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I seek the RL community expertise and feedback....
I had been looking for a unique steering wheel solution for Project Rest-volution and have hit a few stumbling blocks. I have been working on trying to commission an airbag wheel for my car and haven't been able to find any company willing or able to take on the project. I know and have run through most of the companies that modify factory wheels to make them thicker or flatten the tops and bottoms, however none of the companies I have spoken with would be able to deliver what I am looking to do.
I wanted to emulate The classic Batwing equipped 4 spoke wheel that was on the early cars, with the current style 991.2 circular airbag. I had looked at many different ways to try and accoplish this, but all of them require far more skills than I possess and none of the places I spoke with were looking to take on the project.
SO I look to my fellow RLers to provide their insight... Does anyone know of a company that builds bespoke airbag equipped wheels?
Option two would be to use one of the other wheels that readily would fit the 964. Current steering wheels I have found are 964-996 wheels. I know of one adventurous RLer who managed to fit a 997 wheel by welding on a different spline collar, but don't know if the same could be done for the more modern 991.2 steering wheels. In lieu of not being able to build my bespoke wheel...I look to RL for their feedback, which airbag equipped Porsche wheel would you want in your Elffer?
I like this discussion. The three spoke wheels on the market that are an easy fit with an airbag are basically the raid wheels. I hate the way they feel in my hands - particularly due to the angle of the wheel since we have no angle adjustment.
I love the idea of the later round airbag wheel- but in my opinion, maybe best to backdate the later wheel rather than trying to update an earlier wheel hub to accept the airbag. No one is going to take on the liability of making a custom airbag wheel. I get that.
But there has to be an airbag wheel that can be refit to look right - even if that means either welding as your friend had done, or making a custom shaft that meets our steering knuckle on one end and has the correct splines on the other to accept the wheel.
The 993 and 996 wheels are way too mid nineties style to begin with. I always thought the earlier non-airbag four point 89 wheel was a good style for the car. That wheel fitted with an airbag would be awesome - but doesn't exist. I think maybe back dating a newer wheel may be your best bet.
And while you are in there...maybe figure out a way to lower the wheel by a half inch and change the angle slightly
I like this discussion.
The 993 and 996 wheels are way too mid nineties style to begin with. I always thought the earlier non-airbag four point 89 wheel was a good style for the car. That wheel fitted with an airbag would be awesome -
Goughary - Agree that the 70-80s wheels looked good...I can see how the designers tried to capture it in the airbag wheels of the 964 and 993 but agree they aren't pretty as the airbag ruins the proportions...here is the wheel I wanted to emulate...
Jjm - Haven't come across a nice aftermarket wheel and agree with you 100%...that is why I started looking at retrofitting a newer Porsche wheel...but if I was going to go that route...the work to make a bespoke isn't that far off from a fabrication standpoint....
Last edited by Nylasurf; 01-13-2017 at 12:04 AM.
Reason: adding photo
Agree with 02M2; I worked in the restraint industry for many years and the entire package is a highly tuned system- belts/bag/column/sensors/computer/software. I don't think I'd feel comfortable with a mix-and-match approach, particularly insofar as *modern* airbags are significantly different from the ones fitted to our cars from the factory. Possibly in the future some intrepid and legally-well-insulated company may develop a freestanding setup where the sensor/computer/bag/wheel are all contained in the wheel? Even then, if it's not designed in conjunction with the belt* you're not going to get modern performance.
*Modern belts are of the load-limiting variety; rather than lock up hard like the factory 964 belts do they 'pay out' slowly and allow the occupant to 'ride down' into the bag as it deflates.
The idea has been with me for a long time and I raised it here for debate. I appreciate all the feedback and I am well aware of all the liability issues associated with mixing and matching wheels/airbags etc. I had hoped that the discussion would have turned more into what would be needed to successfully accomplish such a task (even given the cost prohibitive nature) rather than state the Liability associated with it.
Given there are numerous companies that reshape steering wheels, I would imagine changing a 991 3 spoke wheel to a 4 spoke wheel would take some minimal effort in welding as that is already being done when reducing diameter,flattening the bottom, etc. This along with changing the spline connection would take care of the mechanical issues, which honestly I see as the easy part. The hard part is what FeralComprehension points out...
The insight into the complexity of the modern systems and the link between all of the saftey systems (to include belt movement is enlightening. I have done alot of research into this and understand that a reliable system would require not just a wheel and airbag, but also most likely the airbag cpu (brain) and possibly sensors. The biggest challenge is making sure that the signals being sent from the 964 sensors were read by the Modern CPU and that the airbag would fire properly as the newer CANBUS systems in modern cars clearly would not be a plug and play in our cars.
Given that I understand the notion of Liability, but we have gotten modern water cooled motors in the 964 where wiring harnesses have been developed...I don't see why upgrading airbags are much different. I know that it is a cost benefit equation at the end and given some manufacturers state airbags are good for life hard for a company to justify a retrofit package.
Given the current available Airbag equipped wheels THAT do fit the 964...which one, in your own opinions, is the most attractive in the 964 cabin. Top candidates for me are the 993 4 spoke airbag wheel
(a little more shapely than the 964 unit)
or the 996 three spoke with triangle airbag.
01-12-2017, 10:11 PM
STEER me in the right direction
In lieu of not being able to build my bespoke wheel...I look to RL for their feedback, which airbag equipped Porsche wheel would you want in your Elffer?
