swapping steering wheel with a e39
 

Decided to swap out the sport wheel in my wife's '03 e53 with my 4 spoke heated wheel from my '03 e39. Im assuming its not gonna be a straight swap since the x5 most likely wont have the pre-wiring for heated steering. You guys think i can also swap the slip ring from my e39 and the e53? also you think the relay from my e39 will fit the e53??

looks like e53 and e39 uses the same slipring part, also the relay is a universal fit, sot everything should be straight fit. Gonna doing the swap soon, so i'll keep you guys posted.

There is an excellent write-up for retrofitting a heated steering wheel on the main X5world page.