OK Update (and a story to tell):
So long story short I got screwed out of that M3 wheel I posted up about a couple weeks ago. I placed my order in the afternoon 9/12, and got my confirmation email right after placing. The steering wheel said "in stock" when I ordered and added to my cart, and apparently the inventory was live (so if it wasn't available I couldn't add it)
Also this vendors website is quoted as "in stock items ship same day or next business day", so I expected it to be quickly. This was Thursday afternoon. Well Tuesday morning shows up and nothing, no shipping confirmation, etc. So I call up Slidegood, and say pretty much "where the hell is my steering wheel"
Guy gets back to me, John, nice guy, and he proceeds to tell me that there was a glitch in their system, because someone literally phoned in an order minutes before I placed mine online, and he was local (like 30 miles away) so the order went to him. Now, my
is SKY HIGH at this point, but I made nice with him because he had 200 bucks of my money at his mercy, and he was nice about it, apologetic, etc, told me he'd find me another, just give him a couple days. This was 8 days ago.
I had him give me updates daily, he came up dry on Wendesday, Thursday, Friday, and Monday. Found me a 2000 M5 wheel on Friday (no dice as its different design), and it was beat up anyway.
So yesterday, thank God, I got my money refunded to my paypal. Glad I got my money back but still kinda sour at the service. Do they really expect me to think that someone magically phoned in an order the same time as me, or "minutes before", and the inventory didn't update it fast enough? I ordered the wheel off their website, added to cart and said "in stock" then when I refreshed the page it said "out of stock" LOL!
I'm sure one of the workers there said "Holy shit that's a good price on an M3 wheel", phoned a buddy to get his ass down there and just figured they'd give me a good BS story when I asked where it was. Because there's no way, even if the order was "phoned in at the same time", would they not be updating the inventory while placing that phone order.
So fast forward to today and I still want an updated steering wheel, so I go on my favorite place, ebay.de and see who can speak the best English and who can get me what I want, while responding quickly. It seems this chap Sebastian Jamroz can, I ordered this exact wheel from him today, and asked him how much extra to keep my own wheel (aka order one of his in stock) and shipping to US. Total cost 184 Euro (249 USD). 40 Euro to keep my own wheel (as I don't want to deal with sending it overseas), and 34 Euro shipping to USA. He asked if I had wood trim on my wheel or plastic, as he had both, and told me it will look just like the picture. This listing is for a thickened wheel, as if you look at his other E46/E53 offerings some are not as thick.
If you send him a message through ebay as well, he responds fast, and I am a big fan of using Paypal/my credit card in conjunction with ebay for buyer protection, and he said no problem, just use Buy It Now, and wait to pay until he revised the invoice. Easy as can be, and he said he will send me a picture on Friday and ship it then. I'm happier this way anyway, probably the same market price as an E46 M3 wheel, but its freshly redone as new, and I won't be sporting the M badge on my lowly 3.0 (something I am somewhat against, although I made an exception when originally shopping for this steering wheel, the iS models get a pass)
Here is the listing that I purchased, you may look at his other options as he does different designs, leathers, stitching, etc, just inquire, and he does facelift wheels too!:
BMW E39 NFL x5 E46 Lederlenkrad Daumenauflage incl Tuning Teile Sport Lenkrad | eBay
-Thickened all around
-Added thumbrests
-Perforated leather on sides
-Solid leather top and bottom
-Black Stitching