>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
EDIT 10/2020: In retrospect among the many mods I've done to the car, this is one of my MOST FAVORITES and I would recommend without reservation. Two main reasons:
1. The steering wheel immediately makes this 12 year old car feels new again. The old wheel with its old leather and thin rim feels and looks old.
2. The thickness at 3 & 9 o'clock position are immensely satisfying to hold. The Techart leather is not slippery, another huge plus.
RECOMMENDED WITHOUT RESERVATION!!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


I thought I was done with modding but the bad boys on this forum are not leaving me alone. Anyway, two things recently happened that caused me to look into Techart.

First I could not get the beautiful pictures by Boeing Driver & twturbo out of my mind.
Second, I recently bought a BMW M3 and found out for various reasons, I MUCH MUCH prefer that thick steering wheel to my Turbo's stock/OEM Thick Sports Steering wheel. I was surprised by how much the larger thickness feels so much better to the hands.

There are various good choices for steering wheel, but Techart is number one on my list. Here is the good news, 4 years ago when I went by the Techart dealer, CEC in West LA, the cost was around 2500. This morning I found out the new Techart dealer is in Irvine, and the cost: 1800! Plus 165 installation.


TECHART USA
1711 McGaw Avenue
92614 Irvine (Newport Beach), CA
Phone: +1 949.436-9779

 

Do it Can you won't regret it. Everything the car does is transmitted to the wheel and its important to have a good interface. I had a pretty carbon wheel and through that in the trash(not literally)

 

I have that exact same wheel in the non multi function style but with the badge (prefer without) and it is excellent. I had a beautiful M performance wheel in my M3 that was my favourite until I got my hands on this.

 

Good deal let us know how it all turns out.

 

Hey Cannga, per your questions my steering wheel spec's out with the calipers at 34mm and the circumference measures out at 116mm.

Let me know where yours measures in.

Best of luck with making your decision.

Cheers,
VID

 

It takes less than 15 minutes to install a steering wheel...200 dollars?

Funny that they try and get Newport Beach in that address as its closer to Costa Mesa. I have been there a couple of times, it is nice not having to deal with CEC. Did they actually stock it or did you order and wait? I had to wait because I wanted CF and a special color.

 

I don't think the op has the wheel yet.


Mine measures 36/116 at the top depending on where you measure due to finger indents and it isn't round. The wheel also has significantly beefed up sides at 3 & 9 o'clock that measure about 49mm across.


And one pic of the gen1 M performance wheel. Shift lights and some minor functions integrated in the wheel.

 

Just what I need a Techart dealer within easy driving distance.

 

"Cheaper" is relative. You can get a custom DCT wheel made in whatever color leather or alcantara you want for a fraction of that price. Even the new price.

Next time I'm in LA, I'll install the wheel for you. For $100, I'll be earning about $200/hr!
Cheers!

 

I bought a used multi-function carbon version from a ?former member here. Kind of a frustrating process, and not really what I was expecting, but eventually worked out. Love the wheel, cannot go back to the skinny stock one. Did the install with the DIY picture help from the forum, cost me $12 for a new tool.

 

It's a done deal . I asked Ron of Techart to waive the install fee and he did, so I did the only logical thing, I signed. The wheel will be made in Germany and will take a few weeks. As expected of Techart product, the quality appears flawless.

(Particularly for D. and C. :-)) How is it different? The key difference is not in side to side thickness increase, or overall diameter, but the front to back thickness as seen from picture below. The front surface additionally has other grooves and protrusions as well. As such it really is a 3D sculpture form that is very different from stock, AND from other after-market wheels, at many different surfaces and points of the wheel. Here I trust, hopefully correctly, that the form Techart uses has been very well designed as per their modding history and reputation, and therefore will pay extra (nearly double!) to get the Techart. I think and hope this is the correct decision.
Also, the leather texture is different from stock. My stock wheel's leather over time has become extra smooth, and perhaps hardened, so that it really doesn't feel nice anymore, soft and grippy when new, hard and slippery now. The Techart leather has more texture, and provides more grip.

After market steering wheel is all about subjective feel - it's not going to make you faster. But subjective feel is key to enjoyment of the car, so I splurged, with the same reasoning that caused me to buy the Techart front lip for my car as opposed to less expensive alternatives. Reviews from other owners have been uniformly superlative (thanks a lot guys for spending my money for me); I can't wait.

 

Who refinished your wheel?

 

Hmmmm - I'm in the market for a new wheel and considering I have all genuine TechArt goodies from exhaust to aero... this is really interesting and substantially cheaper than the 2800 I was planning on with an upgraded 997.2 wheel...

 

Johnny DB:

Cannga actually thought I had a custom wheel as well, thus I gave him the diameter spec's. My Wheel is actually an OEM wrap, but it is a "Porsche Exclusive Option" which is a surcharge above and beyond the "3-Spoke Str Whl Multifctn lthr" and I think it was and additional charge on top of the "CPA Thicker Leather Steering Wheel".

In the end I'm not 100% certain what it cost me, but I am very happy with it! I dug through all my ordering records and found these line items on my Pro Forma Invoices V5 & V6:

431 3-Spoke Str Whl Multifctn lthr $ 870.00
CPA Thicker Leather Steering Wheel $ 965.00
XPA Thicker Steering Wheel Leather $ 510.00

Note the subtle wording difference between the last two line items.



Sent on June 27th, 2008:
"...I did a little homework on the “Thicker Three Spoke Multi Function Steering Wheel”. Its a “Porsche Exclusive Option“ (CODE: XPA), it should run $ 1,380.00.

Let me know what you can find out in regards to this. I’m cool with $1,380, but not $1,835. Bottom line it should add an additional $510 to Pro Forma V.6. I’ll be traveling tomorrow (Friday) and should be accessible by cell most of the day."

 

You guys should def look at DCT, you can totally customize it, for a bunch less money, obviously you don't get to tell people it's techart but you do get something that's totally custom