Yeah the 4.6 has a different wheel to the 4.8. Just about anyone that has a pre-facelift can use the existing round airbag. Only those who have a very early X with 4 spoke wheel will have to buy the round airbag also.

Sudesh, I own a very similar model as yours, and I would like to do the mod, BUT I can't figure out it's so "simple" !

Can you tell us exactly what you changed and what you modified ?
I understand we need to buy a complete new steering wheel... by the way, what's the Part N° and how much did you pay for it (without airbag) ?

Now, if you read the DIY mod here : http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...threadid=63211
... you will see much more changes than what you did, particularly the SMG steering column, CD-ROM cables and so on.

Did you associate directly the up/down wires connected to the shift lever to those coming from the paddles of the wheel ? Can you explain that more clearly please ?
Can I ask you to take a picture of the wiring on the shift lever side ?

Ok let me put together a bit of a write up and simplify what I did. The CD rom way on the link you provided is ok but you have alot of messy wires and connectors that are not needed. My way is very neat and tidy and easy to do. You dont have to be an electrical expert either and there is no cutting or damage to original wiring. I'll put together something and post it up shortly.

Nice. The writeup will be greatly appreciated. I have been having a hard time with having to consider paying $250+ for a wiring harness for this mod.

i dont understand, u installed smg on a manual x5?? how does it work? and what did u do with the x5's clutch pedal and the stick? im confused lol

No my X is not manual!! You cannot get a 4.6 or 4.8 in manual.

Ok so here is what I did, its the best I can do as a write up and if I make any spelling mistakes etc I'll edit after..........

Ok here is the what I purchased from BMW to do the SMG mod

EVERYONE IS BEST TO GET THEIR OWN PRICES FROM THE DEALERS AS THEY ALL SEEM TO VARY.

1. SMG Steering wheel part number 32342282222
2. SMG Slipring Part number 61318379091
3. Qty 1 Plug part number 61138352580
4. Qty 4 Female Bushing CONTACT 0,2- 0,5MM Part Number 61130005197
5. Qty 2 Male PIN-CONTACT 0,2- 0,5MM² Part Number 61130005198

Finally the only part that I did not purchase from BMW was a length (approx 4ft so I wouldn’t leave myself short), of black insulated cables. Purchased from local electrical shop. It’s the same cable that would be used as a power lead for your home stereo, or CD player etc.

Here are the pics of how I put the wiring together.

First pics is the wire I purchased from the electrical store
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...d/DSC00641.jpg

At both ends of the wire I sheared the black insulation to reveal the 2 wire I need to work with
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...d/DSC00652.jpg

Then again at both ends you need to cut back the 2 wires to expose the wire core
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...d/DSC00653.jpg

You then start attaching 2 female bushing contacts to the exposed cores. I first attached the 2 bushing contact like so
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...d/DSC00657.jpg

Then pushed the 2 female contacts into the 2 plug which looks like this
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...d/DSC00662.jpg

At this stage thats one end of it wired up bont worry about the bare wires just yet.

What you do at the other end is you attach 1 male and 1 female contact to one exposed core then attach another male and another female contact to the other exposed core so basically from 2 wire you end up with 4! It goes a bit like this.

This is a pic with the 2 female contacts attached
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...d/DSC00654.jpg

The I added in a male to one side
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...d/DSC00660.jpg

And a male to the other
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...d/DSC00658.jpg

Then the finish at that end
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...d/DSC00663.jpg

And thats it!! Wiring loom is all finished. I made sure all the connections were tight used some solder just for extra grip and then used insulating tape so none of the exposed core was touching!! So what you end up with is, at one end of the loom you have a socket that plugs into the SMG slip ring and the other end you have 4 pins the go into the plugs at the gear shift.

Sudesh - have you tried Scotchlok wire splicers? It will make the job much tidier.

I havent done a write up on removing swapping the wheels over as I’m sure most know how that done. Remember to disconnect your battery so you don’t get the Airbag light or set it off.

Anyway for everyone wondering what you do with the 4 pins on the loom. Here you go.

When you install your NEW SMG loom at the end where the loom meets the gear shift you you will see this plug. I'm using another Pic to illustrate as I dont have one yet.
http://e46.mit.edu/Images/X5_Paddles...t/IM000237.JPG

Unplug it and, on the male plug you will see 4 wires colors Grey purple blue green. Some 1999/2000 models might have different colors but dont worry about that as the key wires are the 2 inside wires on all years.
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...teptronic1.jpg

You need to remove the 2 inside wire by sliding out the 2 male pins that are in the Steptronic plug. To do this you need to slide the black housing off, it only goes one way.
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...d/IM000243.jpg

The you get a tooth pick or something similar and push out the 2 inside pins. The 2 inside pins work like a spring release you just push down gently while slowly pulling the wires out of the steptronic plug

Once you have got the male pins out of the steptronic plug push them into the female contact of your NEW SMG loom. Then push the male pins on your NEW SMG loom back into the STEPTRONIC plug where you just removed the removed the 2 PINS.

And that’s it installed. Put everything back together and connect everything up. But dont put the trim around the gearshift together yet. Reason I’m saying this is so you can check to make sure + is up on your paddles and - is down. If it’s not just interchange the 2 wire at the point where you pushed the 2 male pins from the steptronic plug into the female contacts of your NEW SMG loom.

I cant really explain it much better than that without doing a video of it all!! Hope it helps and if anyone need any help just let me know………………

I havent! My loom is already done and wont be coming out plus it was perfectly tidy when you see it all together and soldered securely and then insulated. It just looked like one complete loom!