Steering wheel upgrades

[Ricky Bobby]

Bumping the thread because I picked this up yesterday in my steering wheel search:

04 BMW M3 ///M Steering Wheel Assembly R18033


I would have loved to go the "Meinlenkrad" route and get it fully recovered, and still may do that someday to this wheel, but for the price I couldn't pass up the M3 wheel. Pics coming soon although you all know what it looks like.

I checked USPS for shipping and its about 60 bucks to ship to Germany, plus Meinlenkrad takes 1-3 days for refurbishment and then they send back to you. I wasn't going to have my X parked for 3 weeks without a steering wheel installed which is a big reason why I ended up buying the M3 wheel.


If someone is looking to go the Meinlenkrad route and send the stock wheel to Germany for refinishing, I have a pre-facelift sport steering wheel in perfect shape I can sell you so that you have an extra and can drive your X, but I'm not looking to break rules on the forums so if there is any interest please PM me, the wheel is for sale on Bimmerforums as well.

[tmv]

Nice find RB.

[MANGO]

That's definitely a great deal!

A note on Meinlenkrad. I've had the chance to qualify them on two occasions now. The first time I sent them a wheel, they turned it around in less than a day. One month tops. I received the wheel and the quality and workmanship is great. Superb. Couple of things worth mentioning though:
1. The instructions the way I wanted the wheel refurbished were not followed accurately. I asked for a solid leather lower, they instead covered it in alcantara. Not a big deal since they did a great job with the workmanship.
2. The internals (i.e. spring mechanism, wire harnesses) they removed and did not re-install. Don't even know why they removed them since they weren't part of the work order. Again, not a big deal but I did have to wait an extra 4 weeks to receive these parts after the fact.
3. They did not add thickness as I instructed.
Overall satisfaction: 80%. It would've been a hundred if these issues were not factored in.

When I was talking to Joanna, the Meinlenkrad contact, her conversational English was acceptable but I did sense there were some things that were lost in translation. So prior to sending her the first wheel, I printed out a photo of the wheel and highlighted the sections of what I wanted done, included that with the wheel as I thought, the more detailed the instructions, especially with pictures, the better off I'll be in getting the order correct, especially from across the pond. I was redundant with these instructions on my email to her as well when I let her know the wheel was headed her way.

The second wheel I sent them, I did the same protocol, photo of the wheel included with the actual wheel itself with arrows to different sections of the wheel addressing certain material choices. This time I was even more detailed, including "ADD THICKNESS TO ENTIRE WHEEL". This time I took the liberty to remove all the internals myself so there's no issue in not getting those back.

When Joanna emailed me that the wheel was finished and she was going to ship it the next day, I pay for it then but also told her to hold on and asked her to send me a photo first of the final product to verify correctness. I learned my lesson with the first one. Three days pass and I remind her. Photo came in and just as I suspected, it was not accurate. The top and bottom sections were done in reverse contrary to the instructions I provided. Three days pass. Joanna said if I would like to accept a 15% discount because they did not want to do the work all over.

I said please fix it the way I was expecting it to be done since I already paid for it a 2 weeks back. So I go on Photoshop and added notes on the photo they sent of the wheel and re-sent it back to them.

A week pass. Joanna said it's ready to ship. I asked her "do I need to see another photo of it to make sure it's done correctly?" She said no, I think this time it's correct. 7 weeks later, after all that, I received it yesterday. Again, the craftsmanship is awesome. They were able to make the corrections. The problem:
Still no added thickness. I'm resigned at this point. It is what it is. I'm leaving it alone.

Lessons learned:
1. Remove all the steering wheel internals before you send it to Meinlenkrad
2. Ask for status reports (everyday if you have to!) from whomever you're in contact
with over there.
3. Ask for photo verification
4. Include a photo of your wheel with the wheel you're sending with arrowed
instructions
5. I don't think they do added thickness orders
6. The correspondence was a bit more challenging than I had anticipated.

One other item of note I found interesting that could shed some light on the loss in translation, when you send your wheel in, you're asked to attention it to a "Miroslaw Kobierski". Both times. When I paid for the wheel by Paypal, in going back at my Paypal transactions, the name of the receiving party was that of a Chinese national's. May or may not have any bearing on anything but Joanna said they do have technicians working on these wheels and if there are multiple nationalities there cranking these out who might not necessarily read and understand English, it can become a factor in getting things done accurately.

I was hoping I could get in front of the anticipated challenges of dealing with someone from a different country by providing pictorial instructions of what I wanted. Explaining these in English might not have helped as much I think.

Dennis Cooper, who is a UK based BMW enthusiast and long running member on some of the other U.S. BMW boards mentioned another possible vendor who's based in the UK.
He vouches for this outfit: Royal Steering Wheels | Exclusive look, unique feeling

I've bought brand new sets of wheels from Dennis before and I can vouch for his standards in high quality and if he finds that company to be good, I'd probably consider it. I might try this UK vendor next if I ever get my hands on another steering wheel that can benefit from refurbishing and if the price is competitive. I do see the allure of having a wheel product worked on directly from Germany as it adds to the German mystique of a German car. Question is, like anything these days, are actual Germans building these things?

Dennis did mention that this place works with German partners directly from Germany regarding their wheel work. If anything I'd use them as a work around to the loss in translation issue and let them handle the translating on behalf of your needs. Don't know their pricing as yet but if it's the same as Meinlenkrad's, I can definitely benefit from an English to English correspondence rather than an English to German translation.

Hope this helps out someone heading this route.


MANGO

[MANGO]

Just saw what I just wrote posted up.
Holy crap that's long! LOL!!!


MANGO

[bcredliner]

Great recap!

[ukrcan]

Great thread!

One question - can someone add thickness to a heated wheel?

[Ricky Bobby]

MANGO

Great writeup about Meinlenkrad, and I feel somewhat bad in a way because didn't i originally refer them to you in a way? Sorry to hear that you did not have 100% satisfaction, the guys on the E90 forum seemed to be happy.

Did you send your 4.8 wheel to get redone again, or did you leave it as is?

I was thinking about someday in the future sending the M3 wheel I just purchased, out for refurbishment, for added thickness, etc, but I won't know how it feels until I get it in my X. (I think the M3 wheel is slightly thicker anyway)

The UK shop you posted about seems like a viable option, I will look into them as well.


I always spoke to Joanna when I emailed Meinlenkrad, and not sure if she ever mentioned to me but she did tell me to totally strip the wheel down before shipment, including trim pieces and multifunction buttons, as they do not put it back together before sending back. Maybe she missed mentioning that to you.

Also, you're right her email English is great, however as a side note, if I or you were to ever send them another wheel, I would definitely translate my English instructions at least roughly to German, and make sure to get a picture before return shipment.

I know she mentioned to me, the entire wheel can be added extra thickness ("extra dick" in German lol), but it is subtle thickness, I don't think they add too much. Just have to read the German words and perhaps add them in your English instructions, see the title on the E70 steering wheel listing:

BMW X5 E70 E71 extra DICK Lenkrad Lederlenkrad Art 402a1 | eBay


Lastly MANGO, we need pics of your wheels! Which cars did they do them for?

[bcredliner]

Here is another source although I don't think they will add thickness. Also, you will need to translate instructions into Texacano.
Dallas Custom Steering Wheel

[Ricky Bobby]

DCSW was mentioned earlier in this thread, and do come highly recommended from many on the forum. They DO add thickness to the wheel, and come out to about 400 bucks for recovering of our E53 wheels.


The overseas options were slightly more affordable, coming in around 250 with the shipping costs, which is why I know MANGO gave them a try. However, the 150 or so in savings might not necessarily be worth it to some given the language barrier and execution of the orders as evidenced above.


Texacano btw = the real 'Murican English!

[bcredliner]

Ooopsie.