IknowHuhA6

Hi guys,
I thought I saw a post on this but now can't find anything. I'm getting ready to swap out my heated 4-spoke non-paddle shift wheel for a Non-heated 3-spoke paddle shift wheel.

I am concerned about the heater wiring causing a short. Can someone point me in direction of any helpful thread, or advice on how to safely swap out the steering wheel? I've swapped steering wheels on other model cars before but the electrical connections worry me.

Thanks in advance.

Tman007

IknowHuh and I exchanged a couple PMs on the topic, but I thought it'd be worthwhile to post my responses here too for the community:

I did this swap a while back from the heated 4-spoke without-paddles to the non-heated 3-spoke with-paddles, and the swap was fairly straightforward. The main precaution is if your new wheel doesn't have an airbag you have to make sure you have the right airbag, because there are at least two types of the round style.

Two minor issues I discovered after the fact are so small that I haven't bothered to fix them, but probably will some day:
1) I must have had the steering heating on prior to doing the swap, because my enviro display thinks that the heating is on all the time. Probably need to reset a setting with vag-com.
2) Where the wheel attaches to the column, it's like a gear with ~100 teeth so the wheel can be aligned very precisely. An expert mechanic pointed out to me that I'm just slightly misaligned (maybe by one tooth), but I didn't even notice until he pointed it out, so it's not a biggie.

One thread I found helpful:
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/a6-...ir-c7-2864304/

Yes I did disconnect the battery first, based on what I read from other forum members. (Later for another project, when I looked in the repair manual, it said the same thing for any work with an airbag.) It's easier to do the unclipping (but not removing) of the airbag first before disconnecting the battery since you have turn the wheel 90 degrees each way to unclip the two sides.

IknowHuhA6

Yes many thanks Tman for your reply. This definitely helped me fill in the blanks on questions and subsided any worry I had. When I start this mod I will post a photo collage for anybody looking for similar info.
Greatly appreciate the willingness to help. I hope to pay it forward.

IknowHuhA6

Took pictures for those that are curious of what was involved. Please keep in mind this is not an instruction method and any person attempting this does so at their own risk. Battery MUST be disconnected before working on anything involving air bag work.
Improper handling of airbags can cause serious injury or death. I advise you have this professionally done. The independent shop I use quoted me $100 for the swap.

So I hit the parking break. Put car in Neutral, and disconnected the battery per Audi's process. Needed to be able to turn wheel to unclip the airbag. I don't have photos of removal of original wheel cuz forgot to snap shots, but I installed wheel one tooth off and had to take off again to realign the wheel one-tooth over. The center bolt used a triple square socket.

RRsport

Hi I am new, and got my first A6 Allroad Biturbo from 2013 just a week ago,
the steering wheel is a bit worn out, where did you buy your new one?


Thanks for your help

DB22

You "forgot" to post your location.

RRsport

Thanks, location is updated:-)

HackDevil

Does anyone know where I can find a round airbag?

jkwelsh

I ended up having to go to the dealer ($$$) to get the correct airbag when l swapped. There are too many variants to be sure you get the correct one, and fleeBay descriptions are just not accurate enough.

It's not just about a "round airbag" - you have a round airbag on the regular sports wheel, but it won't fit the flat bottomed steering wheel, which also has a round airbag. There are different types of mounting points to fit each wheel. Round airbag, wrong mounting type, and it won't fit.

There is also an additional airbag complication. The wiring harness plug(s) are model specific, so an airbag from, say, an A4 won't fit an A6 for example, even if it has the correct clips to install in the A6 wheel. (But an airbag from the same model family - A/S/Rs/6/7 c7.5 is interchangeable)

Your best bet is to ask your friendly dealer for the correct airbag part number to fit your model and steering wheel type. You can then search for this online or via fleeBay.

Hope this. Info is useful.

IknowHuhA6

+1

Ebay....
I bought a 3-spoke with no Airbag and then could not find an inexpensive airbag to buy and was NOT about to go to dealer for overpriced part.

So I found another steering wheel I liked better with perforrated leather and included airbag.

Try doing ebay search for "Audi Complete Steering Wheel". This should get you started. Then try narrowing search with specifics.

If you find a wheel you need without the airbag... get the part number and start searching for correct mated airbag.
Then make sure that part will fit your car. Remember.... wrong parts from overseas are VERY expensive to ship back so do your homework first.

Good luck.