How to Modify a Mk4 Steering Wheel to Fit a Mk3

From Volkswagen Cabrio Wiki

This how-to will explain how to modify a Mk4 Golf steering wheel to fit a mk3/3.5 Cabrio. This how-to may also apply to mk3/2/1 Golf/Jetta/Cabriolet. The wheel used in this article is a 2004 Golf R32 steering wheel. As far as I know, this guide applies to all "three spoke" mk4 steering wheels.

What About the Airbag? If you have a mk3.5 Cabrio, the stock mk3.5 airbag simply pops out of your old wheel and snaps right into your new wheel - no modification required (which is ideal for an airbag system). For mk3 owners, if you can find a mk3.5 airbag, that should just plug in with no problem. If your car has an older airbag system, you still may be able to use a mk4 3-spoke airbag, but check with a certified VW technician first. If you do not have airbags in your car, you can use a mk3.5 or mk4 airbag to complete the look of the wheel, but GROUND THE AIRBAG to the wheel, or it may GO OFF at ANY TIME.

1. First, remove your old steering wheel. For help on this, see How to Remove the Steering Wheel and Airbag from Mk3.5. The reason we're doing this first is to make sure that your clock spring and everything else is the same as that which is used in this write-up before drilling your mk4 wheel.

2. Set the mk4 wheel in place. You should be able to see where you'll need to drill for the mk3 clock spring screws to fit. Mark these areas with a marker or pencil.

3. Remove the wheel and complete the next steps in any order:

• Drill the three holes to mount the mk3 clock spring. Be careful not to make these holes too wide, as the head of the screws have to be larger than the hole to be able to hold the clock spring on.

• Drill a hole so that the mk3 horn ground wire can enter the steering wheel cavity without blocking the wheel from sitting flat against the clock spring. You can simply make the hole in the same location as it is on your mk3 wheel.

4. Counter-sink the three holes you just drilled for the clock spring from the back about halfway in. The threaded holes for the clock spring screws are raised about a quarter inch from the surface of the clock spring. If you take a look at your mk3 wheel, you'll see exactly what needs to be done. Be careful not to overdo it. If you go too far you've ruined your (possibly very expensive) wheel. You can always drill a little more and try again, but you can't go back.

5. The hub of the mk4 steering wheel is about 1/8th inch too long. The clock spring will not sit flat against the wheel unless you shave it down.

6. Once it's the correct height, you need to take off about half of the width of the hub, again so that the clock spring will sit flat.

And you're done! The wheel should fit and work just as well as your stock mk3 wheel. Airbag, horn, turn signal auto-cancel and everything should work fine. Best part of this write-up is that no modification to your vehicle is necessary - if you take your new wheel off and put the original one back on, it's like nothing was ever changed.

Thanks to Dave Linger for this How-To.