Replacing steering wheel paddles

[C350Carl]

Morning

I was looking replacing the gear shift paddles on my W204 pre face lift steering wheel for some AMG ones.

Before I buy the paddles can someone tell me how easy they are to replace. On my last car I did something similar and it was a case of disconnect the battery. Remove the airbag and the unscrew old paddle and screw in the new one.

Is it the same process on the C Class and if so how is the airbag removed?

Thanks in advance

Carl

 

[KennyN]

Is your wheel the one with the T shaped airbag or the six sided airbag ?

I replaced the wheel in my W219 with a paddle shift one and I also fitted a set of aluminium shifters , to replace the plastic ones, to the paddle mechanisms.

Have a look at the shape of the paddle shift mount, if it is square then the AMG ones will fit , if it is a teardrop shape then to fit the AMG ones you will need to modify the wheel to get them to fit. There is also the issue of the electrical connecting plug as they are various shapes and sizes .

If you have the T shaped airbag it is easily removed by taking out the two recessed torx screws (T27 / T30) on the rear of the wheel. If you just want to remove the paddles then it could be done without disconnecting the airbag as they are only retained by two screws once you unplug them from the rear of the airbag.

Unless you have your heart set on a pukka set of AMG ones then it may be easier just to replace the actual paddles themselves this ensures there is no faffing around with modifying the wheel and the electrical connections. When I priced the AMG ones they were around £160ish or £140 from Germany , I eventually settled on just the paddles :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item53f48512bd

Once the they are removed from the wheel it is a 10 min job to replace the actual paddles themselves.

Kenny

 

[C350Carl]

Thanks Kenny.

Yes I have the pre facelift steering wheel with the T shaped airbag.

It's just the paddles I'm after for now. I miss the alloy ones I had in my previous car which were made by a company called OSIR in the US.

They don't have to be AMG paddles if there are other alternatives out there. I couldn't seem to find any though with a quick Google search.

This is my wheel

 

[C350Carl]

Another question Kenny.

Are those eBay ones you linked a direct swap for the current plastic paddles? Or do I need to check wether I have a rectangular or year drop fitment? If straight swap is the case I'll get those.

Cheers

Carl

 

[KennyN]

This is a pic of the original plastic one fitted to my W219 wheel.

You can see how it tapers from one side to the other. You will be able to see this (or feel it) if you look at the back of your wheel. There should be no mistaking what ones you have as the AMG ones are rectangular :

Once removed from the wheel it is just a matter of pushing out the pivot pin , removing the plastic paddle and fitting the alloy one.

I cant find the original sale listing for the ones I bought but it was from the same company that I posted the link for , I sent them a message (via eBay) regarding fitment and they replied straight away so you could drop them a message regarding your application although it does list the W204 as one of the cars they fit. It only took 10 days for them to drop through the letterbox and the fit was perfect with no issues.

Kenny

 

[C350Carl]

Thanks Kenny. Very helpful.