MY02/05 WRX steering wheel swap question

Hex Kitten · Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 10:08 am

Background info: I have an 05 WRX wagon...and I hate the 3-spoke steering wheel. I'm pretty sure my previous cars have all had a 4-spoke, and I've gotten used to that. In the 3 months I've had my wagon, I just can't get comfortable with this steering wheel.

A friend with an 02 WRX likes my steering wheel and wants to trade me for his 4-spoke one that I prefer.

I've done a little research to try to figure out if this can be a good clean swap without diddling with any wiring splices, but I ran into one thing that I can't find a solid answer about.

My concern is with the cruise control wands. MY02-04 have a separate button on the dash for toggling the cruise on and off, while my MY05 has that button on the end of the cruise control wand itself.

Question: Is it possible to swap the wheels, but leave each model year's respective cruise control wand in the original car and just swap the wheels and airbags?

iwantone · Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 10:37 am

really the only way to find this out is tear into it. I would imagine that you could swap the wands and be ok. if i had the time i would go tear into my legacy and my wrx and see if they could be swapped.

Pita84 · Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 6:30 pm

hex... i would have switched...... i have wiring diagrams

fidrat · Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 4:20 am

I'm a big fan of the 4 spoker too. But is that a CB raido I see? (singing) East bound and down load it up and truck it. "Breaker breaker, one nine I'm 10-10 on the side and I'm gone." Cool

Hex Kitten · Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 11:19 am

fidrat wrote:

I'm a big fan of the 4 spoker too. But is that a CB raido I see? (singing) East bound and down load it up and truck it. "Breaker breaker, one nine I'm 10-10 on the side and I'm gone." Cool

That isn't a pic of my car, but a friend's, but I will have a CB installed soon hopefully. Very Happy

I'm planning on picking it up later this week. It's going to come in handy for my daily commutes on 94

fidrat · Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:16 pm

My favorite WRX steering wheel is the one with the silver logo with the red logo a close second. I HATE the yellow arrow logo! It doesn’t match ANYTHING on the car and it took a LONG time to get used to it. And why the hell does it point to the right? But, I love my 4 spoker. I just wish I could just pop out the logo and pop in a silver or red one. Or at least pop out the one I have and put it back in with the arrow pointing up.

BTW. How did the swap go?

Hex Kitten · Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 2:41 pm

Actually, it didn't happen yet Sad

Still haven't gotten around to checking out the cruise control situation

fidrat · Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 2:53 pm

I ain't got nutten to do. I'll poke around and see what I can find.

Pita84 · Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 2:58 pm

I know someone with an 02 wheel in an 07 but the cruise is inop.... button will not work........... he hasnt gotten around to see if he could rig it

onelostsoldier · Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:00 am

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1706380

a couple posts down there is a few links to how to swap, hope this helps

awd>fwd · Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:10 am

Cruise control sucks, it just gives you really shitty gas mileage and realistically only used by people when they are too drunk to control speed... mine has been inop for months and I don't even miss it.

04 Wagon Boy · Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:52 pm

I always thought cruise control helped with gas mileage?

awd>fwd · Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:26 pm

04 Wagon Boy wrote:

I always thought cruise control helped with gas mileage?

Absolutely not, it is constantly adjusting the throttle input and that's bad for fuel economy. Over a long road trip the difference in gas mileage is noticeable but around town I doubt you're gonna notice that much. When I was in tech school I had a teacher that loved explaining away automotive myths (octane boosters, "mystery oils", cheap fixes, etc) and this came up in his class.

04 Wagon Boy · Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 2:49 pm

Are you talking on the interstate or in town?

fidrat · Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:04 pm

I'm having a hard time buying this. I took a loooooong trip from Iowa City, IA to Arcata, CA to San Luis Obispo, CA to Los Angeles (Boy, those tuners in the Lancaster/Palmdale area are nuts!!!) and back to IA. 3 TIMES!!! I'm talking end to end full tanks of gas with the cruise control on all the time. I was wondering the same thing. Could I get better mileage if I did it myself? The best I did was 25mpg no stops 80mph. The cruise got 27 and 28.5mpg at 80 mph. (I did it twice. Hey, I was bored.)

Sometimes instructors throw b.s. like this around to establish dominance over the class. It's a common technique. Mine tried to tell me there is no such thing as 100% profit unless it's stolen. Watta' tool.