Installation Guide
Below you can find a collection of resources and step-by-step instructions on the process required to swap your stock adapters on each generation.
Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions at all. You can submit a request here or contact us on Instagram.
Important: Please ensure that your steering wheel airbag connectors are NOT disconnected while the car battery IS connected at ANY point in this process. This will throw an airbag light which can be difficult to clear. You can avoid this definitively by ensuring the airbag is ALWAYS connected when the car battery is connected.
Northeast Dynamics is not responsible for any airbag lights triggered during the installation of our paddles. Disconnect your car battery first, reconnect it last.
Step 1
Airbag Removal
A Generation (Supra)
Step 2
Stock Adapter Removal
From here, you need to remove the stock adapters from your steering wheel.
Generally, for each generation there will be a single torx screw holding the adapter modules in place. After removing the airbag, it can be removed to then pull the adapters out.
You will additionally need to remove the plugs attach to the wheel's harness coming from the adapters. This is often best done using some type of angled pick tool.
Step 3
Final Install
1. Install paddles to adapters
First, you'll want to use the included screws to attach your Northeast Dynamics paddles to the provided magnetic adapters.
Finger-tighten the screws if you prefer to retain some adjustability once the wheel is in place - you can easily do a final tighten once the wheel is installed.
2. Seat and connect adapters
Next, connect the adapter cables to the existing locations on your steering wheel harness. Seat them into the back of your steering wheel, ensuring the downshift (-) paddle is on the left, and the upshift paddle (+) is on the right.
While the paddle attachment point is facing outwards from the wheel, if the cable for an adapter doesn't match up to a cut-out in the wheel, the adapter likely fits the opposite side.
Attach the adapters to the steering wheel with the stock or provided screws (depending on your generation). Please wait until the next step before reconnecting the battery to test the adapters.
3. Reinstall airbag + test the paddles
Finally, we can reinstall the airbag. Please ensure you do not reconnect your battery in this process until the airbag connectors are attached. This will throw an airbag light.
Reconnect your airbag connectors, but do not clip it into place fully if you wish to test that the adapters are working. This will make access much quicker if anything needs adjustment.
At this point, you can reconnect your battery without throwing an airbag light, giving you the opportunity to test and ensure the paddles shift properly. You likely need to start your vehicle and place it in Drive to check.
Your left paddle, the downshift paddle, should drop your gear, while the right paddle should increase it.
Once all set, reseat your airbag and reconnect the battery as required - enjoy!
If your adapters do not function properly;
- Check to ensure all connections are tight, and that your steering wheel harness is attached at the clock spring
- Ensure the correct adapter is on the correct side
If your paddles still don't work - don't panic! BMW made the wiring vary quite a bit throughout the years, but we certainly have a remedy;
- For E Generation; If your car is LCI and/or has the SSG paddles which have a black inlay on them, facing you, you likely need an adapter cable which we can provide free of charge.
- For F/G Generation; Your adapters include an internal switch to control which wiring design they work for within the F/G generation chassis range. Please contact us to ensure that those are set right for your vehicle.
In any case, please contact us ASAP if you cannot get your adapters working. Send us a message detailing your issue, and attach your VIN or full model description, year, etc. Given information on your vehicle, we'll figure it out and send out anything you need, free of charge by the next business day.
You can contact us via the chat in the corner of the page, the contact page, or our Instagram.
... and that's it!
Finally, enjoy your new set of paddles.
Show us how much you enjoy them by tagging us in your POV content on Instagram.
We love to accept collab requests!