mjfloyd1

Later Alex from euro price said that the vibration was from the steering column

Hockenheim

Neat. this thread doesn't say **** about how you actually remove the wheel, hence the purpose of this tread, to find that information.


http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...heel+solutions

tenspeed

<<<@!1!@>>>

This video seems to have general instructions. I didn't find anything for the C7 but this R8 install has similar wheel controls.


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edit - Anyone know why "<<<@!1!@>>>" appears at the top instead of the quote?

mjfloyd1

Can I do it myself or do I need special tools?

You merely need a short flathead screwdriver and an M12 triplesquare (12 point) bit or Torx T55 socket. The airbag unclips from behind and the wheel is removed by undoing the center nut and sliding it off

(This is clipped and pasted from Flat - Bottom Steering Wheel Guide thread on Audizine and is quoted from Alex@europrice) Hope that helps.

iBetterDoNow

Would you check your VCD software coding under address 16- steering wheel, if you have paddle shift 3-spoke wheel with "heated" feature?

I recently swapped 3-spoke paddle shift steering with a heated one, and need to turn on the heated coding.

iBetterDoNow

Here are the steps I took to replace the steering wheel myself.
1. power up the car
2. turn the steering wheel 90 degree, so the left spoke stay on 12 o'clock
3. use a mirror to view the airbag clip and push the holding rod upward allowing airbag clip pop away. Make sure don't pull the airbag !!
4. turn the steering wheel 180 degree to the other side, so the right spoke stay on 12 o'clock and repeat step 3. Make sure don't pull the airbag!! It is loose now.
5. shut down the car.
6. disconnect negative end of your car battery and wait 5 minutes
7. there is a yellow connector behind the airbag. There is a green latch on this yellow connector, pull the green latch toward you to enable you to disconnect yellow connector.
8. there is a flat 4 pin connector at the bottom behind the airbag, which provide power from the airbag to steering wheel MMI controls. Use a tiny screw driver to push the metal latch on this 4 pin connector to disconnect airbag from the wire.
9. the air bag can be put aside now, for there is no connected wire.
10. you need a M-12 tripple sqare socket to remove the wheel

After reconnect the airbag and battery, system time was the only thing that needs to be re-configured.

<standard disclaimer: do it at your own risks>

meijerbrantm

It's pretty simple. I did mine yesterday. What the post above me says is pretty spot on. I did get an a3 wheel, bought controls from rs7 part number, swapped them, got the bag from europrice which had the correct harness for the c7.

I had no paddles, so for that, you went into long coding for the steering wheel. None of my values were filled in with text (maybe could have tried the beta version of vcds), but it was still on byte 3 bit 5.

Had to pop the wheel off a couple times to realign straight, my mark and the one on the column ended up not being center. So before you snap the bag back in, make sure you aren't one tooth off.

iBetterDoNow

Looking great! Can't help wondering the damage to the pocket.

beaddy123

Great info, iBetterDoNow.

I'm following up to reconfirm the details that I had to do with my 2012 A7 Sport Package
w/ 3 spoke steering wheel. I purchased a steering wheel trim and that goes around the airbag and steering wheel controls and upgraded paddle shifters from Alex at Europrice.

I did not remove the steering wheel, just the airbag.

I had to figure out all this myself because I couldn't find anything detailed enough for me to figure it out so I'm posting a few details.

Alex did help me out with the instructions on removing the actual steering wheel trim around the airbag and steering wheel controls.

1. The first thing I did was start the car and move the steering wheel 90 degrees.
2. The next thing I did was disconnect the battery.
(I don't like to take changes fiddling around w/ an airbag and a procedure I know nothing
about so I was extra cautious)

I'm new and didn't know where the battery was located and couldn't find it anywhere online. After 30 minutes of searching I found it.

The Audi A7 battery is located in the trunk under the spare tire. If you replace the Audi A7 battery you will need to remove it from the trunk location under the spare tire.

On to the next steps...

2. Get a small mirror to look behind the steering wheel. (I used my wife's makeup compact)
3. When you turn the steering wheel 90 degrees and look in in the mirror you'll see a rounded silver stud and a horizontal dull silver bar behind it. The silver horizontal bar is the clip.
4. Get a flathead screwdriver and wedge it on top of the silver bar (clip) and press down and it will release it from the stud and "pop out" that side of the airbag.
5. I then reconnected the battery terminal, turned the car on, and turned the steering wheel to the opposite side to access the clip.
6. Disconnect the battery again.
7. Repeat steps the remove opposite clip.
8. Follow iBetterDoNow's instructions to go further.

Here's what Alex told me to do to replace the steering wheel trim:

"Once you have the airbag removed there is a piano black trim that you will need to pry up with your finger tips only. Start at the bottom to get this to come free and then each corner with the controls will come free. This takes a reasonable amount of force, but also when it does release be careful not to pull up too far as you can damage the plug for the shift paddles. Once you have the trim free you replace the paddles with the Torx T20 bolts and swing the paddles out of the wheel.

The badge plate snaps out and the new will snap in. The badge also snaps into place.

Connect the new paddles to the controls and press fit the piano black trim into place."

Tman007

Thanks, guys. With both of your thorough step-by-step explanations, I can picture how to do it before even attempting it. The only question I have is how do you do the reverse of the above steps when you're putting the airbag back on - do you just push the airbag and it pops in, or a screwdriver is necessary?