Original 2002 ti steering wheel question?

[JohnP_02]

Looking for some insight on what steering wheel the 2002 ti may have come from the factory with. It seems pretty well established that the 1600 ti came with the 400mm wood steering wheel with slotted matte black spokes, and a smooth center horn button. The 2002 ti steering wheel seems a bit more of a mystery still or at the very least not as well known - and I love a good historical mystery! An original 1969 brochure that I had shows the 2002 ti with an identical style steering wheel as the 1600 ti, but with leather. It retains the exact same styling and importantly - I believe - the smooth center horn button. It seems logical and that it may have been the precursor for the later "Euro sport wheel" or as it is often referred to a "tii sport wheel" - but the one or two distinguishing differences - the change in the center horn button style from smooth to embossed, and the material of the later wheel being vinyl. 

 

As a vintage BMW steering wheel collector I have finally found what I believe to be an original 2002 ti wheel and am trying to confirm these details. It would also be possible that it could just be an early sport wheel or maybe had the horn piece swapped out. I will check for dates on the wheel when it arrives and report back, but any info maybe from original owners or those in the know would be appreciated! 

 

Some picture from the 1969 brochure:

 

Another 2002 ti brochure I found some images from:

 

The "2002 ti" steering wheel I just purchased:

[pierre02ti]

Looks a lot like the one in my original ti

Good score!

[JohnP_02]

Thank you, Pierre! That is very helpful. I am working on a catalogue of BMW steering wheels as well, so getting confirmations is great. 

 

Love that interior! The chrome bits on the dash are super.

 

John 

[uai]

AFAIK only the 420mm from e9 are genuine leather all 400mm are plastic although very good looking. Also there are differences in matte chrome (early) vs. gloss chrome (late) of the little thingies at the spokes. As an accessory there was also an early Style with embossed BMW Logo available

Edited January 13, 2022 by uai

[JohnP_02]

Thanks Uli, always great insight from you. I knew about the larger 420mm e9 wheel being leather vs the 2002 size 400mm being vinyl, I just wasn't totally sure about these 2002 ti specific wheels and if they also may have been real leather. It seemed plausible as they were of course an upgrade/sport model 2002. I agree though the quality of the vinyl they used then is really amazing, it is almost impossible to tell the difference between it and real leather. I forgot about the fact that the chrome bits did switch over from matte to shiny as well.

 

I saw one of those wheels with the embossed center horn button for sale a few years ago and I thought it was just some modern thing that someone had made, so I passed on it. Ugh

 

I love all the details! Thanks again! 

John

 

 

[Jam3422]

John - The steering wheel that was in my very late 2002 ti (February 71) has the shiny chrome, vinyl wrap (though very nice), but does not have the smooth center button.  I am not the original owner, so can't say with certainty that it's original to the car, but given the rest of the car, I suspect that it is.

 

 

[Oldtimerfahrer]

Mine is Feb 8 1971, with smooth button...mine also had a leather looking vinyl wrap, now wrapped in a bit more leather. There is a picture in one of my posts.

Andrew

[JohnP_02]

3 hours ago, Jam3422 said:

it's original to the car, but given the rest of the car, I suspect that it is.

 

It is certainly possible! It appears at some point the steering wheel design became more of a standard option and the horn button changed over from smooth the embossed. I suspect we will never really know when that happened exactly, but its certainly possible a later ti came with one. It is also possible that the horn button was swapped out as they are all interchangeable and I have seen several smooth ones that had rips and/or tears in them and likely became NLA with the advent of the later version. 

 

Love the interior pictures of everyone's ti's! Just stunning! What is fabric/pattern of those seats that you have? Looks similar to Houndstooth, but I am guessing its not. Was that an option on ti's? Thanks!

[Jam3422]

The fabric is not original, and was not an available option from BMW - the seats were already redone when I bought the car.  I'm not sure, but it looks pretty similar to some older VW fabric.

 

The seats are in really nice condition, but I went with comfort - GTS copies of the old Recaro sport S seat that was an option in 2002s (and 911s).  The interior is quite a bit different now - I moved the clock to the correct location and cleaned up some other stuff that had been "added" to the car.

 

You are probably right about the center pad being replaced - it is in super nice condition, and I think my car was driven often and hard...

[Oldtimerfahrer]

I see only miniscule differences between yours and mine, like the choke knob (yours is black, mine has the same form as the other knobs with silver) the face plate and knobs for the radio (though the radio and speaker itself looks like the standard Frankfurt radio) and someone mozzified my guages to black to alpina-tize them...Ive also ditched the original seats with repro S seats but their not mounted yet.

Andrew

[jgerock]

On 1/13/2022 at 1:03 PM, Jam3422 said:

John - The steering wheel that was in my very late 2002 ti (February 71) has the shiny chrome, vinyl wrap (though very nice), but does not have the smooth center button.  I am not the original owner, so can't say with certainty that it's original to the car, but given the rest of the car, I suspect that it is.

 

 

I have a steering wheel similar to this one. IMO, it’s too big for the car.  Don’t think I’ll part with it yet though.

[Conserv]

Many (most?) of the sport wheels — whether they were originally on a ti, originally on a Euro tii, originally on a 1970 2002 (after that big ol’ fire in the steering wheel factory ?), or simply purchased from a dealer and added to another sub-model — are stamped with the year of manufacturer. It’s generally on the front, but I’d look front and back if I didn’t see it there. Below is a ‘72 example. It’s a U.S.-spec model, with oval indents on the three spokes rather than oval cut-outs.

 

Even if you don’t want to pull your wheel off to check the rear, simply removing the horn button, and removing three screws, should reveal the wheel’s front.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

[JohnP_02]

The steering wheel just arrived and the plot thickens - a little. The good, it is 40cm as described, the “pleather” rim is worn but actually in quite good condition, the smooth horn button is in excellent condition, it has the early satin chrome tips although they are quite rough, not so good is the paint has worn off the spokes, but they are very straight and not damaged, just need a good sanding and some fresh paint and should clean up well.

 

The interesting part is the “date” the stamp (if that is in fact what it is) is marked 86, which I am going to take a ‘68, and would be exactly correct for a ti wheel. I have 2 other euro wheels, and I need to recheck them but I recall at least one of them may have had this odd type of date. If anyone else has ever checked under the horn button and metal plate for dates I would be interested to know! For now I am content in that I believe this is an early ti wheel. 
 

 

[Jam3422]

OK, you made me curious.  I've tried as hard as I can, but I can't make the 11 into a 71, which would be correct for my car manufactured in 71.  I have no idea what's up with those markings.

[JohnP_02]

@Jam3422 Thanks for taking the time to check and posting the picture! I have two other of the later style of this week as well and as I recalled the number on one of them was seemingly not a date either, perhaps a date code? I am not sure we will ever know, Petri is no longer really a company as they were acquired a few years ago by Takata AG. I doubt they had any records of this anyways. BMW and the Germans in general with light years better than say Momo for example where there is literally zero records of anything, no part numbers, no dates (before 1976), etc., and those steering wheels sell for thousands even tens of thousands of dollars in some cases. I am going to repost this thread in the main 2002 discussion room to hopefully get more eyes on it and more insight. Here is the stamp on my "late" euro sport wheel. Thanks!