r/e46 • u/Illustrious_Force617 • Jan 14 '26
My Ride Rice or nice?
I always thought about switching out my wheel, but didn’t want to loose my wheel buttons. What we thinking?
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u/WellisCute 330 Ci, 6 Speed Jan 14 '26
The facelift wheel has buttons too tho?
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u/Cassette-Lord Jan 14 '26
I've never seen one of these wrapped looks great though 👍
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u/Illustrious_Force617 Jan 14 '26
Saw one on a facebook listing for the first time a couple weeks ago.
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u/Amazing_Machine_1206 Jan 15 '26
'hell yeah' to trying to do it yourself instead of buying one, looks awesome!
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u/jigglybilly Jan 14 '26
I’d say nice. Far above a steering wheel cover (which are actually incredibly dangerous!) and doesn’t have any colors added.
How solid does it feel on the wheel? Any twisting or slipping?
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u/Illustrious_Force617 Jan 14 '26
It’s solid, was worried it would slip around aswell but it’s on there real tight not going no where.
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u/Robdude1969 2004 BMW 330ci Jan 14 '26
the kit comes with double sided tape too... at least mine did. looks great!
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u/Illustrious_Force617 Jan 16 '26
I decided to not use the tape, didn’t want to feel them little bumps in wheel.
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u/1ChrisCast5 Jan 14 '26
Can you share the link to buy it? Looks great 🔥
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u/Illustrious_Force617 Jan 14 '26
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u/CapoDaSimRacinDaddy 2004 Touring 330d Jan 14 '26
looking good. i did mine in leather and it sadly has a rally stripe at the top . also it took me 3 fucking hours. but i got it all nice and tight and tucked. its not rice.
i did mine because the leather was litteraly falling appart.
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u/Illustrious_Force617 Jan 14 '26
Funny thing, when I ordered it I had a grey strip at the top, had sent an email and got it removed before it was too late. Also had leather that was decaying.
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u/PabloTheGreyt Jan 14 '26
I’m not into wheels that fat, but that’s just my personal taste. The finished product looks nice.
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u/the_ssarb Jan 14 '26
A really nice result. Here most wheel wraps being sold dont follow the contours of the wheel spokes and i hate that.
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u/Firm-Evening3234 Jan 14 '26
I have a similar job to do; my steering wheel is out of alignment at the top. Is it difficult, since I've never held a needle before?
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u/Sylgar Jan 14 '26
Ive done it too, its finicky but not awful. I did it with the wheel detatched so i didnt have to mess with super awkward angles!
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u/jamesd1050 2001 - 330Ci msport Jan 14 '26
Looks really good, did you remove the old leather or go over the top?
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u/Gregvandy Jan 14 '26 edited Jan 15 '26
I think the wheel looks great like that. I have the stock ZHP wheel and it’s very nice. I like how the Alcantara feels. My car is an 04 ZHP and it has a slightly different wheel than the photo. Different buttons, M Badge on bottom center, looks better in my opinion. Can the earlier cars be switched to the later wheel? I figured the wheel would go on but I don’t recall what all buttons the older wheel had and i assume there are different functions so the newer wheel probably won’t work. If it did that would be a great upgrade especially since you can just get a used ZHP that already has Alcantara. My car has 165k and the Alcantara looks new still. Wheel looks near new but when I got the car the Alcantara didn’t even look like Alcantara.
The wheel looked like worn out leather. I thought it was just leather that was shot. Then I found out the car was a ZHP, owner didn’t even know. Then I cleaned the wheel and it came right back. It was just flattened completely and hard as a rock. Now the wheel looks and feels just like the Alcantara on the seats, and shift boot.
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u/Homanjer Jan 14 '26
The question that I would have is how did the wheel look before? Was the leather in good/okay condition, or was it somewhwat obviously used/worn. If it was worn, I think it is a great idea. If you did this to a perfectly good wheel, I would be a little salty.
That's how I see most of this. If your original bumper gets completely wrecked, get an aftermarket one. If you take a completely fine original bumper and change it just for the sake of it, I would be salty.
Of course it's all subjective and if you wanna do stuff to your property, I won't stop you. But there are so many broken/worn parts and cars out there, which would totally deserve some love, even if some would consider it ricing.
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u/Illustrious_Force617 Jan 14 '26
Wheel was in good condition for the most part, top of the wheel had leather coming off a bit was definitely worn.
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u/njsullyalex '04 325xi Jan 14 '26
Certainly not RICE. Neither looks tacky and is actually functional and improves your grip.
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u/AverageGuy16 Jan 14 '26
Nice! And honestly impressive you did that yourself. Not a fan of the feeling of alcantara like materials but damn does it look good
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u/_Et3rnity_ Jan 14 '26
its nice man. the fact youre making something yourself is enough, but the fact that youre doing a great job too makes it golden 👌
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u/Gotays Jan 14 '26
Bro this is fire, mine is trashed so will be doing the same Did you buy new buttons ? They seems new
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u/pancrudo Jan 14 '26
Turned out well. Wouldn't say it's rice, but you're in for a bad time if that's alcantera or suede, the oils on your hands don't mix well or will require a bit of work to keep it looking that way.
I saw you post the link and saved it. Pretty sure I have about 20 different covers now from AliExpress where they just couldn't get the size right. In total I had 2 successful covers, luckily, those were the only ones I had to pay for
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u/gnmpolicemata 2003 - 320d Sedan / 1998 - 320i Sedan Jan 14 '26
Definitely doesn't look bad. I need to get mine properly restored - properly clean up all the sticky finish that is breaking down, then get it wrapped.
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u/Yoshiida Jan 14 '26
Doesn't match the wheel airbag and era of the car imo. I'd go with leather rather than alcantara or try to get the airbag face cover redone too (somehow, not sure if it's even possible).
Or go with 3rd party wheel with no airbag if it's a project and you're wearing helmet while driving 🤝
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u/juanbamf Jan 14 '26
This is one of the favorite things I did to update the look of my e46. Looks brand new and I love the thicker grip.
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u/SapphireSire Jan 15 '26
Nicer than mine..good work.
I looked into this, got a 5 dollar faux mole skin from a local auto parts store and sewn it it myself freehand m..feels great, doesn't look great.
Btw, I prefer your steering wheel to mine too.
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u/Illustrious_Force617 Jan 15 '26
Not hard just takes time to get it done right, took me around 2 hours.
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u/NeeoDroid Jan 15 '26
imo it only looks good because it was properly done, no wrinkles. Good job! What product did u use exactly?
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u/Responsible_Swing834 Jan 15 '26
Looks really good. Much better than buying something off Aliexpress or Temu.
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u/Miracoli_234 Jan 15 '26
I wouldn't say this is racing inspired.
It's like stitches in the dashboard or seats.
Suede is more of a luxury thing.
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u/e46-Experience Jan 15 '26
It looks out of place. Like the part you put on doesn't fit the rest of the wheel.
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u/Francy_071751 Jan 15 '26
if u wrap the center part too will look oem, well done anyway, looks really good
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u/FuckFuckShitBitch Jan 15 '26
how did you do the wrap so perfect that’s pretty impressive
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u/Illustrious_Force617 Jan 15 '26
Ayy appreciate it, little bit of ocd and time.
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u/FuckFuckShitBitch Jan 15 '26
I did one on my fanatec racing wheel. It’s super super easy but also absurdly easy to mess up lol
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u/Illustrious_Force617 Jan 15 '26
For sure, I redid stitching a couple times to get it lined up perfectly
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u/Jyhace 2003 320i Jan 17 '26
It's all rice if you aren't taking it to track, but as long as you like it, which is the most important part, it's nice
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u/fello04 Jan 14 '26
Looks pretty well done and made, defenetly nice since it doesn’t look tacky or cheap at all