Who here has installed steering wheel controls to a late-model cd player? What controls do I need to get to work? I believe my cd player is out of a Bonneville, and has the inputs for steering wheel controls but I am not sure which ones to grab. I've seen a few versions, ranging from only a couple simple functions to full functionality.

Is there a diagram somewhere showing how the steering wheel radio controls work? Any chance I could make my own and wire them in or is there some digital signal?

Here's my idea, I want steering wheel controls but also want to keep the stock wheel. So what I'd be doing is disassembling the controls, and placing the buttons under the center portion of my Formula's wheel. Then using transfer letting to label it. End result would be the stock wheel with touch-sensitive radio control buttons.

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How would you run the wires in the steering wheel so they can turn? On a BMW they had a contact plate that rotated, but I don't know if this is possible on a Fiero.

[This message has been edited by DeLorean00 (edited 05-11-2008).]

Not certain, I'd have to see how they did it with the factory cars. We carry where I work little spring-loaded pin connections like used in the horn switch that let the wire rotate, I could maybe use those.

xanith acutally there are 3 or 4 wires from the column to the radio depending on the year and what model the steering wheel controls come from if you still want to use the origional fiero column. This is controls from 1991 on back. I have been chansing this for a LONG time and now i am happy to say i have 5 sets in my garage from different pontiac cars. Esentially it depends on what steering wheel you like the most. The direct bolt into the column setup comes from the following cars.

1986 - 87 pontiac 6000 STE
1987 - 88 pontiac GTA
1988 - 90 pontiac Bonneville

Typically depending on if you find it in a yard or online the prices for a full kit 100 - 250 depending on the model the kit come from and that is never with a guarantee. And most places make you take it out of the column or make you ship the column to your self and shipping those is not cheap.I f you have more questions or want some pictures of the different wheels let me know. I have some shematics from the A-Body forum.


I am looking for a test car here in california to do some testing on so if any one in california wants to help me test the full kits out i would be willing to sell a full kit to that person for what i paid for it.

quote Originally posted by mmeyer86gt/gtp: xanith acutally there are 3 or 4 wires from the column to the radio depending on the year and what model the steering wheel controls come from if

This might be true, but all the ones I've looked at from the 4th gen firebird (93-98) use a single wire. I stopped looking after 98 as the radios starting getting to where they won't work.

Several people here in Houston have done the mod, but you need to do some surgery on the column to replace the upper shaft and include the slip ring.

TexasFiero has done it several times and he posted some details in this thread:

//www.fiero.nl/forum/A...050119-1-045199.html

There is a picture of it installed here:

http://rnew.lonestarfieros.org/cdplayer.html


That ring does have 4 wires, but only one is used for the radio. The others are, power, ground, and two for the airbag. Since I doubt you want to power the airbag there are two spares that you can use for whatever.

I have a firebird column here and I intend to finally get around to doing the mod myself.

[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 05-12-2008).]

I know this might not be ideal, but I was thinking of doing something similiar to this by using the remote that came with my stereo. Typically car stereo remote controls are very small and could be consealled behind the steering wheel. I thought I'd take the electronics out of the remote and mount it to the back of my GT steering wheel. Then, I could find a nice set of switches like these, and wire them to the contacts on the remote and mount them to the steering wheel. By positioning the IR led on the remote so it points at the stereo, you could eliminate the hassle of making a contact plate for the steering column.
The only down-side I can think of is that you would need to replace the battery every so often and depending on the setup you use, it may be hard to conseal the wires.
That's the idea I'm tossing around at the moment anyway.

I have a 1990 Grand Prix Turbo with the radio control wheel. It actually fits into a Fiero quite well.

i told you about that toddster!! LOL

quote Originally posted by Xanth: Here's my idea, I want steering wheel controls but also want to keep the stock wheel.

I missed this part earlier about using the stock steering wheel.

You are going to find this nearly impossible to use a Pontiac slip ring with the stock steering wheel. The area where the connector for the slip ring comes through is right in the meaty part of the Stock steering wheel hub. You would have to somehow cut a hole in the middle of the hub without weakening it significantly. I suppose anything is possible, but I can't see an easy way to do it.

The wireless remote control is about the only way for the stock wheel that I can see possible. The down side apart from batteries is that they are typically Infrared and only work in line of site. So you can't press the button in the middle of a turn. Not a big deal but a drawback.

[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 05-12-2008).]

I have a steering wheel radio controls colum I made up. I had to basicaly rebuild the entire Fiero colum with parts from a 95 Bonneville. The only parts I kept was the long steering shaft, and the colum itself.

heres the kicker... If you want to use the "wound coil" type of conductor (if it has an airbag, it has this) your steering colum will be 3/4" LONGER then it was without it. This is why you have to use ALL the parts from the bonneville colum, including the steering wheel part of the shaft. This style system uses resistances to control the radio.

If you want to keep the stock length, your options are very limited, again the early 90's bonneville is an option, however, instead of having the wound coil it has 4 slip ring conductors, and an OPTICAL interface for the data (not resistances). So you would be limited to using the bonneville radio, and steering wheel.

You might be able to somehow combine the two, using the slip ring system with the resistors.

There is also the option of using the Pontiac Firebird GTA colum parts. but IIRC, they are the same as the bonneville, and many times rarer then the bonnevilles stuff.

PM to you Xanth

I love how people call the gta parts rare they are not you just need to keep your eyes open when you go to a yard and you will be suprised at what you will find!