Horn contact point

[FinalD]

Right, so I have this wheel:


old pic


Behind the wheel, on the steering shaft is a spacer, with the spacer in place the horn doesn't work, without it, the horn works fine. The spacer keeps the wheel nice and solid when bolted down, no spacer means there is slight play in the wheel (I can rock it side to side a couple mm).

I've looked at the rear of the wheel and there is a metal ring, this contacts with a metal peg that has a spring on the boss and means that when you press the horn buttons the circuit is complete and it goes off, simple enough design.

I'm guessing the problem is that when the spacer is on, the peg doesn't quite reach the ring (makes sense), certainly when fitted there is a gap between the back of the wheel and the front of the boss.
I had assumed that the spacer was something someone put on to remove the play in the wheel, but when taking another car apart with a different wheel, the spacer was on that too.
The peg can't stick out from the boss any further (tried pushing it in, pulling it out etc.) so I'm a bit stuck as to what is wrong.

I have been driving it without the spacer because then I have the horn but I would like to have the wheel solid and the horn working, any ideas people?

[votivequagmire]

It's possible the horn contact brush has worn too much to make contact any more. A replacement may be a couple of mm longer and hence make contact with the steering wheel ring.

[baggimodo]

Had this same problem when i fitted my Tech1 wheel.

What I ended up doing was removing the contact ring from the wheel and spacing out with some washers. Has been working fine for months now.

Sure there's a 'PROPER' way of sorting this, but this did the trick for me.

[joeyb]

Hmm my horn hasnt worked since I had the car and I also have a Tech1 fitted....might have to check it out at some point and see if I have this spacer?

[FinalD]

It's possible the horn contact brush has worn too much to make contact any more. A replacement may be a couple of mm longer and hence make contact with the steering wheel ring.

I thought it could be something like that, I take it the bush is the peg thing and what is behind that? I couldn't see a way to remove it to check it though, appeared to be riveted in?

Had this same problem when i fitted my Tech1 wheel.

What I ended up doing was removing the contact ring from the wheel and spacing out with some washers. Has been working fine for months now.

Sure there's a 'PROPER' way of sorting this, but this did the trick for me.

I looked for some spare washers in the garage, couldn't find anything with an internal diameter of the steering shaft.


I guess I need to find some washers/get a replacement brush thing.

[baggimodo]

I think you've misunderstood mate! On the back of the steering wheel where the brass (?) ring is there were two philips screws attaching this to the body of the wheel. i removed that and spaced that out with washers. It's a bit ghetto, but as long as your washers aren't too thick it won't wobble about.

This is the bit I mean:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/attachm ... 1329382104

Not sure whether that is an E30 wheel, but I took that ring off, and put some small washers under that and screwed it back down.

[FinalD]

Ahhh cool, gotcha. That is a ghetto but simple solution...and safer than the spacing way I was on about.

[baggimodo]

Yeah I experimented with all kinds, including attempting to extend the sprung contact before I realised I could achieve the same result from the wheel side! Wheel still feels as solid as before, but you'll be able to use your horn.