Had the G in for 30K service today and they gave me an 05 loaner... the coolest thing about it was the fact that the steering wheel buttons light up. Anyone looked into replacing their non-lighted controls with newer ones? Will it work (plug-n-play?), and how much for the parts?

Joe


Edit: BTW my girl has a $19K 2003 Mazda 6 that has lighted steering wheel controls... I'm jealous.

 

The controls are lit up?? thats awesome, although i see no purpose in it i guess it would look cooler...you kinda memorize where the controls are so you dont really need a light

 

Yeah, it's not so much my needing the lights to operate the radio and cruise controls at night, just wondering if anyone has experience upgrading their 2003 G35 to have a feature that comes stock on a 2003 wrong-wheel-drive 4-cylinder base-model Mazda that costs $15,000 less?

Joe

 

Hey i like to know this answer. Im in process replacing my stock steering wheel because my leather is cracking and i want to upgrade to the 05 wheel. Does any one know how to wire this up?

03 steering wheel harness


It looks like the 05 has 4-5 more wires?

05 steering wheel harness

 

I did a cutom steering wheel on my 05, had to send it out & used an 04 steering wheel for a while. The button layput is a bit different, but other than that, it seems to worked fine.

But never tried 05 steering wheel on 04.

 

You might just try pluging it and see what happens. The buttons look the same from that pic. What was different?

 

couple of the wires are added in the 05 steering wheel (in the pic). I dont have the steering wheel to test it out these pics are from the person im buying from.

 

the couple of wires added are probally power for the lights

 

I would do what Tim said. Just plug it in and see. If it doesn't light up, then get 2 wires and the pins to plug into the harness and run them to a power supply and that should light up the steering wheel. maybe?

 

Try to test those other wires and see what they are. If power you can add that.

Maybe my next loaner will end up with a different steering wheel.

 

I like the way you think.

I also think the extra wires are for the lights.

Hey dhwu, when you replace your 04 steering wheel, are you going to need the air bag cover? Mine was scuffed up when I bought it used and I'd like to replace it. Just wondering.

 

I am just going to buy the 05 steering wheel and test it out. If the switches doesnt light up then i just swap my 03 switched on to the 05 steerling wheel. When i am finished ill let you guys know how it turn out. Gilley the steering wheel doesnt come with the airbag i was going to use my 03 airbag.

 

Thanks for the reply. I wonder if I can just get the airbag cover. That's all I need.

 

so is the air bag different for 03 -06

 

I put the 05 steering wheel on mine. 05 plus has two extra wires for the lighting. everything else works like it should