MAcarbon Steering Wheel

New steering wheel for 575M 135171. More photos soon when I get the wheel in my hands. John took this one. Kept original wheel and airbag, naturally. This one came off E-bay for $250 or so in pretty bad shape, which is why the spokes are CF, too. John Borchelt and his Belgian guys did a great job on her. I like her much more than the factory CF wheel, one of which I had and sold.
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Nicholas- Not sure anybody has tried a 575M wheel on a 550. By the time you buy the wheel and the airbag, a pretty expensive undertaking. I have found two wheels in bad shape on E-bay, though, for $250-350. Depending on what you do to them, another $1-3K to get them recovered and repaired. Airbags on E-Bay have been $1-2K, much more retail.

 

Have not received the wheel yet. Shipping today and will add some photos once installed.

 

Received the wheel today and it is even prettier than the photos. Here are some other photos taken by John. Stitching pattern was chosen because it is similar to what Ferrari is using on later models. Last photo is of a GTC4 Lusso steering wheel. More photos once mounted.
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My tech Aaron installed the wheel today, and, like any Ferrari job, it was not particularly straight forward. First little issue was the airbag is held in by non-tamper screws. No problem there, Aaron had a bit that fit fine.

Second issue was known, that the right horn button did not work on the new steering wheel. No problem, we will just swap out horn buttons with the old button, right? So how to get the buttons off? Prying did not work but let us see they were bolted down to the steering wheel. Aaron spotted two small slits in the leather on the back of the thumb pieces that lined up with the horn button. Feeling around with an ice pick type tool, Aaron determined the fasteners were very small Allen screws. Turns out they were 2.5 mm after a bit of trial and error. So that problem fixed. If you ever have to fix a horn button, a 2.5 mm Allen bit or wrench is what you need to get it off.

Next issue is the new airbag did not match up with the holes in the wheel hub. Turns out the carbon fiber facing on the spokes, necessary because the original spokes were damaged, made the spokes thicker. Because the spokes were thicker, the airbag did not want to seat far enough to allow the anti-tamper screws to be reinserted through the slotted holes in the steering wheel. A little work with a rat-tail file to elongate the slots just a bit, and the screws fit fine.

So a 30 minute job took about an hour and a half, normal for a Ferrari where you have to learn as you move along. Would not be a job for me since I did not have any anti-tamper bits and might not have found the slits in the leather behind the spokes. If it had been a 360 or 550 with the entire horn button underneath the leather...

Here are some photos of the installation. The CF caught the flash a bit too much, so looks brighter in these photos than in real life. The wheel CF is pretty much identical to the OEM CF on 135171. Will take some more photos in natural light in the future.
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Joe- Affirmative, interior is charcoal.

Mike- There are tons of photos of 135171 on the site, but I need to get some new ones with the ceramic brakes (Mov'its) on the rear. Most still had the red OEM FHP brakes on the rear. One when she still had Novitec NF2s and one with the 19" modulars and rear FHP brakes.
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The paddles are by Carbonio and I doubt I could even use a standard set anymore after using these for several years. They are so much more convenient for street driving.