DIY: Install M Performance Electronic Steering Wheel

[ashmostro]

Originally Posted by thebadboy

Hello, I received the steering wheel for my M2 Competition but there are no assembly instructions.
There is only the manual.

Someone would like to give me the assembly plan that corresponds to my car or tell me if in ISTA+ I can find the assembly instructions.

Thanks for your help

Instructions on getbmwparts.com

[thebadboy]

thank you, you are the best. With this assembly plan, which dates from 2016, does everything work correctly after assembly?

[ashmostro]

Originally Posted by thebadboy

thank you, you are the best. With this assembly plan, which dates from 2016, does everything work correctly after assembly?

I used this instruction set on my 2020 M2cs and it worked great.

Drop a line if you run into any issues.

[ashmostro]

BTW what the instructions do not tell you clearly is that to get to the door connector wiring X5*1B you need to remove the central screw holding in the white relay panel in the passenger footwell. Then you will be able to get to the X5*1B door wiring from the space between the panel and the inner fender wall.

Also, since this is potentially a "wet side" of the car, I opted to use solder and hermetic heat shrink tubing to tap into pins 14 and 27 of X5*1B instead of the supplied taps. Just a personal preference since I'd rather not have to take all that crap off to get back into the fender for maintenance if I can avoid it!

Good luck.

[thebadboy]

do you have to undo the door connector?, I thought the connections were going under the glove box! I read the plan but it is not very clear I hope to get there because knowing where to connect the cables is not very clear

[ashmostro]

Yeah I did undo the door connector (the easy part tbh). It's possbile there is an easier way but I didn't discover one.

All of your connectors not at the steering wheel itself are behind the passenger 1/4 panel footwell cover. The diagrams are indeed terrible.

[thebadboy]

you can explain to me. If the CANBUS plugs are at the passenger's feet, why undo the plug from the door? Another question, the ground cable connects to the floor or did you take a ground on an existing lamp or other?

[ashmostro]

Originally Posted by thebadboy

you can explain to me. If the CANBUS plugs are at the passenger's feet, why undo the plug from the door? Another question, the ground cable connects to the floor or did you take a ground on an existing lamp or other?

I was wondering the same thing and actually looked at the wiring diagram on ISTA which told me that the wires on the door assembly are for power and ignition sense. BMWs have many different logical power terminals due to their DME's being "smart" and powering off different systems at different times, rather than the more traditional and simplistic power, ignition, accessory, ground. So I decided not to take any chances and stuck with the extra steps to get to the X5*1B wires.

As for the ground, I used the grounding point indicated in the instructions, which is deeper into the footwell, kind of at the seam between the foot "rest" area and the right side quarter panel/fender.

[thebadboy]

awesome, thanks for the advice. You can still help me. I looked in ISTA+ (I'm new to this program) I can't find the steering wheel assembly plans. you can tell me where to go in ISTA to have all the information on this steering wheel. THANKS

[ashmostro]

Originally Posted by thebadboy

awesome, thanks for the advice. You can still help me. I looked in ISTA+ (I'm new to this program) I can't find the steering wheel assembly plans. you can tell me where to go in ISTA to have all the information on this steering wheel. THANKS

I don't think you will find anything on the accessory part on ISTA. I only used it to find wiring diagrams for the factory configuration.

I simply did a word search within ISTA to find those pages.

[thebadboy]

OK, one more question. I have a doubt with the color codes of the cables. what color corresponds to BL/RT, RT and RT/GR?
BL= blue but RT=? GR=?

Sorry to ask you stupid questions, but concerning X5*1B it's the plug that is in the door, so you have to go through the rubber protection where all the wires go?.

Did you use the connections provided or do you know how to solder all the wires?

[ashmostro]

Not a problem at all friend.

The door connector needs to first be disconnected, which allows for the inner connector where the wires you need to splice in to, to be released and accessible. Then you need to loosen the white relay box like I mentioned earlier, and squeeze your hand in to get to the door connector wiring loom. I also took the loom and re routed it temporarily around the back of the relay box so i could pull the whole loom for it out the front of the relay box and get a lot more room to work (this will make a lot more sense when you get inside this area).

Here are some photos of X5*1B (some mine and some from other threads) that should help.

[thebadboy]

great, all is much clearer to me.

for the color codes? BL/RT=? GR=?

We arrive at the end of the plan and one more thing which is not understandable for me, the CONTROL UNIT (B), what is it that must be connected in it?

Fortunately, forums and great people exist

[ashmostro]

Remember these are German instructions

RT = ROT = RED
GR = GRAU = GREY
BL = BLAU = BLUE

That said, I always rely on the pin number first, then verify I have counted correctly via the color.

The control unit is the easy part in that it connects to the provided harness directly, not to the car.

[thebadboy]

now everything is clear in my head... finally I hope

[ashmostro]

Good luck, and don't rush it. Always better to do it right the first time!

[thebadboy]

I spotted and noted all the cables to make it easier, the blue and white A7 wire is the only one that connects to the steering wheel?, all the rest goes to the passenger side modules?

[ashmostro]

Yes there is only one wire that goes to the steering wheel. Removing the dash trim helps make routing the wire cleanly behind the dash very easy. Highly recommend that approach.

[thebadboy]

THANKS

[ashmostro]

Originally Posted by thebadboy

THANKS

[thebadboy]

the green and brown cables are both connected to pin X5*1B using G connectors, why does the brown cable have a metal connector? is it because before it was necessary to connect under the carpet at the level of the GND and that now the connection is made at the level of the door?

[ashmostro]

Sorry yes you are correct. I forgot that the ground location moved and the BR cable that goes to the door harness is the only ground cable to connect. Apologies!

You can cut off the ring terminal from the retrofit ground wire before you splice into the door ground (that's what I did).