SMG M3 Paddleshift steering wheel install
 

Recently purchased a used SMG M3 steering wheel on eBay. I Dyed and fixed some worn areas with kit from LeatherWorld. It came with 8 button upper trim that I sent off to have redone in CF. I purchased a CF lower trim. I added longer paddles in CF to match and to make it much easier to shift, especially when turning. There were several sets of instructions available but they either had no pictures or were for an E46, Rover or Mercedes that are somewhat to much different. I did pick up several tips which prompted me to use BMW connectors and pins. The install is plug and play cutting into no existing wires. I was pleasantly surprised that my X5 had the steering wheel control unit that includes the 2 prong connector for paddle shift. The install took about 3 hours with several detours to deal with mystic gremlins. Total all inclusive cost was $558. It is a WOW mod! Lots of fun and Soooo much better that using the shifter in manual mode. I should have done this years ago.

Very cool! Your interior is looking really badass now.

Looks good .Three hours to installed the wheel?

Should have taken less time. Without clear instructions I had to sit and ponder quite a lot.
One of the instructions said the wire length from the transmission was 3 feet. It was more like 4 feet so I had to redo that part of the harness, to do so I had to take it all out. I also had a bad connector, my fault, that I ended up doing continuity checks to find which wire was not working. That was after I had tried several ways to connect the harness wires to the connectors, thinking that was what was wrong. The paddles I bought came with the hinges and they were on the wrong hinges, Took some time before I caught on to that prank. Plus, I had to re-install the wheel twice because I had the steering wheel control a little off which sets off the DCS light, luckily I found that out before I had it all back together. I chalk it up to gremlins rather than beating myself up for not thinking out the install. Time taken does not include restoring the wheel. That took 3 days as I had to let each coat of the dye cure for 24 hours. I will be happy to post the process without the blunders if anyone is interested. I have removed the air bag a few times, that always takes some time to find the springs.

I forgot, the biggest delay was because one of paddles didn't seat properly so the paddles wouldn't swift, again I thought I had made a wiring mistake so I checked the paddles last it was then I noticed one side didn't feel like the other.

Nice. The steering wheel fits right at home on an E53.
If and when I do this, I would use a Merc AMG paddles instead. The SMG looks too big and long for my taste.

The paddles are long to make it easy to shift when turning and easy to find when you are concentrating on your driving. They are aftermarket paddles rather than OE SMG.

To each his own.

Hi there,
There are a few people this side of the pond who would like to do this mod.
So a ''how to'' would be very much appreciated.

Lez

I will provide you with some of the most important pictures and a complete list of parts and written narrative. There are several links that will take you to instructions but I couldn't find one that had both pictures and narrative except in a language I couldn't read.
I will also pass on the tips that will help you get it done faster and smoother. Give me over the coming weekend though I will start today and may have it sooner. The link above is one I looked over but it was not near enough to get the job done effectively.