Flat Bottom Steering Wheel Swap – Audi TT / R8 Wheel in a B7 Audi S4

I recently purchased a very special flat bottom steering wheel from Europrice – it’s an Audi Exclusive TT S-line wheel in Platinum Silver by Quattro GmbH that is a perfect match for my interior. I’ve never seen one like it, and after months of deliberation I decided to splurge and go for the upgrade. It’s a perfect match with my platinum silver interior, and Europrice made it super easy to install with a custom wiring harness that made it plug and play and retained all steering wheel controls as well. If you’re wanting to install a flat bottomed steering wheel in your Audi, I highly recommend Europrice for their selection and plug-and-play offerings – even if you don’t buy the wheel from them, the wiring harness is quite a nice item and very affordable, too.

Installation was pretty easy – I followed this guide on AudiWorld with the only difference being changing out the airbag harness from the factory one to the one that Europrice provided.  I took a few pics that I’ll share here just to further contribute to the guides already out there and show just how easy it is.

1) Remove stock airbag by turning the wheel 90 degrees, removing the plastic cover and unscrewing the torx bit on each side:

2) Once both sides have been unscrewed, you should be able to pull the airbag loose off the wheel. Before removing it, turn the car on one last time and turn the wheel completely straight so that’s easier to line up the new wheel. At this point you’ll then want to disconnect the battery as a safety procaution (the negative terminal uses a 10mm wrench to remove).

3) Remove the old airbag, and then unscrew the center bolt using a T-55 bit (pictured in center, below). Mark the top of the bolt with a permanent marker just for reference.

4) Put the new wheel on and line it up so that it’s going straight as well. Torque down the bolt hard, and use some blue loctite on the bolt (optional but recommended).

5) Replace the wiring harness on the TT/R8 airbag for the A4/S4 compatible one provided by Europrice, then connect the Europrice harness to the car

6) Put the airbag on the wheel completely, then reconnect the battery. Check to make sure there is no airbag light (if there is, you might not have connected the wires completely – check everything and then clear your codes via VAG-COM and try again). Then turn the wheel 90 degrees and tighten the bottom airbag bolt and repeat for the other side until the airbag is held snugly on.

7) All set, enjoy!

If you’re shopping for a flat bottom wheel, there are a lot of options. Europrice has a cool Facebook Album with the various options in stock, ranging from color (most are black), to material (air leather, smooth leather, alcantara, etc), to shape (some have thicker grip areas). The most common choice for B7 Audi A4 or S4s are wheels coming from an Audi TT or R8 – these wheels allow you to retain the use of the radio buttons on your steering wheel (commonly referred to as Multi-Function Steering Wheel or MFSW controls). There is also a Euro RS4 wheel that looks very cool and can go on an A4 or S4, but you will lose the use of those buttons – they can be a little cheaper (primarily because the airbag for that wheel is a lot cheaper) but to me the loss of the buttons was kind of critical. Some of the newer Audis are also coming with flat bottom wheels like the RS5 and new B8.5 S4 which can be retrofitted on various older Audis…

Once again, a big thanks to Europrice. Even after only a few days with it installed, it’s already one of my most favorite mods. It looks fantastic and has a cool feel to it – while it may not make my car any faster, from a purely aesthetic standpoint it’s simply amazing.

And a few pics to show how well it matches the seats. The seats are the same leather color (called “Platinum Silver” by Audi) and definitely tie it all together nicely.