display so I was able to find a perfect/near-perfect color match to the stock amber color. For the steering wheel controls I bought an Axxess ASWC adapter on Amazon for cheap but you can get more info here http://www.axxessinterface.com

I also sent an email to Axxess in hopes they update their site so it's easier for other Mini owners to add this to their setup.

Here is the relevant information you'll need..


For step #3 I had connected the pink wire from ASWC to pin 9 of my stock wire harness. That was the only wire I had to do for steering wheel controls.

The instructions it came with did not properly identify how to connect to my after market radio as my unit JVC fell in the "All other radios plug the male 3.5mm connector.." where in reality I had to take the brown wire from the provided 3.5mm plug and connect that to my after market radio (same as step #4 for Kenwood radios).

The auto detect did work for me and I have 6 buttons on my steering wheel. Volume Up, Volume Down, Next, Previous, Phone, and R/T button. The Phone button was set to as "Pause" and the R/T button was set to "Input Change" and the rest of the buttons were mapped as expected. I will be trying to manually program the ASWC to change those two buttons to do the proper mapping as my radio now has hands free calling and want to be able to control that from my steering wheel.



Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Art

 

Terrific information, thanks! However, I'm looking for a cheap bluetooth connection as Nevada has passed a hands-free law.

 

This is kind of an old thread...but I installed the hands free Plain-Talk blue tooth kit from Bavarian Autosport (www.bavauto.com). It works with the steering wheel controls and was relatively easy to install. We bought it on sale for around 350 and is currently selling for around 400.

The part number is: BT AR503

it works great! Mutes the radio, and pauses cd's. It uses the stereo speakers, I mounted the microphone on the steering column next to the tach.

Hope it helps someone.

Chad