Several months ago on the old mye28 forum, Duke posted about a good person to use for recovering a steering wheel. The guy, Blaine, and I corresponded over email and I sent him my wheel in early January. He had some trouble sourcing the correct leather kit from AGLA to do it, but they finally got their stuff straightened out and sent him the right kit. Blaine finished it last week and sent it to me. It turned out gorgeous, see pics.
BEFORE
AFTER
Thanks for the recommendation, Duke. I'd recommend Blaine's services to anyone.
[QUOTE="sttully"]Hey Adam - That is one mighty fine looking wheel. I asume the M1 wheel in long ago NLA. Do you know of any sources for one? Thanks, george[/QUOTE]
George,
Till Hansen has a couple of M1's in Germany http://www.us-boats.de/bmw/wheels.html and you can reach him at m5_crash@yahoo.de I've purchased several items from him and he's a great resource and fellow BMW owner.
The problem there is that the M1 wheel, although they appear identical to the E12 M535i wheel, is very slightly smaller by like 20 mm in overall diameter. I can't remember the exact amount.
George, to answer your question, the wheels do come up very rarely (I've only ever seen one on ebay in the US and I snagged it probably four years ago and put it on my E12 528i at the time. It's still with that car, RIP, owned by Tulsa Dave on firstfives). They do appear on ebay in Germany I'm told. There has been some discussion about this on the E12 M535i mailing list. I don't think the wheels are available anymore as a new part from BMW in Germany.
Adam:
It appears to me that you left something out when restoring the wheel!! From the pictures it looks like you forgot to replace the NUT behind the wheel!!! Looks great, now get that motor in before 2006, mmmkay?
[QUOTE="sttully"]Hey Adam - That is one mighty fine looking wheel. I asume the M1 wheel in long ago NLA. Do you know of any sources for one? Thanks, george[/QUOTE]
The M1 (and early M535i, essentially identical) wheels may not be NLA. Parts pimps? I was able to order a new center emblem for mine a few months ago.
If you are patient and sharp eyed, you might get lucky -- I did. I bought one with excellent leather from a guy who advertised it as a 320is wheel. For really, really cheap. Mwahahaha!
Adam, the wheel looks great. I really need to do my Hartge wheel at somepoint soon. Congrats on the euro e34 M5 be sure and post some pics when you get a chance. Justin
