New steering wheel— installed!
As much as we preach the virtues of OEM, the thin-rimmed BMW M-Tech I we had left a bit to be desired in the sportiness category. Enter the Momo Monte Carlo. It’s a great wheel for this car— it’s chunky, feels great in one’s hands, and doesn’t look out of place (as much as we love the Momo Prototipo, it would be painfully mismatched in an E30). The aftermarket horn button is unfortunate, but we’re looking to rectify that with a replacement BMW button that’s on order— hopefully it’ll fit.
This is now the third wheel we’re on (after small diameter M-Tech I and II wheels), and it feels the best by a significant margin. We think steering wheels are so important, so we don’t mind having taken the roundabout way to get to this point. We’re just glad we don’t have an airbag to deal with.
Gratuitous Momo pics:
And in contrast, here’s the previous wheel that was on— a small diameter M-Tech I. Period correct OEM goodness, but lacking in the ‘feel’ department— it’s a trade-off we decided was worth making. We’ll hang on to this for when it becomes time to sell the car.
Motoring Con Brio 
I also like Momo wheels. I use a Momo Club4 on my E28, it is great. I think you made a good choice.
Randy said this on November 4, 2011 at 1:07 am
I also use the momo monte carlo in my e30 M3 and it feels great. I would love to replace the “momo” horn button for a BMW horn button, but I can’t find where to buy them. Can you help me?
Keep the good work in this blog.
Cheers
VR
Vicente Rezende said this on November 4, 2011 at 6:33 am
they are NLA, as we both know. i searched for “bmw horn button” on ebay and ordered one of those, so no idea if it’ll fit. hopefully it does.
thanks for reading,
motoringconbrio said this on November 4, 2011 at 7:58 am
vicente,
i am happy to report that the horn button fits perfectly! observe:
you can get it here.
motoringconbrio said this on November 7, 2011 at 9:29 pm
Looking very good, I’d like to replace the M-Tech 1 wheel in my 318is as well, but most of the nice classic wheels, like the Monte Carlo, are not allowed here in germany due to regulations on so called “safety”…
Lucas said this on November 4, 2011 at 8:14 am
interesting, lucas. still, we have our own problems here in the states..
motoringconbrio said this on November 4, 2011 at 9:41 am
Love it! Might have to get one for the turbo E34!
Brandon: Richmond, VA said this on November 4, 2011 at 9:11 am
i recommend it! either this or the small diameter m-tech ii make for a nice upgrade over the e34’s stock airbag wheel.
motoringconbrio said this on November 4, 2011 at 9:42 am
Looks great! Love it.
ZeGerman said this on November 4, 2011 at 8:31 pm
Love it! I now wanna use that same wheel in my M-B 2.3 16V. What diameter is it?
surfridedrive said this on March 28, 2012 at 4:11 pm
350mm. love it and can’t recommend it highly enough.
did you ever find the seats you were looking for?
motoringconbrio said this on March 28, 2012 at 4:14 pm
I can’t recall what I was looking for! To much going on. I’ve sold the M5 to a friend, and am re-focusing on the 2.3-16. I’m gonna put this same Momo wheel in the cossie. I may have been looking for seats for the M-B, I’m gonna go with some Bride GIAS LowMax, because of the price, the bolster & because they recline. I’m not really worried about purism with this build because I’m losing to much money to care about recouping any of it. Building this one just for me:) I’ll send you pics around Christmas when it’s done!
surfridedrive said this on May 14, 2012 at 10:40 pm