Anyone encounter this with their 996 steering wheel? It's such a simple thing which is why I'm perplexed. 2 T30 torx screws at the back to secure the center airbag section. Threads in great, but as soon as I tighten the 2 sides, the airbag gets misaligned and the bottom part sticks upwards.

If I loosen the screws, the airbag seats back down fine. I don't see how I can misalign threading in 2 screw points.

 

This is driving me crazy because I can't figure out why there is such a big misalignment when the 2 screws are tightened at the back. I can't see ANYTHING wrong. Even double checked if the carrier was on tight and it is

 

is this a modified SW?
If so, perhaps that is the issue.

 

Will it seat flush on the wheel without the screws?
In other words the screws are to retain it, not to pull it tight to the wheel.

 

Yes, as soon as I loosen the screws it seats fine. But something is up because for sure those screws need to be tight, or else that airbag will bounce around when you're driving and potentially eject completely into your face when deployed

 

Sounds to me like your screws are somehow cross threaded. These are always tricky screws to get in for me.

 

Threads are very clean and goes in by hand without issue. I feel like something is up with the carrier being bent or this is the wrong airbag for the wheel or something, I have no idea. So annoying to wait months to get the wheel upholstered and then encounter a dumb problem like this.

 

Take the steering wheel off the column and install the airbag. Obviously, the wheel normally has to be mounted on the column when you install the airbag, but you might get a better feel about what's going on here this way. Those screws are very finicky when the wheel is mounted. You're right -- the carrier could be bent and you need to check out the install from all sides while it's off the column.

 

I repeat.
is this a modified SW?
If so, perhaps that is the issue.

 

Mounting tab on wheel bent?
Seat the airbag.
Only put in one screw. I bet as it comes tight, the other side is lifted.

 

It was reupholstered. I fail to see how redoing the leather on the perimeter of the wheel and face of the airbag would have any impact on its positioning only when fully tightened. This has to be related to the metal backside of the airbag or the metal carrier interface.

Nothing looks out of the ordinary and it looks really difficult to bend the carrier on the inside of the wheel due to how thick the metal is and how structural that area is. When I tighten down one side, the same thing happens, the bottom starts to lift up and misalign.

I'm at a loss. Only thing I can think of is to buy another 996 wheel and airbag and use it to compare.

 

Was it ok before it was recovered? If so its something they have done! Either bent something or added too much leather somewhere

 

Is it me or does the leather on the 3 and 9 oclock positions on the wheel look like it is coming into contact with the airbag?

I have a factory leather wrapped airbag and 996 3 spoke wheel and the airbag fits in and out without any rubbing..

OP: How does yours fit?

 

Again, if I don't tighten the 2 screws at the back all the way, the airbag sits in there perfectly. It's as soon as I tighten one of them that the bottom pulls up and things get misaligned.

 

Can you hold down on the bottom of the airbag and tighten the screws to prevent it from lifting up?