Steering Wheel Swap?

[Prime]

So the top of my steering wheel is coming apart a little. And it's driving me nuts.

Rather than just replace it w/ another plastic/rubber X steering wheel, I'm thinking about grabbing a leather wheel from a similar vintage Altima and swapping that in its place. The cruise buttons look different but are laid out the same. So that should be easy. Maybe could get some stereo control buttons as well? I'd really need to check the diameter of the wheel and make sure the Altima one is no bigger. Because I like the size of the X steering wheel.

The parts seem to be readily available on eBay and even the airbag isn't that expensive. Probably $150 in parts.

Anyone ever done this?

 

[Diadaga]

Only one I can think of is when somebody swapped in the leaf steering wheel.

Sent from my mansion in Grouchland.

 

[Roadwarrior]

Pro-2x swapped a steering wheel into his 2nd gen, it had more options and was done effectively, I don't see why this wouldn't work. You could potentially end up with some buttons that don't work, but that is if you had a surplus of buttons.

 

[Prime]

Well that's what I'm thinking about. the buttons are attached to the air bag. So as long as I get an airbag that has only the cruise buttons, those should work just fine. If I get one that has all the volume and other controls on the other side, those might not work. though I might be able to make them work. though I don't know so I might just avoid the whole situation.

From recollection, all Nissan's seem to have the same diameter/spline count on the steering wheel. I swapped one in my wife's old Stanza for a nice leather one from an early 90's Pulsar. And it was plug and play.

 

[Roadwarrior]

Well that's what I'm thinking about. the buttons are attached to the air bag. So as long as I get an airbag that has only the cruise buttons, those should work just fine. If I get one that has all the volume and other controls on the other side, those might not work. though I might be able to make them work. though I don't know so I might just avoid the whole situation.

From recollection, all Nissan's seem to have the same diameter/spline count on the steering wheel. I swapped one in my wife's old Stanza for a nice leather one from an early 90's Pulsar. And it was plug and play.

It would be nice if you could wire in buttons to an aftermarket head unit, that way you have the best of both worlds. The only flaw in that plan is I don't know if those could be a straight wire connection or if they would have to go through a motherboard somewhere along the circuit. If they were a direct connections this would be an awesome mod for those avid modders out there. Think about telling your friends you swapped steering wheels, you wired in the headunit and connected it to the new steering wheels.

 

[Prime]

Most of the steering wheel controls for the radio, go through the bus of the vehicle and then in order to connect it to an aftermarket head unit, it takes a specific adapter module. Doable, but I'm not sure it'll be worth my time.

 

[NismoFire]

It would be nice if you could wire in buttons to an aftermarket head unit, that way you have the best of both worlds. The only flaw in that plan is I don't know if those could be a straight wire connection or if they would have to go through a motherboard somewhere along the circuit. If they were a direct connections this would be an awesome mod for those avid modders out there. Think about telling your friends you swapped steering wheels, you wired in the headunit and connected it to the new steering wheels.

You can do this, but it's not cheap. I was going to do it when I got my new HU. JEverett found an adapter for me, but now I can't find the link...

 

[Prime]

So, actually, the Sentra looks a little better.

Wheel
Airbag
brand new cruise buttons

It has the finger gussets at the 10/2 positions, leather, and looks small. Which is one of the things I like about the current X steering wheel.

 

[Prime]

Okay, so I got the leather Sentra steering wheel delivered today. There might be a problem. I think the wheel will bolt up just fine and I have verified that the new wheel is the same diameter as the old one. HOWEVER! It seems that the airbag uses different plugs. There is only one plug on the Sentra and the X has two plugs. Which tells me there is something different about the SRS system. On top of that, I think the plugs on the clock spring are different.

ARG!!!!

I did find out that a leather steering wheel was available for the X from the factory. And the one that I found is not that much more than buying all the Sentra stuff.

So I might have to go that route.

 

[gots_a_sol]

Bummer, was hoping you'd have some luck with this. (need to replace the nasty ass wheel in my X)

 

[shinygoldturd]

ok so this thread has died but has anyone checked the spline size and diameter of the
steering shaft ? I've been looking In to a quick release with a after market racer one for my 2002 idc about he air bag just another light on in the dash.