Steering Wheel Leather Peeling

Hello All -

New member here with a few questions. On the way home from taking delivery of my new X3 I noticed a flaw on the spoke of my steering wheel. The coating is flaking off the leather on the spoke in two areas. The larger of the two is about the size of a pencil eraser. The dealer has agreed to replace the wheel but they say it is going to take 3 hours to do as it requires the car to be "reprogrammed."

Have any of you had the steering wheel replaced in your X3? How much of the steering column needs to be disassembled (if any of it) and just how difficult of a job is it? I have the heated wheel option, if that matters.

I'm not thrilled with the idea of having to have the wheel replaced if it potentially could cause other problems (like a misaligned steering wheel or other cosmetic damage - the service advisor tells me the "center" part of the wheel that is not damaged will be reused). Anything I should check for after it has been replaced?

Thanks!

Just curious: Regular, Sport (SAP), or MSport wheel?

Originally Posted by noka

Just curious: Regular, Sport (SAP), or MSport wheel?

Sport

I'm surprised that the dealer has to do reprogramming. BMW reprogramming is known by any modern IT standard to be very inefficient and time consuming. I'm actually more surprised that they're quoting 3 hours than I would be if they quoted a full day.

Now for the interesting part - how long is it going to take them to get the required parts shipped in from Germany?

Had to have the sport steering wheel on my brand new five series replaced a few years ago because the BMW badge was scratched! Part of the reason it takes so long is that the airbag has to be disconnected and reset. Absolutely no problem though and only thing I ever had wrong with that car.

My steering wheel issue just became a lower priority - While pulling away from a stoplight tonight, I started to accelerate and the RPMs increased but the X3 started to crawl. A transmission malfunction error appeared on the info screen. I limped home with no low gears and no reverse. Ugh.

I wonder if you're about to find out what a mechatronic unit is. (It's essentially the transmission computer, an electro-mechanical unit on the bottom of the transmission.)

I think a mechatronic unit will take a week or two to replace, hopfully its just a sensor. Good Luck.

Got the X3 to the dealership this morning. The error code for the transmission indicates it is the clutch. The dealer is contacting BMW to determine how to proceed given the low miles on the car (4,000). Apparently the question is whether just the clutch should be replaced or the entire transmission.

As a side note, I was given an X3 28i as a loaner and it is much quicker from a start than my 35i. Makes me wonder if my transmission was faulty from the start.

Originally Posted by The X Men

I think a mechatronic unit will take a week or two to replace, hopfully its just a sensor. Good Luck.

See my update - I think I wish it was the mechatronic! If a mechatronic could take a week or two, I wonder how long the clutch/entire transmission will take.