john981

Hi,

Just got the new steering wheel for my 981 and was wondering if there are any risks/dangers especially with the airbag when you swap your steering wheel. There are many DYI instructions/videos which make it seem pretty straight forward. Has anyone here hear about any airbag issues/accidents or other problems after steering wheel swaps? I am still deciding if I do it myself or give it to my Independent mechanic. Dealership is out of question, they want 650 for the labor!! Thank you in advance,

John

MyNameIdeasWereT

Always disconnect your battery before tampering with an airbag. But there is not risk of accidentally setting it off in your face.
Are you reusing the same airbag or installing a new one? The 987 doesn't matter, but I'm not sure if the 981 needs to be reprogrammed for a new airbag.

The airbag can be really tight, a few videos make it look overly easy. It's a workout, but it can be done!

Make sure all the electrical plugs are reconnected before hooking the battery back up and starting the car. Otherwise, you will get an SRS error message that can't be cleared with a standard code reader. Some of the higher end units can clear these codes, as can the cheap iCarSoft Por II handheld, which is cheaper than the code clearing fee the dealer would charge.

lotusfla

when the dealer replaced my steering wheel they crushed one of the blue connectors so that the horn was stuck on after I used the horn. there is a channel in the steering wheel for the wiring for the airbag. make sure the wiring is in the channel when you place the airbag back into the steering wheel or you too will crush the connector.

Kuro Neko

A short summary of my 987.2 replacement process is here, including a few tips and observations.
Basically, a low-risk, high reward process!

john981

Thank you (and arigato) for all the tips. I decided to bring the car to my Independent Porsche guy, he swaps the wheel for 100 Dollars. Even though job sounds pretty simple and I probably could do it easily, I think 100 Dollars is worth the peace of mind to have it done by a professional. My Mechanic is really good and knows what he is doing and it sounded that he has done plenty of these swaps.

john981

Just wanted to report back. My Indy did the swap today in less than 10 minutes. I was shocked that he did it without disconnecting the battery, but he said that he has done it million times and the biggest risk is any static electricity coming from him! He is a certified Porsche mechanic, so I trusted he is doing the right thing but just kept a healthy safety distance :-) Everything went perfectly smooth, most of the time he spent was to go get his tools and align the wheel. It was also surprising to see that the alignment mark of the stock steering wheel didn't match 100% with the alignment mark of the car, so the mechanic replicated exactly the same off position. Afterwards we went for a ride to make sure that alignment was perfect and everything else worked properly and at the end he charged me 50 bucks! Could I have done it myself? sure, but I think the 50 dollars were well spent.

HETPE3B

What nice original wheels are there for 987 with manual transmission? Base wheel look... well... thin and not fun at all.

bassie81

MyNameIdeasWereT

On what wheels? Every steering wheel I have removed (Porsche or not) has a hole in the back/bottom to insert a screw driver.

john981

That is only the case when you use a second hand steering wheel. The hole of the new ones is still sealed.

@MyNameIdeasWereT : he is referring to the fact that this hole is sealed with the plastic and when you first time remove the airbag, you have to poke through the plastic to be able to put the screwdriver inside the hole.

Fined

Who the hell is checking the underside of the steering wheel for a 1cm hole when the car doesn't have any reported accidents or paintwork? I swear some of the daffy stuff that comes up on rennlist..


Potential buyer:

"Car looks excellent, nearly perfect... I'm ready to buy it but I see there is a tiny hole here in the bottom of the steering wheel, I always check for this right after I run my tongue along the underside of the exhaust outlets to see if there is any carbon deposit"

MyNameIdeasWereT

Ah, that makes sense.
Though a good percentage of the Porsche owners I have spoken with have upgraded their steering wheels... So I wouldn't let this be a scare for the resale value. A serious buyer in the market will appreciate what they're buying.

jeffm

Over the years, I have removed and/or replaced at least a half dozen steering wheels. They all have had a release point (small round hole) in either the bottom of the wheel, or in one case, one on each side. I have never seen this hole covered from the manufacturer.

Back to the OP, the wheel looks great! If my Indy only charged a $100 for this service, I would probably take him up on it during my next service appointment.

Kuro Neko

I have removed wheels from delivery km cars, and purchased brand new wheels direct from Porsche - none have had their airbag spring removal port punctured.
Depending on how violent the puncture is, the holes often self-heal as the material is quite pliable.
There is however also an indentation a few mm wide (not 1cm), to assist location for cover piercing, and this may also look like a hole.

As other's have noted though, who cares?
Hole or no hole, it matters zero.

As a side-note, a screwdriver is not the best tool to try and engage the release springs simply due to surface area and alignment, a 4 or 5mm hex extension is much easier and safer, as it avoids the slipping off the spring if not on the right angle issue.

jimfuerst

I changed my stock 997.2 steering wheel to the Porsche Sport Steering Wheel last month. I bought the new wheel from Suncoast. The new wheel did have a little plastic cover over the indent for the airbag release. We had to pierce it to readjust the wheel. It was very easy to change the wheel, but I had to bring the car to the dealer to reprogram the computer to recognize it so that the readouts in the wheel for sport/sport plus/launch control light up when those functions are activated. The paddle shifters worked fine without the computer upgrade. The steering wheel swap was very easy.