(I mistakenly closed the previous thread.) This may be a reprise of an earlier thread, but I am continuing to find it impossible to have the CORRECT M Tech 2 wheel installed in my car. The OEM part # is 222 6086. The guy who sold me the wheel said it needed an adapter ring to fit properly; this metal ring is about 2" in diameter with one beveled edge. Another fellow selling an M Tech 2 wheel on ebay told me it needs a bushing to fit properly. Two BMW mechanics told me it "didn't fit". (A third mechanic told me today that it's illegal to remove an OE air bag from an car and disable the SRS sensor ("a new law passed last October")). I hear about these wheels going into E30s all the time and see them advertised all the time for E30s. .I don't get it. OTOH it's probably just stupid to take out the airbag anyway because of safety and insurance concerns (and possible inspection problems). It's a 370mm wheel and I like the size and looks a lot more than the OE. __________________
IMHO I think verdict is still out whether airbags are actually useful. They seemed to have come into law because they are always active, unlike a seatbelt that actually requires the idiot driving to put it on. There are studies out there that showed airbags increased injury over just wearing your seat belt. So just be sure to where your seat belt!!!! I mean you can still get cars in Europe with no airbags, so that says a lot about our society. Way too safety conscious. But this is another debate entirely. As for your issue getting this wheel to fit. I helped my friend put a M-Tech I steering wheel on his airbagged E30 318is. We found a very simple solution at our local hardware store. Thick rings, think washers that just fit over the steering column, but over all diameter small enough to fit in the limited space. We bought about 5 or 6, less than a $1 each and just spaced it out till we had enough clearance between the turn signal stalk and the wheel itself, but made sure the wheel would still turn off the turn signal after a turn. So go down to your hardware store today, and attempt it. I would suggest taking your E30 and making sure you get the right sized rings/washers. Good Luck!
A study that I saw that popped up quite a bit on Google showed that air bags + seat belts decreased fatalities by about 10% over seat belts alone. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll see how that works.
Seat belts are mostly what save people. The case is that most of the time, people sit too close to the steering wheel, which would cause injury if it deployed. If I had an airbag car, I would be injured from it because I sit pretty close to the wheel (more control). This is usually why people get injured from a bag. If they sit farther back AND wear their seatbelt, the chance of injury is much smaller. This is common sense and there is no study required to know this. Anyway, I've got an event to prepare for but when I get back I'll research this a bit. Have you tried Google? Bimmerforums? R3vlimited? E30Tech?
I'm 99% positive that this is the right wheel for my car. I have seen no evidence that it isn't--except that qualified professionals have been unable (or unwilling) to get it on. It's an interesting hypothesis that they're UNWILLING because of liability implications in case I'm in an accident and get injured and it's determined that a bag would have prevented the injury. And I've heard that my insurance company(ies) would refuse to pay for accident related injuries if they know that my car was OEed with an airbag I had removed. If you remember the mystery as to why Botond's bottle caps wouldn't fit on me E30--well, here's another one. Maybe my car is a mutant. But I want to find out whether the wheel will fit, and then I will decide if I want to use it or not!
I have read on r3v limited that people just use washers to make it work. Go there and do a search. Never breathe a word that YOU did this. As far as you know, it was like that when you got the car.
Interesting. For each person, there's generally a 'zone' of seating position that, at least considering human ergonomics & physics, will generally be optimal for driving and car control. The driver's school typical explanation is you should be seated in your seat, able to depress the clutch fully without having to hyper-extend your leg, and your legs slightly bent at the knee (assuming you're in a vehicle where your seating position is somewhat elevated off of the floor, as in a typical BMW seat). The seatback should be in a position where you can touch the top of the steering wheel with the base of your wrists, without your shoulder breaking off of the seat. In a BMW, this typically works out to be a fairly upright position, depending on your body proportions. With the seatback angled thus, you should find that with your hands at the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions, your arms are fairly straight in front of you with your elbows slightly bent. Much closer or further away from the steering wheel than that, and you're simply not optimally placed for car control, generally speaking, or using the optimal muscle groups for steering control. So, Botond... are you in... "The Zone"?
You know it, baby! (Not that I'm calling you baby...) I'm finding the same thing that Paul just said. People are getting it to work with washers being in place. I don't know how it is for any other steering wheel in any other version of the E30, but in mine, there is a washer that goes in before the nut. This washer is about 1-2mm thick (haven't measured), but the wheel fits on perfectly even without it, so I don't think a washer will help in your case...
