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      04-01-2019, 04:16 AM   #64
im4ipsc
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Drives: 2011 M3 E92 ZCP Comp S/C
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Greensboro, NC

iTrader: (1)

I just installed my red M button and found out that the easiest way to perform the swap out was to remove the steering wheel's airbag first because the ring of plastic that the buttons sit in is slightly pinched behind the airbag's outer rim. I just carefully laid the air bag off to the side with its wire connections intact, then pried off the plastic ring with a plastic interior pry tool ($5 kit from AutoZone) and was then able to screw off the one screw on the back of the plastic housing that has the M button in it. Be careful not to lose the two tiny black inserts for your up and down buttons. Then I replaced the black M button with my new red M button and made sure that those two tiny black inserts were properly seated. The reason for removing the air bag is that when your replace the bottom half of the M button assembly (the parts with the circuitry) to the top half of the M button assembly (the parts with the buttons), it is so much easier to place the M button assembly (the parts with the buttons) horizontally face down and then place the bottom half of the assembly (the parts with the circuitry) on top of this and snap everything back in place. The removal of the airbag relieves that tension on the wires to the button assembly. Otherwise, gravity from reassembling the two pieces at an angle (which some of the other folks from this thread mentioned) will have the M buttons and those two tiny black inserts sliding out of place and making the reassembly very difficult. It only takes a minute to remove the air bag module but I was trying all kinds of angles to get those two pieces to snap back together and the buttons kept sliding out of place.

The aforementioned assembly sequence eliminated that frustration and allowed for a much easier assembly process and visually, I could confirm that all of those tiny pieces were in place before assembling the two halves. I hope that someone else can benefit from this assembly process as the majority of us already have our steering wheels installed and not laid out on some workbench like the pictures depict in this thread.
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