Hey guys!

Been lurking for a bit - bought my '04 A8 earlier this year and love it. Shopped for a while and and found one in good shape with great history, and very glad to be here.

I bought this bad boy (attached) a week or two ago, and was excited when it arrived. Installed this weekend easy as pie, but wanted to put down a walkthrough for this project for anyone looking to do something similar to an A8 (saw walkthroughs for other models).

Shout out to awdinut for his post on doing the same.

STEERING WHEEL WALKTHROUGH (pics to follow at some point - I took a few but it's way easy):
1) The airbag is screwed in with two screws on either side of the wheel - turn the wheel to the right angle to access these from the bottom (T20 screwdriver), then turn ~180 degrees to do the same on the other side. Don't worry about pulling the screws out (although I did - also you don't need to take anything off of the steering column, another thing I worried about but didn't need to).
2) Undo a battery terminal (I did + due to easier access), and put something between the terminal post and the cord.
3) Remove airbag gently undoing clips (my original had 3, last one for the heated steering wheel that doesn't pull out and stays in the old wheel).
4) T55 socket to remove the center 'screw' holding the wheel to the column (don't worry about marking the wheel spoke you're on - it only fits on one way, the right way).
5) Remove and reverse.

My current wheel has the paddle shifters which don't work now and need to be programmed. My local dealer estimated $1800 for this job - it took me 1 hr of actual work. I'll try and have them change the setting cheaply when I'm in for the 75K in the next couple of months.

Love the forum, and once again, glad to be here.

 

Nice job. I been thinking of doing the same thing. Did you reuse the airbag and cover?

Why not look around to see if anybody have Vag-Com(VCDS) in your area that can code it for you?

 

I've been considering this, but my steering wheel is four spoke, with a three screw airbag, and I didn't want to get into buying a new airbag and cover as well.

jcole21, I would venture that you could purchase VCDS (VAGCOM) and program it yourself for less than the cost of having the $tealer do it for you, then you get tiptronic and access to all the other VCDS cool stuff too...

K9

 

I did just reuse the old bag. Super easy and love the look/feel - thing is like butter man.

 

Mine was a four spoke too - only 2 screws in the airbag though.

Think I might pick up VCDS. Need to research further though, I was thinking for some reason it was more like $700 but in another thread they said like $350, so that makes it a bit of an easier decision. Might lower also a bit, so could make sense...

I should add - going from the 4 spoke heated to the 3 spoke wood/tiptronic wheel generated no service codes or anything along those lines.

 

I think it's very cool that your diving in to do this. but to me, the leather feel of the wheel as well as the four spoke is much better IMO. I don't like the feel of the wood one, nor do I find the paddle shifters as much of a benefit at all; barely ever use the tip-tronic anyway.

But glad to see you diving into this. You can easily recode what steering wheel you have with vcds.

 

It's the 'what product do I need' page on the Ross-Tech (makers of the VCDS software and cables, among other things.

I paid $349 for mine, and it is awesome. It pretty much paid for itself just coding a new battery I put on the car, rather than having the dealer do it.

Their customer support is excellent, as is the Vag-Com forum on here.

Take the plunge dude. I lowered mine with their software, here she is:



K9

 

Damn K9, appreciate the info but your car is gorgeous. Love the lowered/rim setup.

Vag-com here I *** (hahaha - vag come is hilarious to me, maybe I should grow up)!!!

 

Thanks guy - it's definitely a preference thing. I did the same on my prior car (2000 Range Rover) - I just love the woodgrain look/feel. The paddle shifters are a definite added bonus to me - don't know how much I'll use them, but I definitely will (it's pretty cool to me).

 

Link's in your inbox..




OOOhhhh, Vag... just saw it! I'll never say it with a 'hard' 'G" again, thanks to you...
Grow up? Nah... my grandfather said to me once, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" I said, "I want to be a police officer!" He replied, "You can't do both son, you'll have to choose..."

Needless top say, I chose being a career cop. LOL

K9