Thread: Steering Wheel Swap

I was wondering if anyone has swapped an older steering wheel for a the newer style ones. I have a 1998 GTP with head controls, and wanted to swap it out for a 2001 with the thicker steering wheel, and newer controls. Is this possible? Mine's beat and i like the controls of the newer ones. Thanks.

I was thinking of swapping my 98 GT wheel with an 04 COMP G with the paddle shifters, but it sounds like way too much work to be worth it

yea it might be too much work, were you thinking of having the paddles functional? i wouldn't even begin to know how that could be done. have you ever thought of switching it with a same body style, later model steering wheel (ie 2001..)? i wanted to know if it can be done before buying one. it would be nice to even have an 04+ steering wheel, if it would work (doubt it tho).

I've been told there are ways to wire the paddle shifters into the transmission, you'll obviously have to flash the PCM for it though, but it sounds like alot of work that I don't have the time to do

ah, sounds expensive! would be cool though if you could find a total for cheap. i saw a set of 04+ interior (frt. and rear seats) in a 98-03 on GPForums. That would be the cats meow if you could do all that at once.

wheelskinz, where do you get them? how does it install? looks nice.

iron indian whats that at the top of your dash bezel?

hmm, yea i would be scared it wouldn't work either. are the plugs the same?

The 04+ airbags are dual stage so they have two connectors, two wires each.
Where the 03 and under have just one connector. There is other nice wheels that would probably fit though, I cant see a problem using the 01 + wheels. the worst thing would be is having to swap the entire column if the splines are a different size but should not take long to do.
When I had my sunfire I used a wheel from a 98 grand prix with radio controls and used the airbag connector and soldered in place of the sunfires connector and the airbag still worked pretty good

great, i may have to switch mine out for an 01+ steering wheel. i like the feel of them a little better than my 98's. the splines may be different though? i should just get the whole column from a junkyard then?

I would get the whole column to be sure and prices vary from different yards so just shop around also. you will just have to use your old ignition in the new column so you dont have to reprogram and have a different key for ignition/doorlocks.
On this listing on ebay it verifies the different spline size I was mentioning. 2001-2003 Grand Prix Steering Wheel Leather Graphite - (eBay.ca item 330236174709 end time 07-Jun-09 19:51:39 EDT)

If you need any diagrams of this I could get em and post.

great info. thanks. i was wondering how it could be done. i read that listing and was wondering if anyone knew if the airbag plugs will connect if i install a newer style steering wheel?

The connector from the clockspring to the dash harness may be different but I cant tell for certain, however in my old car which was a sunfire with a column swap I had changed connectors but I had used solder, heatshrink tubing, and electrical tape and had no problems, even worked when the car was totaled,lol
As for the rest of the connections they should all be the same.