Steering Wheel Switch-a-roo
 

This is an interesting question, of course it would not pertain to those of you who chose to get the two tone interior, but here it goes anyway.

I'm not too fond of the RX-8's steering wheel. What amazes me is that a more attractive wheel can be had in the new Mazda 6. Below are the pics for the repsective wheels. Each of them have the same button layout and I was wondering, could you somehow switch the two steering wheels without stepping on too many toes?

Scratch that, you can find the Rx-8's wheel on the site here easily enough. :D

Don't forget, one wheel might look good against the styling of one car, but not against the styling of another car.

If the wheels are indeed different, I would think you'd have to make sure that all of the mounting hardware is compatible. You might have to swap out the switches between the two, but that's doubtful.

I was kind of wondering if either steering wheel would fit the Miata, so that someone could get steering wheel buttons in a Miata if they so desired...

---jps

I like the 6's steering wheel better too. I wonder if it's the same size as the 8's? Also looks like the rim might be 'thinner' but that could just be my imagination. After all, it's a small picture.

I think the RX-8's steering wheel looks too fat. Something more like the Miata's Nardi wheel would be great. :)

I dont know if it would be that hard. That is because all of the buttons on the RX-8's wheel translate exactly with the buttons on the 6's wheel. Is there an electrician in the house??

It's not just the wiring, the hub must fit too.

Like Quick-lude said, you have to make sure the hardware mates up first.

The thing with the buttons is not whether they have the same functions or not. With a steering wheel setup, all of the buttons are normally connected to whatever it is controlling with a single wire. Each button has a different resistance value, which is how the controller determines which button has been pressed. So if they are off, it's not a simple matter of connecting wires in a different matter.

There are alot of times (especially with items that are found across the product line like cruise control) when these switches are setup with the same values as the other car. But there are times when for some reason (reasons that make more sense to manufacturers than to customers) they will be mapped out differently.

My point is:
A) You can hope that they'd be the same, but you can't rely on assumption. Check before you dive in.
B) You can't simply rewire the switches in this kind of setup if they do happen to be different. The easiest thing to do if that is actually the case is swap switches (since they do appear to be the same size, but that is another assumption).

---jps