Good Day To All,

So I have now had my 1999 C5 for 27 days now. Except for the rainy weekend days I only driver her on weekends. So now comes the decision on what mods to make on this 22 years young vehicle with less than 89K miles. I don't like upgrades that take away from the vehicle itself so I am more inclined for the subtle mods. But that is just my opinion on what is a subtle upgrade. So I would like to convert/replace the current C5 steering wheel to a C6 steering wheel. I miss having the phone and audio controls located on the steering wheel as is on my Harley Davidson truck (Ford...sorry). Anyway, I have read as much of the information that is available in this forum and it seems to be a possibility. Most of those discussions are dated so I would like to hear some of your opinions on this mod. It looks like the C6 steering wheel is wired already with the controls but it wasn't clear to me if the wiring is an extra effort or were the controls already in place. Lots of vendors appear to have the steering wheel available and the price varies between the vendors.

A second mod I would like to work on is replacing the radio system head unit with something that would allow the C6 controls to control. Are all head units able to be controled by the steering wheel controls? Do I need to look for something something special the head unit has or is it just a matter of an adapter that you plug into existing wiring?

Thanks in advance for any assistance. Cheers!!

 

I don't know about the c6 steering wheel, but keep in mind the head unit is already really dated -- practically ancient by today's stnadards. You'll get a pretty old interface, no android auto, no apple carplay, getting nav and maps updates will be a PITA ... if it's possible (I believe the nav software is registered to your VIN, but don't quote me on that). I know most c6 headunits didn't even have bluetooth, not sure if that's true for all. Read the c6 forum.. a lot of c6 guys end up dumping their head units for modern ones.

You're probably better off getting a modern head unit, like an alpine ilx 650, and getting bluetooth steering wheel controls like this:

Or.. if you do go with a c6 steering wheel, you can get an interface that uses the existing buttons on the steering wheel to control an aftermarket head unit... I did this in a 98 grand cherokee and an aftermaket stereo, I'm sure they make one for the c6.
Something like this -- will allow you to use any number of modern head units

steering wheel control adapter at Crutchfield


Also, what is the size of the c6 head unit? If it's smaller or larger than DD, you're going to have problems adapting the console to accept it -- there are many options out there for modified bezels for DD units, not sure if there are others.

 

Pretty sure the C6 controls won't work with the C5 head unit, besides why would you want to. Get a modern stereo and stream from your phone.

You can also swap to a better looking c5 steering wheel to freshen up the interior. I think there's a lot to do to make a C6 steering wheel work right beyond getting the radio controls working

 

There are adapters that wire into stock steering wheel controls and control third party head units...I did this years ago on a grand cherokee, wired an adapter into the steering wheel controls to operate an alpine head unit. I was shocked at how easy it was .
Obviously, you have to get an adapter that specifically is made for your car, and works with the head unit you want-- for example, this one wires into a c6 steering wheel, and works with alpine, jvs, sony, pioneer head units:
iDatalink Maestro SW Steering Wheel Control Adapter Connects your car's steering wheel audio controls to select aftermarket car stereos at Crutchfield

So... I don't know what else is entailed in swapping out the steering wheel, but in terms of getting the controls to work, that would be fine (and again, from personal experience, those adapters work great.

 

The much harder part will be getting the C6 wheel in there. I wish there was a more reasonably priced plug and play upgrade for the C5 wheel. $1k plus a core is ridiculous.

 

Good Day,

Thanks for the advice and suggestions. I forgot to mention that there is already an Alpine single din HU installed by PO. I am going to change that out to a DD as there are many options on those HU's that are missing from a SD (obviously). But I am surprised at the Amazon item as I didn't know that even existed. That would sure save me some $$$ for the expense of a C6 SW. As was noted the core charge alone is somewhat prohibited. For the price of that item it is worth a try. Again, thanks for the suggestions. Cheers!!

 

I put a c6 wheel in mine, but I blanked out both controls with plates from a cobalt I think
the swap wasn't terrible, the guide I followed was on the s10 forum and it was all the same

 

Thanks WM. The reason why I wanted a C6 SW is just for the controls. But since JMG2 steered me (pun intended) to that Amazon gadget I may just go that route first and save the money for a proper C6 SW or maybe if I wait long enough there will be some creative soul that comes up with a proper solution. I knew about the adapters but didn't know about the SW control gadget. As mentioned earlier, the vehicle already has an aftermarket SD Alpine unit with everything I would need except NAV and steering controls but I need to pull that HU out to see if that rear bracket was already taken out by the PO. If it was then I may just go with a DD Alpine, Pioneer or Kenwood. If I am to limit myself with a SD unit then I may just opt for one of those flip up screen units. They seem to have all the bells and whistles including a reverse/forward camera. However, I am kinda on the fence about the flip up units as I had a Pioneer back in the day and it kept getting stuck on cold days. But that was ages ago and I am somewhat confident that much stereo progress has been made since then. Anyway time will tell which way I go. If anyone on this forum is using a flip up HU I sure would like to hear their assessments. TIA and Cheers!!

 

cutting out the bracket is .REALLY trivial. Don't limit yourself based on that. I doubt the PO did, there's no reason to for a SD.

 

Thanks JMG2. Will update as soon as I get to that point. Raining here now so she gonna sit in garage for a few days.

 

I did this mod in 2019. See my write up here --> https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...in-c5-z06.html. You can either have a functional airbag or working steering wheel audio controls, but not both. All comes down to the clock spring. A C5 clock spring does not support steering wheel radio controls, as C5s never came with them. And a C5-compatible airbag only works with a C5 clock spring. So if you want to retain airbag functionality, you must retain the C5 clock spring and purchase a single stage airbag that is small enough to fit inside the C6 airbag cover. But if you don't care about having a functioning airbag and really want steering wheel audio controls, then you can swap the C5 clock spring for a C6 clock spring, which has the wiring to support steering wheel audio controls. But you must also have an aftermarket radio that supports steering wheel audio controls. A dual-stage airbag, such as found in C6s, will not function in a C5 -- completely different electronics. I did read a thread on an F-body forum a while ago where the OP was saying something about a friend making some custom electronic interface to enable steering wheel audio controls using an older-style clock spring, so there may be a work around at this point if you care to do the research (I haven't yet). Good luck either way!

 

^ I knew there was a catch

 

Thank you YLO Z06. I am confident that somewhere somebody will come up with a solution whereby using a C6 SW and clock with airbags also. Ricght now it looks like I may opt for the velcro type controls for the time being unitil this mod gets handled. thanks for the info and Cheers!!

 

Good Day to All,

So I was at my cousins house this weekend and she has a 2003 C5 and also no steering wheel controls for the radio or phone but yet she can control them both without touching them (remember the I'm not touching you game? ha). She uses Siri of all things! I hadn't even thought about that and I should have because I use the Google version for my Android to make calls and whatnot. So I just need to get an HU that can take commands either Siri or Google or both and that way I can control the HU and my phone. So there is no need for the SW controls as far as I know unless I am missing something. But hers works like a charm. Extra costs avoided and mission accomplished. Cheers!!

 

^ I would hate to have to yell at that chick each time I wanted to skip a song. Plus I generally will be playing my music at high volume in my car so I would have to turn the music down so she could hear me.

If I have to touch the stereo to lower the volume, I may as well touch it a second time to skip a track. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯