Alcantara sttering wheel cover on 330i - replacement?

The ill-conceived Alcantara fake suede that BMW uses in the 330 series
Performance Package cars steering wheel covers is subject to quick wear
(very noticeable in under a year) and forms unsightly and annoying to
the touch nap balls where the wheel is most frequently handled.

Has anyone had the wheel or cover replaced with a leather wheel or cover
under warranty? I see no point in replacing it with another Alcantara
cover as it will just wear again.

A solution is to put a Wheelskins quality leather cover over it, but
that is paying $45 to fix something that should never have had to be fixed.

Yeah, I wondered about that. My alcantara seats seem to be holding up fine
though.

Where I in your shoes (and depending upon where you live), I'd be tempted
to ask about the possibility and cost of getting a steering wheel from the
X3 installed, one with the built-in heater.

I'm imagine it'd be way more than you'd want to spend, but then again, I
drove a loaner X3 for a weekend, and the warm wheel was really, really,
really nice. I wish it was an available feature on the 330.

Kevin

lid wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 06:29:28 -0500, GRL > spewed:
>
>>The ill-conceived Alcantara fake suede that BMW uses in the 330 series
>>Performance Package cars steering wheel covers is subject to quick wear
>>(very noticeable in under a year) and forms unsightly and annoying to
>>the touch nap balls where the wheel is most frequently handled.
>>
>
> What year did this crap start?!
> 330 only, or whole 3 series if you got the performance pkg.?
>
>
>>Has anyone had the wheel or cover replaced with a leather wheel or cover
>>under warranty? I see no point in replacing it with another Alcantara
>>cover as it will just wear again.

Had mine replaced with the less-expensive (but more durable)
smooth-skinned leather wheel under warranty.

JRE