You know those silver plastic parts on the steering wheel? The ones that get all scratched up from just touching them? Well, I got tired of them being all scratched up and decided to fix them. Took some pics, thought others might want to try it as well.

First off: This does require removal of the air bag! It is only sightly dangerous, very slightly. Just wanted to for warn you. Myself or this site will not be held responsable if you mess it up. Proceed at your own risk. Now on to the fun!

Start by opening the hood then open the fuse box cover. Now remove fuse #9 and #11. They are for the S.I.R. and the horn.

Now open the drivers door and remove the pannel that goes on the dash, between the door and the dash. It just pulls off. Behind that pannel is a wire connector that will be yellow. Unplug it. Now your air bag is totaly disarmed and SHOULD be safe. Please read above warning.

Now have a seat behind the steering wheel. Turn the wheel 1/4 turn from the straight ahead position. Tilt the wheel all the way down. Now look and feel on the back side of the steering wheel. There will be two triangle shaped holes. This is where your handy dandy air bag removal tool goes. What? You dont have an air bag removal tool? Not a problem, we will just make on! All you need is a piece of small metal rod. I actually used a welding rod! Sharpen one end to a dull point and then bend that end to about a 45 degree angle. Thats it. You now have an air bag removal tool! Pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

Now insert your removal tool into the triangle shaped holes on the back of the steering wheel. This is the tricky part. it is also hard to explain. On the back of the air bag there are four studs that hold the bag in place.

On each of the studs is a slot that goes across the stud.

On the steering wheel there ia a spring loaded bar that goes into the slot on the air bag stud.

What you got to do is reach in to the wheel, with you removal tool and raise up the bar and release the air bag. It may take a couple of tries to release it, just be patient.

Once you get one side done, turn the wheel another 90 degrees and release the other two studs. There is two studs on each side. Once you get all four studs released there will be a three wires hooked to the air bag. The red wire is for the horn. Grag the white plastic piece and push it towards the steering wheel and turn 1/4 turn clockwise to release it. Now to undo the air bag wiring there is a protective cap over the wires, that snaps onto the plug. Pull up once to take the cap off, then pull the plug straight out.

Both the wire plugs and the air bag are color coded, so you dont have to worry about getting them mixed up. Now set the air bag out of the way some where.

Next step is to remove the plastic spokes, dont worry this is the easy part. All you need is a torx #25 driver. There is two screws holding on both of the big pieces, and one screw for the small spoke.

The only thing left to do is paint them. I would suggest sanding and cleaning then priming then paint. I did have another thought of some vinyl overlays for them but never checked it to it.

Once your spokes are painted and dry, just reverse the steps to reinstall. Now take pics so we can compare!




The white spots on the last two pics are from the camera flash, pretend you dont see it! Hope this helps somebody out. If you need any help or have questions, just let me know.

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2004 Grand Prix GT1, F&R STB's, GMPP R. Sway Bar, GMPP Trailing Arms, 180* stat,

you know you have to host your pics from something like photobucket right? all of you links are from you hard drive and none are showing up.....

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97 GT Coupe | E55 Retrofit | L67 Swap in the works

Yea, just figured that out, working on it right now.

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2004 Grand Prix GT1, F&R STB's, GMPP R. Sway Bar, GMPP Trailing Arms, 180* stat,

Fixed!

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2004 Grand Prix GT1, F&R STB's, GMPP R. Sway Bar, GMPP Trailing Arms, 180* stat,

nice work!!!

i would be to scared to do that! lol

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Its really not that bad. Sounds worse than it really is.

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2004 Grand Prix GT1, F&R STB's, GMPP R. Sway Bar, GMPP Trailing Arms, 180* stat,

Thank you for this write up!! I've been dieing to fix that problem.



Can't I just disconnect the battery?

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Why have more money than brains? Cuz RACE CAR :

Well, yes and no. I was told that the S.I.R. "stores" power. So if the battery cable was cut (in a wreck) before the air bag went off, it would still have the power to go off. How true that is, I dont know. I just went with the "better safe than sorry" theory.

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2004 Grand Prix GT1, F&R STB's, GMPP R. Sway Bar, GMPP Trailing Arms, 180* stat,

Wow, I like this.... Something I've been thinking about too. I figured it'd be easier to just order new replacement ones, but either way I'd have to take it apart!

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T66 Turbo,3" downpipes, oversized A2A,Stg3 heads/cam,hv3,built trans,bilstein struts,ssc springs,gxp brakes,pace car spoiler(1of3??),lots more.. dyno'd @ 421WHP~13lbs boost on OLD setup. New = ???

can you change steering wheels while you have all that apart. i wanna get the gxp one that is perforated or whatever you call it.

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then you may have airbag issues.. plus iirc, in most states using a non stock steering wheel is illegal after certain years. now if it's the same because it'll come from a grand prix and go into a grand prix, idk.

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Everything needs more Corsa. No exceptions.

Follow my journey of flight at
http://alwaysastudentpilot.blogspot.com/

its factory so i could just say it came on the car. if i could find one then i wouldnt even need the airbag cuz mine is still good, assuming its the same airbag which it prolly is.

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awesome. im doing this in the spring. anyone have part numbers for the spokes?

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04 Comp G. Sport Red. SPO.
SmoothFlow 3.6MPS | PRJ Tune | Powerlog | 3" DP | Wizair | PRJ 10.4mm wires/Autolite 104's

i dunno how it would work out for us comp g guys. tapshift looks like itll be a pain in the ass to get around. i would like to do this too but i really dont feel like getting punched in the face by an airbag lol. thats one thing i wont mess with

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ALL GO, LITTLE SHOW

• 2004 Comp G - Modded Like A Mofo And Hibernating

• 1988 VW Jetta - Slammed Slow And Reliable

• 1994 Cadillac Eldorado ETC - Sold

Hell, just bring it to me, I'll do it! Its really not that hard and not as dangerous as you might think. Sure there is some risk but, there is risk in everything.

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2004 Grand Prix GT1, F&R STB's, GMPP R. Sway Bar, GMPP Trailing Arms, 180* stat,

youre a lil too far away. and i promised myself id never set foot in missouri again after i graduated boot camp

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ALL GO, LITTLE SHOW

• 2004 Comp G - Modded Like A Mofo And Hibernating

• 1988 VW Jetta - Slammed Slow And Reliable

• 1994 Cadillac Eldorado ETC - Sold

Mike I wanna see you get punched in the face by an airbag! HAHA.

You should wait until you possibly come out here for your stereo setup So I can witness this in its full glory.

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I'll cut ya a deal....

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haha. ok everyone paypal me 50 bucks and dane will videotape me gettin punched by an airbag haha.

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ALL GO, LITTLE SHOW

• 2004 Comp G - Modded Like A Mofo And Hibernating

• 1988 VW Jetta - Slammed Slow And Reliable

• 1994 Cadillac Eldorado ETC - Sold

thats alot of deer meat

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^^^WTF????

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ALL GO, LITTLE SHOW

• 2004 Comp G - Modded Like A Mofo And Hibernating

• 1988 VW Jetta - Slammed Slow And Reliable

• 1994 Cadillac Eldorado ETC - Sold

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point being???

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ALL GO, LITTLE SHOW

• 2004 Comp G - Modded Like A Mofo And Hibernating

• 1988 VW Jetta - Slammed Slow And Reliable

• 1994 Cadillac Eldorado ETC - Sold

i have lots of bucks

where is airbag in face?

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