This is not really a “How To”, it's more just to let people know that you don't need to buy an entire new steering wheel if you want to install the MFSW buttons and your current wheel does not allow it.
YOU WILL NEED VCDS TO CODE THE CONTROL MODULE AND MFSW BUTTONSI’ve not done this for years because I thought my wheel was not compatible with the buttons and I thought I'd need to spend at least a couple hundred for a wheel that would, and it would most likely be in worse condition than my current steering wheel.
But after reading just two comments on a different MKV forum, one guy took his airbag out and said “you know what I reckon this will work”. And he reported back and said he'd managed it. After a few hours of hacking at the foam that makes up the wheel, he had made them fit.
He included no pictures but I thought I'd give it a go too. The guy had bought a second hand Passat B6 Wheel that had the buttons, I did the same and managed to get one for just £19.
Considering brand new buttons on aliexpress are about £40, are not genuine and don't include the box that both buttons connect to, this is a much better deal and you can use the Passat wheel as a guide for when you start attacking your own wheel.
So i bought the Passat wheel, air bag harness and steering wheel control module on ebay for £86.
My wheel with the Airbag off.
Passat wheel once I took the buttons and box off.
Original wheel under the blanking plates.
It took longer than I'd like to admit and it looks hideous but this is what it looked like once I got it to fit. Take your time, try and use fresh scalpel blades to make it easier and don't take too much off at a time and keep placing the buttons in to check. You don't want to take too much off or the buttons will be wobbly.
Originally I was going to use the screws that came with the Passat wheel, but the holes under all the foam are not tapped, so I found a couple machine screws that matched a tap that I already had. To get the foam out I used a small wood screw just slightly smaller, screwed it in by hand and pulled out the foam in multiple goes.
For the box at the bottom again refer to the passat wheel and take it slowly, to get it to fit beneath the airbag you will need to cut right down to the bare metal of the bottom spoke and the box sort of slots in a gap almost under the emblem at the bottom at an angle.
The Passat wheel had small channels down the sides for the flat cables to run through, that would be way too fiddly to cut out and you don't need to, just be careful when putting the airbag back in.
And when it's all done, you wouldn't have a clue how mangled it is underneath. I did have to buy a Sony remote adapter to make the left side buttons work, on the head unit you can program each button, so its VOL up, VOL down, Star is set as Pay/Pause, and the phone I have as Next Track. But once it was properly coded, the right side was working perfectly with the menus on the cluster.
Again This is not a guide, there are plenty here and elsewhere to do with the coding and what parts you need. But hopefully this will allow more people to get the MFSW buttons up and running in their car.
