Hi there,

I have an 01 ES, and was wondering if its possible to retrofit one of the newer ES steering wheels with the steering wheel controls? Not a must have but would definitely be a nice upgrade.

Thanks!

 

Upgrding to a newer wheel might be possible, but one with steering wheel controls doesn't seem likely.

 

Its definitely possible, you're just going to have to go through a lot of work to do it. A friend of mine did it for his Acura, however, as I recall it took him a long time to figure out exactly how to get the buttons working because he had to open up the stereo itself and basically connected wires to where the external buttons wound send their signal and added variable resistors so that it would function properly (I could be remembering wrong on this part). In the end he said it wasn't worth it, but to each their own.

 

May be possible with a steering wheel control interface and aftermarket deck...

 

Yea I have an aftermarket deck, forgot to mention that. On of the primary reasons for wanting to retrofit.

 

I'm interested too. Just wondering how much work it would be to get the actual wheel on the hub, and if possible to connect the airbag.

Is there any particular lexus that would be the best, and are there any differences in the way the steering wheels actually attach?

Theres plenty of aftermarket solutions to get the controls working

 

Haha, the lack of a ton of buttons is one of the things I like about the 02-04 ES wheel. The controls are well designed enough that the volume and seek buttons fall easily to hand.

 

Thats all I want lol, the less reaching over I have to do the better

 

This is all doable, interfacing the stock controls with an aftermarket radio and SWC adapter can work, the steering wheels generally swap the splines are all the same. your biggest challenges are:

- You will need to use the matching airbag for the wheel you put on. It will likely be a two stage airbag where the old ES has a single stage. You can do some wiring to tie the second stage of the wheel to the trigger of the stock wiring.

- You need to get the SWC wires through the roll connector (also called "clockspring") down the column. IIRC there are two unused wires already there for you, the stock car supported a dealer installed cell phone that had SWC for the phone. You can use those wires for your SWC in the wheel and pick them up on the other side of the roll connector in the column.

This is totally possible to do this you just need to be a bit handy to do it there is not sticky or step by step telling you how to get it done.