Center badge on steering wheel

Have an '08 X5 - looked into replacing the little badge in center of steering wheel for cosmetic purposes and found out you have to replace the entire air bag to do that (?). Anyone have simple options that might cost less than 500 bucks, preferably ~ 495 dollars less? Thanks.

I wouldn't screw with it. When the airbag deploys, it pops that cover and you don't want whatever new roundel you attach to it becoming a projectile headed for your face/head.

I ran into the same issue with my X5 . . . for various good reasons delivery took a lot longer than I had anticipated and I had final possession when it was dark outside and I did not notice the BMW logo was discolored on the edges.

To my local BMW dealer's credit - I purchased my car in southern California, I live in northern California (about 400 miles away). When I pointed this to my local BMW SA (some six months after purchase) and told him looking at this damaged logo really bothered me, he immediately replaced the airbag.

Just wanted to share a good story . . .

Cool, thanks - never thought about asking for a warranty replacement. It's still under the CPO warranty, I'll see if I can get it approved. Otherwise I'll live with it.

Originally Posted by Racedoc

Cool, thanks - never thought about asking for a warranty replacement. It's still under the CPO warranty, I'll see if I can get it approved. Otherwise I'll live with it.

I took the following approach - I told the SA - when you imagine BMW you are not thinking of cars like the Yugo . . . you are imagining a fine built machine, near art when it comes to engineering and industrial design . . . given that, the one thing that screams BMW every time you slip behind the wheel is this emblem . . . and it has to be PERFECT. My SA bought into that line of reasoning . . . his mechanic did however check to see if the airbag or steering wheel was tampered with.

GL