Steering Wheel Swap?

My wife & Mom are driving 1LTs with the plastic steering wheels - I'd like to switch them our for the leather versions. The steering wheels from the ICE versions look identical and should be a good fit & easy to find from a salvage yard.

Has anybody removed or swapped their steering wheel and care to share any tips for removal / installation? In the cars of my youth it was pretty easy to swap steering wheels. Now I'm concerned about having the airbag blow up in my face if I touch the wrong contacts during the process!

Thanks . . .

GladstoneCoach said:

... Now I'm concerned about having the airbag blow up in my face if I touch the wrong contacts during the process!

Thanks . . .

Click to expand...

As you should be. :!:

Aftermarket leather wrap?

speaking of wraps: what size steering wheel do we have? 14 1/2? 14 1/8?

The sewn-on leather wraps are quite nice, and you can have real leather instead of the vinyl of the LT2 wheel. You don't even have to remove the wheel from the car to sew them on.

I've had a leather steering wheel wrap on a car many years ago - it was very nice, but the steering wheel was round in both shape and cross-section - no odd bumps or thumb notches. Are you aware of a custom wrap that is made for the steering wheel on a Spark?

The leather steering wheels on the LT2 cars is indeed leather. They're pretty slick until they get "conditioned" - but it's leather . . .

I only did this twice, but the leather used in the sewn-on wrap I used was probably stretchy enough (you install it wet) to fit the Spark wheel.

I THINK I have this figured out - It looks to be a pretty straightforward process. After researching it on the internet, I found a bunch of stuff on swapping steering wheels in the Chevy Cruze. IF the steering wheels are similar (and they appear to be) you can remove the center horn / airbag pad by inserting pins through the holes on the side of the steering wheel hub to disengage the retaining latches. Once that's done, it's just connecting and disconnecting a few wires and bolts.

Of course there's a few "pre-steps" to go through to deactivate and disconnect the airbag - so don't start by poking around the steering wheel.

My garage is currently full of stuff from when the oldest graduated from college & moved home (only for a few months, but left all her crap behind when she got an apartment) so when it gets a bit warmer / drier here in Oregon I'll attempt the swap and document the process to share with everyone.

(I also purchased a license plate light mounted back-up camera, so the project list grows . . .)