Need help understanding steering wheels

[linjam]

1) My 1992 500E has its original steering wheel. As the leather was looking a bit aged, I ordered some leather from German Auto Tops in LA and spent $500 having the wheel redone. Unfortunately, not only is the leather a bit lighter than the airbag module (trusted GAT to send the right color leather to the trim shop and did not examine the leather before instructing them to recover the wheel), but now I have a problem with the leather dye rubbing off on my pocket when I get in the car (GAT says they have never heard of such a thing -- of course). So, I will need to recover the wheel. For recovering, I was thinking possibly of copying the look of this wheel from Dave's site:

Index of /images/W124_steering/steering_wheels/Sportline_wheel_rebuilt

2) I would like to have a spare wheel as well. I understand there is a later style wheel to go with the facelifted cars and which has a different part number. I understand also the part number for my car is either 140-460-47-03 or 129-460-19-03-9045 (the other part number's being for the late style wheel), but I don't know which number is early/late style. I also understand that the size should be 390mm? There are a number of wheels on eBay that all look virtually the same as mine. Some claim different part numbers, some claim "Sportline" (is that what my original is?), and many claim to fit a number of different chassis styles, including W124.

Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions on all this? Which part number do I want, and does it have the "Sportline" moniker?

If this is already covered extensively in another thread, please forgive me, but I was unable to find it. Thanks very much.

Jamie

 

[Jlaa]

Hi @linjam,

I'm going by memory here so I might not be 100% accurate, but this is what I remember:

1/ Very early 500Es had a 400mm steering wheel -- NOT sport line. As below:


2/ All other E500Es had the 390mm sport line steering wheel, as below:


3/ When getting a "Refurbished" steering wheel, be careful w.r.t the color of the leather --- is it black, or is it "anthracite," which is very close to black, but not black. IIRC, anthracite on the rim results in a mismatch with a black airbag (Which seems to be the case above).

 

[sheward]

The early wheel you posted the picture of is also 390mm. It's just the spoke configuration that is different. Both were Sportline.

There is a difference in the "squib" or horn contact ring that has no relation to the spoke configuration but rather model year (93 vs. 94) I believe. It's well documented here. Possibly others can elaborate further.

drew

 

[gerryvz]

@2phast is the expert on steering wheels. He should be able answer any question you may have about them. Indeed the faceilft cars have a different horn contact ring setup than the earlier cars, though earlier wheels can be retrofitted with the later horn contact ring setup, and I believe vice versa, as well. The later setup was carried across MB models until around 2000, give or take a couple of years, but this is why you often see late-1990s/2000-era cars' steering wheels retrofitted onto late W124 models, as they are a direct bolt-on.

 

[TimL]

Or you could just buy this one (supposedly NOS) and be done (no affiliation by the way)

Gebrauchte Autoteile günstig kaufen | kleinanzeigen.de

Kleinanzeigen: Gebrauchte Autoteile günstig kaufen - Jetzt in Essen-West finden oder inserieren! - kleinanzeigen.de

m.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de

I tried to avoid redressing my existing steering wheel for the exact reason you described- getting the leather to match the airbag is next door to impossible from everything that I’ve seen, so I was scouring the internet for several months for a NOS wheel and in the end got lucky and found one. Cost $600 and was a hassle to ship from Germany to the US but it turned out perfect. If you can, be patient and keep on checking for NOS to come up for sale

 

[TimL]

@2phast is the expert on steering wheels. He should be able answer any question you may have about them. Indeed the faceilft cars have a different horn contact ring setup than the earlier cars, though earlier wheels can be retrofitted with the later horn contact ring setup, and I believe vice versa, as well. The later setup was carried across MB models until around 2000, give or take a couple of years, but this is why you often see late-1990s/2000-era cars' steering wheels retrofitted onto late W124 models, as they are a direct bolt-on.

I can confirm that these wheels can be retrofitted both ways. Had it done on a NOS wheel from an r129 I had found, so checking for more than just w124 wheels is a good idea to cast a wider search net

 

[2phast]

@2phast is the expert on steering wheels. He should be able answer any question you may have about them. Indeed the faceilft cars have a different horn contact ring setup than the earlier cars, though earlier wheels can be retrofitted with the later horn contact ring setup, and I believe vice versa, as well. The later setup was carried across MB models until around 2000, give or take a couple of years, but this is why you often see late-1990s/2000-era cars' steering wheels retrofitted onto late W124 models, as they are a direct bolt-on.

As Gerry already stated, you can use any Mercedes wheel from 92-99. Some 2000 wheels are usable, but not wheels that have integrated controls into the airbag, as those airbags are dual-stage and not compatible with the W124. So the W202 up to 2000 and the R171 up to 2004. Some R171 models have wheels that look similar to the Sportline but would not be compatible with your existing airbag, you would need the matching R171 airbag.

If you do get a 94+ wheel, you would need to remove your horn contact ring from your original wheel and fit it to the new wheel. Easy swap.

The Sportline wheel as used in the 500E was also used in the Sportline editions of the W201 and W124. They are not plentiful but available.

All of the Sporline wheels are black, if you come across one that isn't black (anthracite) its been recovered. I am not sure why so many of these are recovered with the wrong color material, black was the only color used on the W124 and W201. Yes, I know cloth, red, blue etc were available as well, but all of the wheels were black leather.

You have a few variants of the Sportline wheel that were not available in the US as well. The Sportline wheel with the grey bottom was available in the US, it was in the 95-96 W202 C36. The C36 wheel in Red/Green/Orange was not available in the US

 

[linjam]

Hi @linjam,

3/ When getting a "Refurbished" steering wheel, be careful w.r.t the color of the leather --- is it black, or is it "anthracite," which is very close to black, but not black. IIRC, anthracite on the rim results in a mismatch with a black airbag (Which seems to be the case above).

Yes, Jlaa -- precisely what happened when I recovered mine.

 

[northNH]

The extra one I have that I posted scant pictures of yesterday is 390mm, dated 5/92; unrecovered black perfectly matches wheel with AB.

 

[Ingvar]

For anyone interested I do have a NOS Sportline steering wheel that I’m considering putting up for sale. It has the socalled «squibb» meaning it will fit up to -93 without modification.

 

[ccrelan]

Here is the difference between black and anthrazit for anyone curious

 

[linjam]

Hi @linjam,

I'm going by memory here so I might not be 100% accurate, but this is what I remember:

1/ Very early 500Es had a 400mm steering wheel -- NOT sport line. As below:
View attachment 88990

2/ All other E500Es had the 390mm sport line steering wheel, as below:
View attachment 88991

3/ When getting a "Refurbished" steering wheel, be careful w.r.t the color of the leather --- is it black, or is it "anthracite," which is very close to black, but not black. IIRC, anthracite on the rim results in a mismatch with a black airbag (Which seems to be the case above).

The early wheel you posted the picture of is also 390mm. It's just the spoke configuration that is different. Both were Sportline.

There is a difference in the "squib" or horn contact ring that has no relation to the spoke configuration but rather model year (93 vs. 94) I believe. It's well documented here. Possibly others can elaborate further.

drew

@2phast is the expert on steering wheels. He should be able answer any question you may have about them. Indeed the faceilft cars have a different horn contact ring setup than the earlier cars, though earlier wheels can be retrofitted with the later horn contact ring setup, and I believe vice versa, as well. The later setup was carried across MB models until around 2000, give or take a couple of years, but this is why you often see late-1990s/2000-era cars' steering wheels retrofitted onto late W124 models, as they are a direct bolt-on.

As Gerry already stated, you can use any Mercedes wheel from 92-99. Some 2000 wheels are usable, but not wheels that have integrated controls into the airbag, as those airbags are dual-stage and not compatible with the W124. So the W202 up to 2000 and the R171 up to 2004. Some R171 models have wheels that look similar to the Sportline but would not be compatible with your existing airbag, you would need the matching R171 airbag.

If you do get a 94+ wheel, you would need to remove your horn contact ring from your original wheel and fit it to the new wheel. Easy swap.

The Sportline wheel as used in the 500E was also used in the Sportline editions of the W201 and W124. They are not plentiful but available.

All of the Sporline wheels are black, if you come across one that isn't black (anthracite) its been recovered. I am not sure why so many of these are recovered with the wrong color material, black was the only color used on the W124 and W201. Yes, I know cloth, red, blue etc were available as well, but all of the wheels were black leather.

You have a few variants of the Sportline wheel that were not available in the US as well. The Sportline wheel with the grey bottom was available in the US, it was in the 95-96 W202 C36. The C36 wheel in Red/Green/Orange was not available in the US

Yes, guys. It looks like I do indeed have that seemingly rare early 500E steering wheel. I guess it's a "sportline" wheel but earlier than the more triangular shape? Was it on any other cars? The difficult thing with steering wheels is there is no part number on them. Here are pics of mine from today (recently recovered with the wrong color leather (exacerbated on the bottom of the wheel by the lighting today in the shop -- ugh):

 

[TerryA]

As Gerry already stated, you can use any Mercedes wheel from 92-99. Some 2000 wheels are usable, but not wheels that have integrated controls into the airbag, as those airbags are dual-stage and not compatible with the W124. So the W202 up to 2000 and the R171 up to 2004. Some R171 models have wheels that look similar to the Sportline but would not be compatible with your existing airbag, you would need the matching R171 airbag.

If you do get a 94+ wheel, you would need to remove your horn contact ring from your original wheel and fit it to the new wheel. Easy swap.

The Sportline wheel as used in the 500E was also used in the Sportline editions of the W201 and W124. They are not plentiful but available.

All of the Sporline wheels are black, if you come across one that isn't black (anthracite) its been recovered. I am not sure why so many of these are recovered with the wrong color material, black was the only color used on the W124 and W201. Yes, I know cloth, red, blue etc were available as well, but all of the wheels were black leather.

You have a few variants of the Sportline wheel that were not available in the US as well. The Sportline wheel with the grey bottom was available in the US, it was in the 95-96 W202 C36. The C36 wheel in Red/Green/Orange was not available in the US

That “IN YOUR FACE RED” wheel and interior looks AWESOME to me. I’d like to see more of it.

lol

 

[gsxr]

Yes, guys. It looks like I do indeed have that seemingly rare early 500E steering wheel. I guess it's a "sportline" wheel but earlier than the more triangular shape? Was it on any other cars?

Yes, that is the early Sportline wheel. It was used on all early 500E, and all early 4/5/6-cylinder 124 chassis with Sportline package (or Sport steering wheel option offered by itself, in Europe).

 

[emerydc8]

but now I have a problem with the leather dye rubbing off on my pocket when I get in the car (GAT says they have never heard of such a thing -- of course).

I am going through a similar problem with leather dye from my uniform flight jacket rubbing off on the collar of my white shirts. The jacket was made by San Diego Leather. www.leather.com. They told me that there is a sealing spray that occasional gets rubbed off and releases the leather dye. They had me send the jacket to them to get resealed. Maybe you can contact them and see if they can sell or recommend the spray sealant they use.

 

[TimL]

For anyone interested I do have a NOS Sportline steering wheel that I’m considering putting up for sale. It has the socalled «squibb» meaning it will fit up to -93 without modification.

PM me with your price idea please. If reasonable I’d like to purchase it

 

[Ingvar]

Sorry, already sold to another forum member.

 

[TimL]

Sorry, already sold to another forum member.

No worries

 

[linjam]

I am going through a similar problem with leather dye from my uniform flight jacket rubbing off on the collar of my white shirts. The jacket was made by San Diego Leather. www.leather.com. They told me that there is a sealing spray that occasional gets rubbed off and releases the leather dye. They had me send the jacket to them to get resealed. Maybe you can contact them and see if they can sell or recommend the spray sealant they use.

Thanks, emerydc8