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Have you guys ever noticed that, for some reason, all BMW steering wheels are black regardless of the interior color? At least I can't remember ever seeing a non-black BMW steering wheel. However, just about every other luxury car make I can think of offers different color steering wheels to match the interior, except on new Range Rovers, which were built by BMW.



[Edit by Raj on [TIME]1107408584[/TIME]]

Never thought of it until you mentioned it I think it makes good ergonomic sense and keeps production costs down as well. Black keeps the distractions and glare to a minimum...probably some code in German engineering standards about it

BTW, love that 540i6 you're selling....what is the name of that beautiful blue? Good luck with the sale. My '99 528i Sport-Premium 5M is still for sale as well....

Cheers,
Tim

Thanks...the color is Topaz Blue. The pics don't do the color justice as it was a cloudy day when I took them. Need to get some new pics after washing the car again. This is what topaz blue looks like under the sun:




Oooh, now I remember a Bimmer that doesn't have a black steering wheel. On the e38 7 series they made a limited edition blue color that came with tan leather, but it had blue carpets, blue dash, and blue wheel. Lemme try to find a pic...

Damn, even those had black steering wheels!

Raj, I have been thinking about doing the leather on my M wheel in Nutra, the same color as my M5 intorior. TT keeps telling me it wil look like crap, but the wheel in my Expedition is done that way and lool pretty cool.
We going to see you at St. Patty day???????????????????
Ray %)

Is your dash black or tan? If it's black, then I'd leave the wheel black. Also, I dont know how the two-tone steering wheel would look. Why not get one of those cheap vinyl steering wheel covers and try it on, just to see how the color contrast would look?

I definitely plan on making it to St. Paddys...when is it again?

Some of the swade wheels look grey

What about MB steering wheels? My dad's always been big into mb's, but more often than not, he orders them with black interiors, so it's hard to tell.


[Edit by Mac on [TIME]1107431122[/TIME]]

Yes, but have you ever seen a car with a vinyl or plastic steering wheel some miles? Almost always the color used to paint over the black plastic starts flaking off. I've seen many Mitsubishi, Toyota, Lexus, Fords and Chevy vehicles where that happens. Now leather is another story... but honestly I would not want a light colored steering wheel in a car with say, pearl beige. The wheel would never stay clean!

I have some pictures from my "M Restoration Guide" with a Euro M5 or M535i that has the full leather package. The steering wheel rim of the M-tech wheel was black while the center piece was trimmed in the interior color. This is a picture I found on the 'net, looks like Natur while the picture in my book appears to be Dove Gray and it looks awesome. I'm with Duke, full leather sure makes these cars look a lot mo' nicer!

I have seen the m5 interior with a natural leather color steering wheel. the middle was still black. looks ok but just needs to get use to. i saw the picture on the mregistry website under the model descriptions. it was a pic of the interior.

alex
88 m5
04 civic

Here's an exception to the black steering wheel standard....


http://www.cqql.net/bmw.htm