Down Under Posted July 22, 2010 Report Share Posted July 22, 2010 Hello, Hope someone can help me. I have read a lot of threads about this and getting conflicting information, so I was wondering if someone has done the following retrofit or can advise if this is possible: I have an Audi Avant A4 B7 Mutlitronic-CVT (Oct2005 - the newish model) with a standard 4 spoke MFSW without gear shifters installed. I don't like the four spoke design and wanted the gear shifters and so I bought a 3 spoke S-line MFSW with gear shifters (part number is 8K0 419 091 BC WUL) on ebay. It came with an Airbag (part number 8K0 880 201 E GPS) and a harness - the wires that come from the airbag with the orange and yellow connector to connect to the airbag with the car) (part number 8K0 971 589 A) No I established that the steering wheel and airbag are actually from an A4 B8 (the new model). Now in some forums people advising, that is no problem to fit this B8 wheel to a B7 car. In other froums people say that it would not fit the B7 model and aslo that the airbag from an B8 might be not compatible with a B7. Unfortunately here in Australia the mechanics don't seem to be too familiar with this work, as so far no one wanted to install the wheel to my car as they were not sure if it will fit and the parts go together (not even Audi workshops). And I did not want to pay them, if they could not guarantee that it will work. Would anyone know if the above parts will fit to my car and if I need any additional parts besides the wheel and the airbag to have this installed? Will this just a straight swap and do I only need to have the car reprogrammed, so it recognises the gear-shift paddles? It would be great if someone could advise that has actually done this retrofit to his car. All the best and thanks for any help. Cheers Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu22uk Posted September 7, 2011 Report Share Posted September 7, 2011 Hi, I see no one has replied and it has been some time! I am just about to undertake a similar retro fit. Only I will be fitting a B8 4 spoke multi function wheel to a B6! I have trawled - and I mean trawled the forums on this. As far as I have found out you should have no problem with the physical fitting of the wheel. If it will fit a B6 then it must fit a B7 because B7 wheels fit B6's - if that makes sense! Now I am very aware about the single/duel stage airbag issue between B6/B7 platform. Again from what Ive seen B8's are also duel stage. I would be surprised if the wiring had changed. Car manufactures are frugal.... the B8 wheels seem to be "facelifted" versions of the B7s. It sort of makes sense when you consider how much it would cost to design and set up tooling for a brand new wheel when they can just change out the buttons etc for a "new" look. I have seen sort of thing this a lot in Audis. You may have already done the mod... If so, how did you get on? Especially with the slip ring. Also, do you still have the airbag from your old wheel - I would be interested in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamski74 Posted September 11, 2011 Report Share Posted September 11, 2011 I have a B8 wheel on my 2005 a4 DTM which I bought on eBay. I reused my original airbag etc so I'd say you are safe to assume they fit. When I was researching I did find out that the A3 wheels have a shallower airbag so be careful there. B8 wheel is just a little thicker and has the nice chrome inserts round the stereo and phone controls ( yes I care about daft things like that) Good luck with the retrofit, it's well worth it. It's taken me about 6 months to get round to completing it as I'm away a lot with work but I can say it makes a nice difference to the car. Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down Under Posted September 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2011 Hi,Also, do you still have the airbag from your old wheel - I would be interested in it. I ended up installing a different wheel (TTs MKII with the flat bottom) and everything works fine and still have the Airbag from the original 4 spoke wheel (Part Number 8E0 880 201 DF 6PS). I currently have this up for sale at an australian forum for AUD 100,--. Let me know if you still interested. Cheers Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davebirl Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 How did you guys re-use the original airbags? Did they fit into the new wheel? any photos of the original wheels and the new ones? Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down Under Posted March 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2013 How did you guys re-use the original airbags? Did they fit into the new wheel? any photos of the original wheels and the new ones? Thank you! It all depends on your current wheel and what type of new wheel you like to install. For example if you change a 4 spoke wheel to a 3 spoke wheel you will need a new airbag as the old one won't fit. If you have a 3 spoke wheel and you change it to a new 3 spoke of the same type/model, that now has a paddle shifters or Multi function controls on the wheel, the old airbag should fit. If you use a wheel from a different model then you have to make sure that the new airbag has the same deploy scheme (one stage vs 2 stage deployment) - also you might have to change wiring on the airbag to make them work. I can email you a detailed instruction of my mod if you pm me with your email. cheers Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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