New steering wheel in 355

Finally snapped a picture of the new wheel. After a lot of debate and wrangling to actually find a wheel, I picked up a CS wheel and airbag from Daniel. The silver matches perfectly the ball-burnished F1 paddles. But the look is not the best part. The feel of the wheel is worth it all. You forget that the feel of the wheel in your hands is a very powerful interaction. I could never go back to the 355 wheel now, no way.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Congrats J!!! It looks freakin gorgeous!! Do you have the link to that item on Daniel's website?

 

Looks absolutely great!
I am also looking for a CS wheel for my 355 but the price feels a litle steep right now... Any problem fitting the wheel? Any problems with the airbag connection?

 

Not to mention the wheel price but how much does the airbag cost?????

 

A great looking wheel! I have the exact same CS wheel on my 355 F1, also purchased from Daniel. The package (air bag and wheel) as I recall, cost about $4K... well worth it for the look and, as you mention, the great feel. Mine was installed by my Ferrari dealer, so air bag is functional and everything works great!

Doug

 

Looking good J----Should I post pics of my new wheel and bag? -- No problems with fitting the wheel, I replaced mine about 2 weeks ago also.... It is a direct replacement---You will need a Torx #27 security bit to remove the 2 screws from the rear of the wheel to release the airbag.

 

http://www.ricambiamerica.com/product_info.php?products_id=261226

 

http://www.ricambiamerica.com/product_info.php?products_id=262214

 

You guys are killing me! I feel like the proverbial ugly prom queen. I replaced my steering wheel with a 360 Challenge wheel (purchased prior to the major price increase). It looks good, but NOT CS good. I just couldn't justify spending almost $7000.00 on a steering wheel. If I get cardiac tamponade in a crash - C'est la vie! As Mickey Spillane wrote: "Die young and leave a pretty corpse"!

 

Thanks Robbie.

 

Absolutely gorgeous!!!

 

Looks awesome mate!!

 

It did run about 4k (not 7). To put it in perspective, a standard 360 wheel should have been 3k, but there are NO new 360 wheels currently available in the world. Anywhere. Period.

And the 355 wheel and air bag is actually MORE money - about 5k total. But, the 355 wheels are not available right now either. My 355 wheel was coming apart and needed to be replaced.

Also, my car was technically due for a new airbag (10 years). On any other car (like my Honda van) I would not be too concerned. Somehow, an out-of-date Ferrari airbag staring at my mug didn't make me too happy. Thought about the Challenge wheel. Daniel's wise comment: "I don't know if an airbag will save your life. But I know that if you don't have one, it definitely will not save your life." It was the only extravagent money spent on the Ferrari that was completely endorsed by my wife

 

I never considered the life of an airbag..thats a great point and fact to know.

 

$3600.00 (CS wheel) + $2390.00 (air bag) = $5990.00. Sorry, I was off by $1000.00. If you paid around $4000.00 in total that was a great deal! I may have to re-think my position if I could pick-up a CS wheel for approximately the same money. It is a beautiful wheel and I wish you the best!

 

Blck wheel and a tan colored bag would set your interior off!!!!!!!!!!

 

But likely get quite dirty, eh?

 

It is possible that I was off on the figure too. I do have a tendency to round down (the airbag was 2 something and the wheel was near to two something, plus or minus one, and two plus two is four, so you know, about 4 thousand. OK, that's how I presented it to my wife. Did I mention she thought is was OK?) I don't want to think about it... Besides, it was pre-market-crash money, so I actually saved money

 

Eventually (years from now) when I begin refinishing the interior, I am going to replace some of the tan with black. I am not a huge fan of the tan. I much prefer brown leather for the "natural" look, otherwise I like black. Or maybe a bright color, say yellow?

 

Daniel, us 355 guys never enter our cars without washing our hands first!!

 

It really is a nice look.......

Good job

 

J.

You may be able to sell your wife that story about the 10 year old airbag....but I doubt anyone here is buying it!

The car looks great.

Ken

 

Robbie! You're killing my buddy! It's hard enough without extra temptation. LOL

 

Interesting comment about the 10 year airbag thing - and fully backed up by the 355 manual. Does anyone know if there is any way the airbag operation can be tested - my car is just north of 10 years now and yes airbags are freakin important, but presumably a new one is a OEM piece - and at what price?

 

The circuit can be tested to make sure it is getting power, but no possible way to tell if the bag will blow or not...When the CDR is "woke up" it makes a determination to blow the bag or not. The bag is folded up neatly within the wheel and has a small charge that blows it. No way to tell if the bag will blow properly in the event of a frontal crash.