What a process.

A debt of gratitude is owed to a number of helpful board members, Aaron and Ric at Suncoast, the Service Manager and Doug (tech) at Herb Chambers Porsche of Burlington, and most importantly my Service Advisor Ethan and his team at Hoffman Porsche in Connecticut. After 3 1/2 months and more than 5 trips to the dealer, the job has been completed.

I have a 2009 997.2 Carrera C2 manual (built in March of 2009). It came with the base steering wheel (triangular airbag) and no multifunction or heat (heat was only an option in 09' for PDK cars).

I bought a 2010 new style wheel (just like the PDK wheel but without the shift buttons) with multifunction and heat. I read that with the current generation 997.2 upgrading to multifunction was simply done in PIWIS and thus didn't require additional parts etc.. WRONG. I believe the PDK cars can update to multifunction that way, but not 09' 6 speeds and perhaps not 2010 manuals that came without MF and/or heat from the factory.

After much trial and error it was determined that what was needed in my case was a new steering wheel control switch module (part no. 99761329900 @$209.49 from Suncoast) and also a new clock spring (part no. 95565221121 @$157.12 from Suncoast). The multifunction only worked once the new steering wheel control switch was installed, but the heated wheel still didn't work and a few faults arose from the new module (no PSM, yikes!). Once the new clock spring went in, the faults were cleared and the heated wheel worked. I believe if you want to add a heated wheel and you didn't have one before, you'll need this new clock spring. As for the steering wheel control switch, my gut tells me that all MY 2010 997s, regardless of your options, probably come with one compatible with a multifunction wheel so in that case it is just a question of activating it at the dealer. A simple comparison of the above part numbers against whatever your car has (dealer pulls it using your VIN) should tell you what you might need.

The wheel is great (before and after pics below in this post). I just wanted something a little thicker, and the heat and MF are conveniences I have grown accustomed to.

Thanks again to everyone who helped out on this. PM me with any question if I can be of assistance.

Best Regards,
David

 

Congrats, glad you solved the mystery!

 

Thanks for sharing, and good work. I'm not sure we all would have figured out that a clock spring would be needed when changing the steering wheel. Again, thanks to Porsche for making these systems so elegantly simple!

 

Here's my stock wheel vs. the new wheel:

 

Looks great - your perseverance paid off.

 

Great looking wheel and congrats on sticking with it to a successful conclusion. Now. Will it work for a the 997.1 ? The original wheel in your '09 is identical to the wheel in my '07. And while to .1 MF will certainly work the '2 version in your car is much better looking than the .1 version. As I don't believe Porsche would go to the expense of making any major mods to the steering column, or wheel for that matter, that would make the two incompatible it should work equally well on an earlier model. Would love to hear from anyone who might know from experience if it could be done.

 

I definitely now know more than I need to about porsche modules etc... However, I have no idea if the same process will work for a .1 gen car.

I'm skeptical about 2 things though. First, I read that the .1 cars need a wiring harness in the wheel when using multifunction, and there is definitely no wiring harness in the wheel for the MF on the .2 cars. And secondly, the heated wheel is tied into the heated seats, which I'm assuming requires compatibility throughout more modules than the ones I had replaced.

Maybe the MF would work, but I don't know about the heat?

Good luck. Keep us posted if you attempt an upgrade.

Regards,
David

 

Shoulda just got one of these:

http://reviews.canadiantire.ca/9045/...9P/reviews.htm

 

I know you had earlier posts.
Would you share the itemized costs for all the bits to make this work?
TIA

 

Thanks for the reply. Since I posted I checked the Suncoast site and the info for wheels they show for gen .2 cars say they are gen. 1 compatable. However, the pics they show don't look the same as the wheel on your car. are the pics just not that great or is your wheel just not listed there ? Don't think they show any heated wheels. I much prefer the wheel in your post. GT3 wheel maybe ? I have heated seats so it might work but I could live without the heated wheel, just like the look of the gen .2 wheel over the "S" wheel in my car.

 

So the only info missing for me to go and see what the new wheels look like:

• a new 2010 6spd sports steering wheel with multifunction & heat
  • part no. ?
  • @ $?

What was the cost of the wheel?

 

You are correct. Suncoast doesn't have a picture of my exact wheel (yet) although they definitely sell it. Here is an excerpt of an email from them:

- 2010 MF & Heated Steering Wheel (6-speed) - $750.88
- Leatherette Airbag - $423.10
- Leather Airbag - $767.43
- Steering Wheel Control Unit - $209.49
- If you don’t already have a heated steering wheel, I’m assuming you will need this control unit to activate the function, and dealer programming will also be required. Not sure if you can add it, it’s just speculation (no guarantees).

So far the steering wheel would have to be custom made in Germany, it could take a few months to get it. Let me know if you have any other questions, thanks again!

The question is whether the steering wheel control unit is compatible with 997.1. If you don't car about heat or MF, then your options are wide open. You can get the same exact wheel I have without multifunction or heat.

Good luck.

David

 

LOL Whoa.........there is a bunch of info being thrown around here. I'm getting confused reading all of this. If you're trying to get a specific wheel in your car, PM me with the year and model car......and let me know which wheel/options you would like to add. Here are the current configurations which I can recall:



Tiptronic Steering Wheels

• 2009 PDK Steering Wheel (heated and/or multifunction possible)
• 2009 PDK Carbon, Silver, Wood, or Alcantara (coming soon)
• Paddle Steering Wheel
• Other stock options available: carbon, silver, multifunction, Alcantara, padded XPA, wood, etc.

Manual Steering Wheels

• 2010 Steering Wheel (heated and/or multifunction possible)
• 2010 GT3 or RS Alcantara version
• Other Gen 1 stock options available: carbon, Alcantara, padded XPA, silver, multifunction, wood, etc.

PDK Steering Wheels

• Paddle Steering Wheel
• Other stock options available, carbon, silver, multifunction, wood, etc.
• Alcantara - Coming Soon
• Stock Wheel with heating and/or multifunction possible

There may be some exceptions with certain vehicles, but most of these are solid and tested upgrades. As always, car modifications are always done at your own risk. Dealer installation required/highly recommended.

Hope this helps, please let me know if you have any questions.

 

If I've got a 2009 sports wheel already, can I use my existing airbag in the new 2010 multifunction/heated wheel?

 

I was told by my advisor that the new round airbags are all the same (Boxster/911 etc..) .