wild1

I want to change my 1991 Firebird steering wheel. Don't want a racing wheel, or removable, or anything like that. All I want is a newer GM wheel, with air bag. Something more contemporary looking.
I guess the question is, what products are compatible with what I got, or do I need an adaptor if I want something newer (2002 - on)?

navy02ws6

Getting a newer airbag wheel to function properly (if the need arises) is not going to be easy, if even possible. There's an airbag module that is needed, which is triggered by the BCM on newer cars, which third gen's don't even have. Not sure from your post if you need it to work or not though.

IMHO, early airbag wheels are ugly, and later ones are likely not going to fit the column as they're much larger, and the column is shaped differently. You can probably get a fourth gen airbag wheel to fit, but getting it to function properly in an accident is going to be another story.

FWIW, I ended up swapping mine for an 1985-87 Firebird wheel, which looks and fits great. No modifications needed.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

4th gen bags work fine. It will require you to disassemble the entire column to run the newer clock spring. The plug under the dash is the same, but the plug in the back of bag is different. Whole system will function as normal. My system even self tests and cuts the light back off fine.

wild1

Thanks for the reply. The situation is like this:
It's 1991 Lotus Elan. It uses '91 Firebird steering. So I'm not looking to replace with another Firebird wheel, just another (newer) GM product to update the look. I figure if I stay GM, I may not need an adaptor or at least it will be easy (and inexpensive) to find.
Who would know more about Firebird parts than Firebird guys!

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Wheel looks pretty good to me, anything you get is gonna say chevy or camaro or something like that on it and will look real out of place in my opinion.

But I know for sure a wheel from any third gen firebird, camaro, trans am, up to 2002 same models will fit. I'm pretty sure the last few years of s10 wheels would work too but have big bow tie on them.

wild1

The wheel is in pretty good shape. Just dated. I think the easiest solution is to have it re-wrapped. May be I'll give Chuck Pelton a call.