Cayman 981 Steering Wheels

[softcell]

Hi Everybody

Collected new car last week, 2013 Cayman 2.7 PDK, love the car the only thing that I'm not keen on is the steering wheel, it has the push gear changers as opposed to paddles.
Car is fitted with multi-function steering wheel and would like to keep these, are there any options people have done to change to paddle shifts, have seen some Macan wheels for sale which have paddles and also multifunction buttons

Has anybody upgraded or change the wheel that can advice me

Many Thanks

ian

[gwsinc]

I believe, much like the 987, you have to replace it with a sports steering wheel and have some extra stalks installed for the button functions. Possible through OPC, although quite expensive. May be worth calling them for pricing.

[SV_WDC]

Worth searching around on here as read recently someone fitted a 718 wheel to their 981. Those have the paddles & the MF buttons

[OPOGTS]

I believe the only official option is the sports design wheel for about a grand - but this does NOT have the multi functions - you can see the options on the Porsche website under accessories. Porsche wouldn’t fit the newer 718 wheel for me....


Also note that the sports design wheeel is on 6 month back order!


https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[AJB88]

I love my sport design wheel in my 981 but wish it had multi function buttons on it.

[softcell]

Thanks for all the replies

[Marc_Hill]

I believe Suncoast Parts have the sports design steering wheels back in stock, if you could be bothered to import one from the US.

[frozen-in-wiltshire]

Looked into this myself a while back and went with OPC installed sport-design wheel with the paddles.
you can control most functions on the right dial multi-function-display with the control stalk (answering phone etc) so it's not as bad as you might think to have no buttons on the steering wheel.
some folks have tried the new steering wheel with older models but there is wiring problems and you can say goodbye to your warranty if you have one - major amount of work.
swapping over the sport-design steering wheel is dead easy and OPCs are doing it quite regularly - not cheap - but then nothing at OPCs is.

[SV_WDC]

frozen-in-wiltshire said:

Looked into this myself a while back and went with OPC installed sport-design wheel with the paddles.
you can control most functions on the right dial multi-function-display with the control stalk (answering phone etc) so it's not as bad as you might think to have no buttons on the steering wheel.
some folks have tried the new steering wheel with older models but there is wiring problems and you can say goodbye to your warranty if you have one - major amount of work.
swapping over the sport-design steering wheel is dead easy and OPCs are doing it quite regularly - not cheap - but then nothing at OPCs is.

How much was the work at OPC?

[softcell]

Frozen

Thanks for your reply, I think that's the way I will go

Regards
Ian

[True Gaucho]

Hi softcell. I’m not sure if this helps you, as it’s without multi function, but here’s my post on planet 9 about installing a 718 GT Sport steering wheel on my 981 GTS. I’m very pleased with the results. No error codes. Toby

https://www.planet-9.com/981-cayman-and-boxster-mo...

[OPOGTS]

SV_WDC said:

frozen-in-wiltshire said:

Looked into this myself a while back and went with OPC installed sport-design wheel with the paddles.
you can control most functions on the right dial multi-function-display with the control stalk (answering phone etc) so it's not as bad as you might think to have no buttons on the steering wheel.
some folks have tried the new steering wheel with older models but there is wiring problems and you can say goodbye to your warranty if you have one - major amount of work.
swapping over the sport-design steering wheel is dead easy and OPCs are doing it quite regularly - not cheap - but then nothing at OPCs is.

How much was the work at OPC?

I spoke to Porsche about this again now the Sports Design PDK wheels are back in stock.

SLIGHT SHOCK!

Allegedly an additional control unit is required if you currently have a MFSW and this increases the price from £959 to £1.6k.........!!!

I’ve checked with a couple of specialists to see if that could bring the price down and both have said it’s a tricky job and best to use a main dealer.

Has anybody done this?

[burman]

Hi OPO,
Your quoted price is about right as I was told £ 1.4K a year ago when I bought my CaymanS
I had mine on order for months and gave u p in the end and have got used to the MF wheel which is pretty good but takes time to get used to.

[OPOGTS]

Just to update on this folks, I bit the bullet and had the PDK Sports Design Wheel with Paddles fitted at OPC East London last week.

First off, it's absolutely superb and I love it. It feels a much higher quality product than the MFSW wheel with the push/pull buttons (better materials, better engineering) and the paddles are an absolute joy to use and so intuitive. Thoroughly recommend it to anybody still persevering with the push/pull system - even if you have got used to it (as i eventually had). It's sooooo much better, in my opinion.

Secondly, in terms of costs you absolutely have to shop around.....

- OPC Reading = £1,224.00 (all incl. VAT)
- OPC West London = £1278.78 who then offered my a 10% discount to £1,150.90 as i had bought the car from them originally
- OPC Brooklands = £1,614.38 who said the best they could do was £1465.78 as the parts alone were more than some of the other quotes i'd received
- OPC East London = £1,250.48

In the end I used East London as their overall service pricing was also more competitive (i had spark plugs done at the same time) and their customer service felt a little bit better - obviously quite subjective though. They also price matched the West London discounted price, so i paid £1,150.90.

Hope that helps others thinking of doing the same.

Cheers
RS

[anonymous-user]

A grand for a steering wheel ? ! Holy fk.

[OPOGTS]

Schmed said:

A grand for a steering wheel ? ! Holy fk.

Ha, totally agree!!!! It's utter madness...... really struggled to justify it..... but now it's done I couldn't be happier.

Also, needs must as I've got a road trip through Europe coming up over the summer and I couldn't bare the thought of putting up with crap wheel for such an epic trip

[JayK12]

OPOGTS said:

Just to update on this folks, I bit the bullet and had the PDK Sports Design Wheel with Paddles fitted at OPC East London last week.

First off, it's absolutely superb and I love it. It feels a much higher quality product than the MFSW wheel with the push/pull buttons (better materials, better engineering) and the paddles are an absolute joy to use and so intuitive. Thoroughly recommend it to anybody still persevering with the push/pull system - even if you have got used to it (as i eventually had). It's sooooo much better, in my opinion.

Secondly, in terms of costs you absolutely have to shop around.....

- OPC Reading = £1,224.00 (all incl. VAT)
- OPC West London = £1278.78 who then offered my a 10% discount to £1,150.90 as i had bought the car from them originally
- OPC Brooklands = £1,614.38 who said the best they could do was £1465.78 as the parts alone were more than some of the other quotes i'd received
- OPC East London = £1,250.48

In the end I used East London as their overall service pricing was also more competitive (i had spark plugs done at the same time) and their customer service felt a little bit better - obviously quite subjective though. They also price matched the West London discounted price, so i paid £1,150.90.

Hope that helps others thinking of doing the same.

Cheers
RS

Enjoy! Having the right wheel makes a big difference to how you feel in the car. I guess not moving to a 718 steering wheel you saved on replacing the airbag so it wasn't 3K. I was never happy with the 981 steering wheel so swapped it out with the GT4/Spyder steering wheel, much happier.