Question About Clockspring
 

Hello

I decided to maybe freshen up the interior looks of the car. throw in few alcantara pieces here and there, new shift knob and maybe a flat bottom steering wheel.

all that aside here's my question. I read about people damaging their clock springs trying to remove steering wheel and airbag, how easy it is to damage that delicate piece and just in case, do i need to buy very specific replacement clock spring? mines 2013 European 86 model with keyless ignition and no steering wheel buttons. Im asking because dealership is asking a lot for the item and i see lot of cheaper options online from and for American FRS/BRZ cars.


Thanks for any input.

The clockspring is both super easy to damage and super easy to avoid damaging.

Disconnect battery
Wait 5-10 minutes
Remove and unplugging the airbag
Unplug other steering wheel wires (eg. cruise, paddles, etc.)
Loosen, but do not remove the steering wheel nut
Grip wheel at 9 and 3 and alternate pushing and pulling with each hand until it come free of the splines
While holding the wheel with one hand, remove the nut, and feed the airbag connectors though the wheel while slowly removing it from the shaft.
Done.

Extra safety step, after the wheel is removed, use duct tape, gaffer tape, etc. to keep the clockspring from rotating.

The two ways to surely kill a clockspring: 1. Let it get caught on the steering wheel and get pulled apart 2. Rotate it out of the correct spool position when the wheel is off. If you have to remove the clockspring, wrap tape or zipties around it to keep it together and prevent rotating and it is fine.

If you do break it :iono: I have no idea if the US and Euro clocksprings are interchangeable.