CRAPPY ZHP ALCANTA STEERING WHEEL!

[ConnieLynnGus]

Have any of my fellow ZHPers had this problem too???

My Alcantara steering wheel on my 2004 330i ZHP began disintegrating when the car only had a few thousand miles on it.

By 10,000 miles the thing felt like old bedsheets that start "pilling" and looked even worse than it felt.

By 15,000 miles, the thing looked like a ratty-ass old child's stuffed animal. One of my friends even said, "why do you have a steering wheel that looks like it is wrapped in dirty dishtowels?" Pretty embarassing in a $45,000 automobile.

It's ridiculous, so when I took my beloved chariot in for its 15k maintenance, I complained about it. The dealer did not hesitate to replace it, despite how expensive it must be, and said that he'd never seen anything like it before.

BUT, now I have about 16,500 miles, and the new wheel is beginning to fall apart too! This, of course, leads me to believe that the problem is sh*tty design and NOT some defect that was specific to my first wheel.

Anyone else have any experiences with this? What can we do other than just keep getting the damn thing replaced???

[PCGuRu2K]

I just got my ZHP last week.. Only about 600 miles on it so far. So far so good. Hope it doesn't wear out over time.. Is this part covered under the maintenance or warranty package?

[bmwerkes]

i wondered about that..maybe the dealer can switch it with a leather bound M3 wheel?

[ConnieLynnGus]

It definitely is covered by the warranty. I am becoming more and more convinced that this is a design defect because now I'm on my 2nd wheel and it's beginning to disintegrate also.

If it happens again I may just ask about that M3 wheel.

I can't believe that nobody else has had this problem though! Anyone have a ZHP with more than 5k miles that hasn't had problems?

[Gulelin]

You aren't the first one i've seen bitch about it, although I can't say from personal experience since I have the 3 spoke wheel(not the "M' wheel tho). I have heard of deelers replacing the Alacantra wheel with the M wheel on request.