BMW E36 E46 E39 Z3 Z4 X3 X5 – Fitting Instructions for Steering Wheel Spacer

• The spacer kit comes pre-assembled: you don’t need to unscrew any of the bolts that hold the spacer assembled.
• disconnect the battery first: to avoid airbag warning lights after assembling, ensure the battery is disconnected and wait 30 min before airbag removal, to let residual electric power discharge
• Bmw started a recall action on E46 airbags since a couple of years, please check if you are done with it.
• park the car with straight wheels: before starting the installation, make sure the wheels are straight, because BMW’s splined shaft has many teeth and no marker, so it’s very easy to miss a tooth and have the steering wheel slightly off center at the end of the procedure.
• handle all harnesses with care: be careful while dis-connecting the plugs. Avoid pulling hard the harnesses accidentally from the connector on the rotating contact (clockspring). Otherwise, you may hear an annoying “click” while rotating the steering wheel, requiring re-opening for fixing. Gently handling during installation is not a problem, no need to overworry about this.

Steering wheel removal

Step 1: remove the airbag unit

Pull out the airbag unit from the steering wheel. Depending on the car, the airbag is locked on the steering wheel thanks to 2 torx screws or 2 clip springs.
Unscrew the bolts (usually they’re behind the spokes of the steering wheel), or unlock the 2 clamp springs by pushing a flat screwdriver into the 2 holes
at the sides of the steering wheel, behind the spokes. Grinding a bit of the screwdriver in the middle of the flatness point, making a kind of “C,” will
help you find the clamp springs and push them.

Step 2: unplug all connectors

Start with the one (or two, depending on the model year of the car) on the airbag. Store the airbag in a safe place during installation, far away from people
AND CHILDREN. You can even leave the pending wires connected to the airbag, just unplug the wires themselves on the clockspring assembly side.

Step 3: unscrew the main bolt

Unscrew the main bolt in the center of the steering wheel and pull out the steering wheel BEFORE REMOVING THE SCREW! Leave the screw in for a turn or two.
This is because, after years, the steering wheel (aluminum-made) and the shaft might have created a kind of “glued-effect,” making it hard to extract the steering wheel, which can hit your face and damage the harness.

Step 4: remove the steering wheel

When you’re sure that the steering wheel slides on the shaft, you can remove the big central screw and the steering wheel itself. Make all wires and connectors
go out from the slot just above the center of the steering wheel itself.

Step 5: extending the wires

Depending on the car, you may need to extend the airbag or steering wheel command wires because they’re too short to be easily reconnected:

• E36: No need to extend the wires; some car owners reported the need to cut and extend one blue wire.
• non E36 cars: Extend the 4-pin steering commands wire using the supplied harness. For SMG/SSG cars, extend the paddleshifter wires too,
  using the 2-pin supplied harness.

Fitting the Spacer

Step 1: extra step for E36 only

E36 clockspring is mounted on the back side of the steering wheel, not on the car’s steering column like all other cars. Remove the clockspring assembly from the steering wheel (unscrew the 3 small bolts) and refit it on the back of the steering wheel spacer using the same 3 screws. Make the wires run across the slot inside the steering wheel spacer, then proceed as non-E36 cars.

Step 2: insert the spacer

Insert the steering wheel spacer into the shaft, ensuring the two pins on the clockspring assembly going in the corresponding holes in the spacer
(one hole is “open” as part of the slot on the top side). In while, gently pass the OEM harness through the spacer’s slot.

Step 3: re-install the steering wheel

Fit the steering wheel on the spacer’s shaft, which replicates the car’s one. Insert the long big bolt through the central bore, tighten it and store the OEM shorter bolt for future use.

Step 4: re-install the airbag

Go with the aibag close to the steering wheel, reconnect all connectors, respectig color-match and orientation, and pre-align it inside the steering wheel housing ensuring no wires are stretched, pinched, or pressed by the airbag unit itself. Refit the airbag (press if clamped, bolt if bolt on) and reconnect the battery.

If you did everything right:

• there are no warning lights. 
• The stalk levers returns automatically.
• You don’t hear noises or clicks when you turn the wheel.
• Steering effort feels as prior the installation.
• The steering wheel buttons, if available on the car, must all work immediately.
• The horn works.
• The existing steering wheel adjustments (both tilt and depth) works.
• No break-in period is necessary and the steering wheel, when driving, must be as straight as before.
• It may be that at idle the steering wheel vibrates slightly more than before, due to the greater distance from the engine, which is the source of vibrations.