bkw

Picked up a new wood steering wheel, wood knob, trunk net and 06 tips for the wife's RL yesterday. It rained all morning long and I really was itching to begin installing everything. By 3PM it had finally stopped raining long enough for me to get to work. The knob and tips were cake, about 5 minutes each. The trunk net was overly complicated for such a simple thing, but was still a very easy proceedure. Everything was going so smoothly until I tried to pull the wheel off with the universal puller I bought from my local autoparts store. The puller was a hair too narrow thus the side bolts could not screw into the steering wheel. I know it's hard to vision this, but trust me when you pull your airbag out and are ready to pull the wheel you'll know what I mean.

Anyways, Had a heart attack because I could not get the wheel off. I got fustrated, which is something that no one should get when working on their car and I tugged on the wheel hard. To my horror the tape reel came apart! I panicked and called my wife who helped me roll the tape back in (thank god for her ). Once we got the tape back in, everything went very smoothly. If not for the tape reel, I wouldve been done with the entire swap in less than 30 minutes.

Few tips for anyone attempting to do the steering wheel swap.
- make sure your universal puller is wide enough to fit the wheel. Best bet is to bring your wheel to the auto parts shop and test fit it.
- before pulling the wheel off, make sure you unplug the connector, or just inch off the wheel very carefully until you can get your fingers in there to unplug it.
- be very careful with the tape reel as it comes apart very very easily.
- though you may not need an additional person, have one around because there are times you'll wish you had a third hand.
- Don't worry about losing all your settings. After you resynch your key(s), everything returns back to normal.
- but most importantly, TAKE YOUR TIME!

I have to redo everything tomorrow during the day as I had to rush due to the tape reel and the sun had set by then. After almost everything was back together again, I noticed that I had not run one of the wires through the center of the wheel before screwing everything back together. I'll fix it tomorrow and I'll take pics.

Many thanks to acurafox and these instructions https://hondacuraworld.hostasaurus.c...rlsteering.pdf, the project was a lot easier than I had thought it was going to be.

The wheel is much nicer than I had thought it'd to be. I'm definitely not a wood fan, but this wheel is really nice. The thumb bumps and the stitching are my favorite parts, while my wife really likes the wood. The Acura's wood part has ridges for your fingers - unlike the Lexus LS430.

Next up - ASpec suspension and Britax Boulevard!

CleanCL

iTrader: (4)

honestly, hit the steering wheel at 12, 3, 6, and 9 with your palm. give it a nice hit, dont slam it, but give some force. it should pop right off.

stingerbtry

I absolutely agree with you on this one. Did the screws for your tie down hooks seem overly tight? Mine sure did and I actually ended up stripping one of them and having to cut the screw shaft to get it out of there. Kinda ticked me off that I had to buy a new one to replace it for such a simple install. I plan on doing the wheel and knob at some point as well and still have my rear spoiler that I need to install. The serviec department replaced my tips for me so that one is covered but I did install the acura musiclink myself which was pretty simple. I'm interested in the aspec suspension, wheels, and body kit but I'm hoping that at some point I can drive one with it so I can get a feel for how it's going to be before I drop the cash.

acurafox

bkw, sorry to hear of your "reel" problems (pun intended!)-that must have been a big frustration! As for the wheel puller, I initially thought mine was too narow, but I was able to fiddle with it and make it work by extending the center bolt almost to the limit and then slowly threading the bolts into the wheel, a quarter turn at a time alternating from side to side. The bolts initially appeared to be non-parallel, but they did thread into the wheel sufficiently to hold the center bolt and bracket when I tightened it to remove the wheel. Since I was able to repeat the procedure, I managed to avoid stripping the bolts as well. I definitely agree with you on the trunk net-this was not one of the Acura design team's shining moments, IMHO.

acurafox

This method worked on my Odyssey but not on my RL-the wheel was mounted much tighter.

tyrael

post some pix! I know that we have all seen it before, but be proud!

bkw

Been very busy at work lately, and by the time I'm able to take pics, it's way too dark outside. I still need to redo the installation as I need to reroute a wire.. I'll do it this weekend and take pics of the entire installation.

bkw

Got home before the sun went down today and snapped two pics. I'll upload a bunch more when I do the reinstall of the wheel this weekend.

Spoiler & 06 Tips:


Steering Wheel & Knob:

bkw

Rear pic from above post died. Here it is again:

CleanCL

iTrader: (4)

i'm not a big fan of wood grain steering wheels, but that looks fantastic in the RL! it compliments the trim perfectly. id say thats worth the money.

phile

If it were real wood, I'd agree with you. What's the cost for it, like $250? You could buy real wood trim for a whole interior for around that amount.