# Pleasure Cruze Build



## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Hey guys, new guy here. Just purchased a 1.4 Cruze 1LT RS and I love it. It doesn't make sence to me why these cars didn't come factory with a boost gauge as minute as the boost may be. I'm installing a boost gauge because I'd like to keep track of what the turbo is doing.

Ive purchased a boost gauge from AEM and have it installed however I only seem to be reading vac. I've posted a pic of where I tee'd into the black and green hose. Did I tap into it on the wrong side or something? 
Please help. I'd like to get this behind me due to a busy schedule.

Thanks fellas.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Anybody?


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## jie90561 (Aug 29, 2017)

InsideMan said:


> Anybody?


Probably tapped into the wrong spot. Make sure it is right off the intake manifold. Never added a gauge to a Cruze, but I have to several Saabs over the years.

As for boost being minute, I had one of the those bluetooth odb things with the torque app on my phone and it was reporting over 12psi. If I recall correctly...


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Thanks jie. Took the car out on the road this morning to take the kids to school. I'm guessing that if your revving the car while its in park its not seeing any boost? When I reported it was only seeing steady vac it was right after install and in park in the driveway just revving it up. 

While out on the road I was seeing approx 12lbs every now and again but spends most of its time in vac. Surprising to see that you ALMOST have to try to get the car to boost and with my normal driving habits I don't see any often. 

Does this sound normal? It's an auto if it makes any difference.
Im good with NA motors but this is my first FI vehicle I've ever owned.


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## wasney (Mar 3, 2015)

InsideMan said:


> Thanks jie. Took the car out on the road this morning to take the kids to school. I'm guessing that if your revving the car while its in park its not seeing any boost? When I reported it was only seeing steady vac it was right after install and in park in the driveway just revving it up.
> 
> While out on the road I was seeing approx 12lbs every now and again but spends most of its time in vac. Surprising to see that you ALMOST have to try to get the car to boost and with my normal driving habits I don't see any often.
> 
> ...


I am tuned and I push just over 21 PSI based on my boost gauge. Unless you are driving, the gauge will show as vacuum. Are you tuned? If not, the PSI you are seeing may be the normal stock amount. I did not have a gauge before so I have never seen it that low.


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## bravotango93 (Feb 5, 2016)

InsideMan said:


> While out on the road I was seeing approx 12lbs every now and again but spends most of its time in vac. Surprising to see that you ALMOST have to try to get the car to boost and with my normal driving habits I don't see any often.
> 
> Does this sound normal? It's an auto if it makes any difference.
> Im good with NA motors but this is my first FI vehicle I've ever owned.


This sounds pretty normal to me but my experience isn't very extensive. I've been using the Torque App for a a few days now and it seems to take a fair amount of throttle/RPMs to get some boost going. When I do get on it I seem to be peaking at 17.5psi compared to your 12. I'm not sure how accurate the Torque App is though.


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## boraz (Aug 29, 2013)

InsideMan said:


> Thanks jie. Took the car out on the road this morning to take the kids to school. I'm guessing that if your revving the car while its in park its not seeing any boost? When I reported it was only seeing steady vac it was right after install and in park in the driveway just revving it up.
> 
> While out on the road I was seeing approx 12lbs every now and again but spends most of its time in vac. Surprising to see that you ALMOST have to try to get the car to boost and with my normal driving habits I don't see any often.
> 
> ...


you bought an econobox, built and tuned for mpg.

more boost = more air in the cylinder, along with more fuel for that air. to maintain air/fuel ratio...more boost = less mpg.

if you drive it as the car is designed, youre not gonna see crazy boost, hence the lack of boost gauge.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Sounds good guys. The more I drive it the more I was starting to realize that it was hooked up correctly and that's the amount of boost I'm going to see.

Yes, I bought this car for the mpg and I liked the looks as well. I have a Dodge Challenger SRT8 sitting in the garage if I want hp.

I will however be getting a tune from either Trifecta, or Vermont. What's your guys's opinions on these tunes and what's your reasoning for the one you picked.

From what little I know, I like the Trifecta tune because of the difference when putting the automatic in manual mode to driving it in fully auto and I plan on a ZZP down pipe for my Air/Fuel gauge, a BNR throttle body spacer because I want to replace the hose that I T'd into because I don't like the way it is and cold air intake from Injen.

I haven't done much research on Vermont but the man seems incredibly "up" on laws and regulations for his tune.
Either way I want the car as dependable after the tune as it was streight out of the factory.

Great conversation piece guys, let's keep this going. I'll take all the info I can get.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Just ordered the Throttle Body Spacer from BNR. Looks like an incredibly nice piece.



Now if ZZP would ever decide to get there down pipe back in stock........
After the CAI I'm done with the mechanic part and I'll start on the cosmetics.

I already have the front and rear LED lighting for the interior from DD that's been sitting on the shelf along with the top of the line LED fogs. Gonna throw them in to give the kids the wow factor....... Well maybe for dad just a bit too.


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## WhiteAndBright (Mar 4, 2013)

*Need help with Boost gauge (Pic)*

I’m Trifecta tuned with an intake, catless dp & mp and the plugs gapped at .27 also have both a mechanical boost gauge (tapped into same black and green hose) and an Ultra Gauge. In eco mode I may see 15-16 psi max with an occasional spike to 17. In non eco mode I bury my 20 psi mechanical gauge and via the Ultra Gauge peek at 24.6 psi.

When you put the dp on and let that little baby turbo breathe it will spool with ease. With 170k mine is good and broke in and all you can hear is the turbine screaming even under idle.. There is your wow factor.. 

My problem are misfires due to the shitty and under powered coil pack, but I will say on days it decides to cooperate it pulls hard for a borderline 200hp econobox netting 44+mpg..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## wasney (Mar 3, 2015)

InsideMan said:


> Just ordered the Throttle Body Spacer from BNR. Looks like an incredibly nice piece.
> 
> 
> Now if ZZP would ever decide to get there down pipe back in stock........
> ...



I had the DDM Works TBS and switched to the BNR one. It looks a whole lot cleaner imo. 


As for the Downpipe, check in with BNR. They just released theirs and it has been in and out of stock pretty regularly and is made of better material. They also back their work. ZZP has been having some weld cracking concerns now that they are a few years old and don't warranty them.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Maybe ill stick with BNR for the DP then. Thanks for the info.
Also.... maybe ill look into the BNR coil pack as well as you and i will have almost the same set-up. But that little bit of hp in that little car with that kind of MPG sounds mighty good to me.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

WhiteAndBright said:


> I’m Trifecta tuned with an intake, catless dp & mp and the plugs gapped at .27 also have both a mechanical boost gauge (tapped into same black and green hose) and an Ultra Gauge. In eco mode I may see 15-16 psi max with an occasional spike to 17. In non eco mode I bury my 20 psi mechanical gauge and via the Ultra Gauge peek at 24.6 psi.
> 
> When you put the dp on and let that little baby turbo breathe it will spool with ease. With 170k mine is good and broke in and all you can hear is the turbine screaming even under idle.. There is your wow factor..
> 
> My problem are misfires due to the shitty


How does your exhaust sound with the DP and MP? 
Did you install both at the same time? 
If you didn't, was there a difference between before and after you installed the MP?
Are you able to keep the rest of the exhaust stock after the MP?

I don't want to turn this thing into a cheesy ricer and have every kid on the road lining up with me at every light but I do want to increase the engines air flow. I kind of like how quiet it is now but wouldn't mind a little more aggressiveness out the tailpipe.

Also, will the Trifecta tune take all of these things into consideration before they send me the tune.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Well ****! Went to install the Diode Dinamics XML2 LED fogs. Didn't fit. Different attachment for the projector fogs. That sucks. Looks like that's gonna take a back seat. I'll hook up there LED interior lights with remote tomorrow and post some pics.

Also I had issues with the Boost gauge freaking out then reading three dashes. Traced it back to an issue with the harness plug. Seems when plugging it in the ground pin was pushing down and out of the clip instead of going into the female end of the plug and barely making contact. So that's fixed now.

Got the shipping notice from BNR for the throttle body spacer.
When installing this, do you have to relearn the throttle body after hooking it back up? If so, what's the process?


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Just ordered up the BNR Down Pipe. It'll be nice to open the exhaust up a little bit, not to mention get my wide band hooked up. 

Will this DP throw a check engine light?

If so, I'm gonna have to wait until I'm set up with the Trifecta tune before I install it.


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## WhiteAndBright (Mar 4, 2013)

InsideMan said:


> How does your exhaust sound with the DP and MP?
> Did you install both at the same time?
> If you didn't, was there a difference between before and after you installed the MP?
> Are you able to keep the rest of the exhaust stock after the MP?
> ...


No I had my dp long before I got the mp. It definitely opens up and let’s the turbo breathe and you can hear the turbine pretty good. Once I put the mp on it did change the sound quite a bit but in a good way. It has more of that jet turbine sound, the only time you can hear it is when you are in the throttle, and yes everything past the mp is still factory. If you stand behind the car at idle you can hear the turbo through the exhaust and is a low hum. 

It’s still quite and most people just get in not knowing any different, once I get into the throttle a little and they hear It spool then the blowoff they are like holy S man.. also saw a bump in mpg also.. 

Yes trifecta will send your time with the adjustments needed and you will be able to go in and turn off the CEL on P0420 for the missing cat..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Thank you gentleman. I appreciate the great advice. Looks like the tune is coming sooner than later.

Whiteandbright, sounds like that's what I'm looking for in the exhaust. Do you have a video posted anywhere of a sound clip?

Also, can I change the title to my thread. It's evolved into something different obviously.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Just ordered the correct fogs from DD along with a harness to run the fogs directly off the battery.

Ordered the silver plastic cover piece at the bottom of the steering wheel from gmdirect. 
Im gonna wrap it before I put it on, then wrap the rest of the bright silver inside.

Never got around to hoo kind the interior lighting up. Maybe this coming weekend.

Thinking about getting the Windows done. My challengers both have 35% all around with the whole windshield at 50. I'll probably do the same with the Cruze.


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## jie90561 (Aug 29, 2017)

InsideMan said:


> Thanks jie. Took the car out on the road this morning to take the kids to school. I'm guessing that if your revving the car while its in park its not seeing any boost? When I reported it was only seeing steady vac it was right after install and in park in the driveway just revving it up.
> 
> While out on the road I was seeing approx 12lbs every now and again but spends most of its time in vac. Surprising to see that you ALMOST have to try to get the car to boost and with my normal driving habits I don't see any often.
> 
> ...



Sounds about right. You won't get any boost in neutral/park because there isn't any load on the engine. I've found with an auto, boost isn't as easy to provoke. With a manual you stay in a taller gear and the boost will build up easier because of the load but with an automatic the transmission downshift when you step on it and there is less load on the engine. I wish the manual (L on the '16.5+) mode would prevent downshifts as well as upshifts so I could use the engines lovely midrange torque like I did on my '15 eco MT.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Just an update fellas. 

Got the DD LED fogs in. 
They match the DRL perfectly. Wish we could fit some HID in there because while they are bright, I miss the lumens of the HID bulbs. 

Having some issues with the passenger side. The inside of the projector fogged up pretty bad after driving in a storm so I took the bulb back out, dried everything with a heat gun, cleaned the surface that the bulb assembly seals to and let it ride. It hasn't fogged back up yet but now the pattern is thrown off.
Gonna take it apart this weekend and see what's going on.

Recieved the throttle body spacer and DP. Waiting to install until after I get the tune. Could be a while. Next purchase will be wheels so tune could be a bit.

Recieved the steering wheel piece and yanked the rest of the silver pieces out of the interior. Tonight I just got done spraying the parts with base coat. I'll clear them in the morning.
I attempted to wrap them but I'm a little too picky and couldn't get it to my liking so I decided to spray them. I used to paint cars for a living so I know I could get them right going this way about it.
Ive done almost all my cars this way because it livens up the interior and makes it different from a lot of others. I'll post pics of base coat tonight and after I clear them I'll post more.
After I wet sand them and install them I'll post final pics.
At a later time I plan on yanking the speaker rings and doing those as well but I don't want to over do it. Sometimes less is more and again, I don't want this thing to look like a riced out ride and want to keep it classy.

Still have yet to install interior RGB LED's under the dash and seats. Kids are loving it so far and so is dad. This is probably the cheapest car I've ever owned but I gotta tell ya, i am impressed.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Hey Moderators, am I able to change the title to this thread?


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Got the parts cleared. I'll let them set for a good twenty four hours before I wet sand.

I love this clear if a have to can spray. Lays out nice and flat, excellent patern and pretty sticky.

Could probably get away with no wet sanding but I'm picky as **** and want it to be a mirror finish and the fact that one of the kids opened the garage door just as I was finishing the last coat so there is a little dirt. Sprayed extra coat of clear just to be on the safe side with sanding.

On to the pics


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Well...... Got most of the painted parts installed. Seems the silver trim piece I bought won't install on my steering wheel. The wheels that came with this trim piece is different. My fault for assuming and not researching.

Looks like I'll be going with the original plan and doing a steering wheel swap to a Sonic RS wheel and using my radio and cruise control button assemblies. I'll paint the silver trim piece on that.

For those of you that want this trim piece just PM me. I bought it from gmpartsdirect and want to get what I payed for it shipping included. With all the paint work already done your still coming out ahead.

Anyways, on to the pics.... Please excuse the finger prints on the parts, I have yet to wipe them down. I have to wipe everything down and vacuum now that this mission is a wrap.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

More research has found that I have to use my Cruze radio and cruise control button assemblies on the new wheel which is fine being that the Sonic and cruse assemblies are the same shape.

To my understanding you have to keep the Cruze buttons with the Cruze and the Sonic buttons with the Sonic or the car will not communicate with them. Good, it will save me money.

After pricing the wheel out from the sounds of the way they describe the Sonic Steering Wheel trim piece that the trim comes with the Sonic wheel however, it doesn't say anything about that on the description of the wheel itself. Ill have to call them tomorrow to find out.

Pretty nice price for the wheel though.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Ordered the Sonic RS Steering wheel today from gmpartsdirect. They were no help on info for being able to tell me if the silver plastic trim piece came with the wheel or not. I just ordered the wheel and will be on stand-by until it comes in. Ill be painting the silver trim on that piece as well as the speaker rings before install.

They have a sale for veterans at the moment. It offset the price of shipping so that was a plus.

After some more research I've come to the conclusion on the tune. When the time is right I'll be going with BNR.

Ill be welding a bung onto my factory down pipe just to get my A/F gauge hooked up until I get my tune and other parts installed. I'll be putting the factory DP up for sale here afterwords for those who don't want to give up the DP with catalytic converter on it yet still want an A/F gauge hooked up.

Oh yea, I ordered up some Weathertech front and rear floor mats. Will be getting the trunk mat at a later time to cover up the god forsaken one that's back there now.

Ill post some pics of unboxing and installing the new wheel
untill then........


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Thanks to the Moderators for changing the title to this thread. One of these days I owe you a beer.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Hmmm!?


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Recieved the WeatherTech floor mats today.

Also, working on getting measurements for the brackets on the sonic RS seats. If those don't work, I will look into the sonic seats being mounted on my brackets.

Just from I visual everything looks to be the same design, just different seat foam and materials. I haven't been able to get a visual on a power seat from the sonic yet to see what the plugs look like for the power seat and air bags.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Sorry didn't catch this thread earlier. You can't add anything to your wheel from GM Parts Direct. You pretty much have to by a leather wrapped wheel (from Cruze/Sonic/Camaro/SS or whatever has the same shaped airbag) in which you did. The area of that wheel was intended for the base model LS Cruze so all it does is house an airbag and buttons. There is a piece on ebay that double sided tape over it but it's cheap for a reason. There is a need to modify the buttons from the cruze to be accepted by the RS Sonic wheel. 1 or more of the tabs needed to modified/removed. Trying to remember the thread if it exists. Either way the Cruze cruise button is an actual on/off rocker switch where Sonic it's just another button. Your best bet on wheel removal is to NOT USE hand tools. Use/borrow an impact and be done with it. Some folks had horrible luck trying to do this by hand.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

I appreciate the info. The wheel shouldn't be a problem. I have an impact but I've been successful with my other vehicles and resto's that I've done in the past and was hoping not to have to break that out. With that kind of bit it makes things sketchy.

I did a lot of research on that Sonic wheel and was pretty confident that it was going to be streight forward so I went ahead and ordered it up. I don't want to get too crazy being that this is my everyday ride so......

Still working on on getting some info on the Sonic RS seats over at one of the Sonic forums.
Im surprised at the comparison of the interiors of the Sonic and Cruze. Seems like they put more into the Sonic. I'll take the dash any day in the Cruze and the seats are nice but IMO for the RS model, the Sonic is a little nicer.

Opinions?


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

InsideMan said:


> I appreciate the info. The wheel shouldn't be a problem. I have an impact but I've been successful with my other vehicles and resto's that I've done in the past and was hoping not to have to break that out. With that kind of bit it makes things sketchy.
> 
> I did a lot of research on that Sonic wheel and was pretty confident that it was going to be streight forward so I went ahead and ordered it up. I don't want to get too crazy being that this is my everyday ride so......
> 
> ...


Yeah I always swapped wheels by hand except the Cruze. There was a few on there who did it by hand and the bolt didn't like it. Seeing that I was leaning on trading my car in I didn't bother risking it and used impact for my Camaro Hot Wheels wheel. 

Wheels pretty much swap out, just the Sonic uses different buttons. From what I gather you break 1 or 2 tabs off the cruise button to make it work. The buttons themselves are what anchor to the wheel so they aren't the issue to worry about coming loose and cause a rattle. The silver trim (possibly T20 if Sonic is same as others) also anchors on it's own independent of the buttons. I yanked that part off soo many times all the clips for the CC/Infotainment broke and never were connected to the silver/black trim. 

No word if the seats are a direct bolt up or if the airbags and seat belt sensors are the same. As for interior they made the Sonic more sportier than the Cruze but for the target price point cheapened out on the material side. Sonic leather seats felt like 2000's vinyl F-150 bench seat material in comparison. Heated seats was an on or off setting vs the stages Cruze has. Fully loaded Sonic Hatch Premier RS with all the packages was like $25K Vs $26K for same color Cruze Premer Hatch based on $3,500 discounts Cruze vs $300 on the Sonic at the time of this post. Whenever I saw a Premiere Cruze hatch in person, it was $30K. I literally never see a hatch or even a Premier sedan around these parts. All the discounts when I looked were L/LS and LT auto. Either way, best bet is find a person willing to let you test fit the seats.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Merc6
Yea I've seen the thread I think your talking about (LS6Rally's 2014 2LT/RS Daily) and he did mention the tabs. Shouldn't be an issue...... Famous last words.

Again, thanks for your input. The more the better. I still have much to learn about these cars.

Today on the way home from work I found myself with no cars in sight, back road and streight shot so I got on it for the first time. Not impressed at all. I guess I'm just used to the cars I've had in the past. I've never in my life had this small of an engine. I bought this for the MPG's but wow does this thing need help.

At this point I'm really hoping the tune will wake this thing up or gas mileage be damned I might not be able to get past this. I understand it's one or the other, mileage or power but there has to be a better happy medium. We'll see what the future holds with the tune.

Also, I see your in the Cleveland erea? I'm in Mentor.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Forgot to mention, outside the front of the car there is a really strong coolant smell. I've been smelling for weeks now but I've been all over the engine compartment top and bottom. No sign of a leak and the overflow is still full. I've read some others have had issues with this as well but haven't found a thread where somebody found the culprit.

Any ideas?


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## w_cochran (Dec 6, 2016)

InsideMan said:


> How does your exhaust sound with the DP and MP?
> Did you install both at the same time?
> If you didn't, was there a difference between before and after you installed the MP?
> Are you able to keep the rest of the exhaust stock after the MP?
> ...


I’m not sure about Trifecta but I know with Vermont Tuning you get 3 Initial tunes for right around $500.00 and after that for every “hardware” modification you do, you will need a “software” modification(recalibrated tune) which runs $125.00 a pop from Vermont Tuning for any “bolt on” modifications and the price will go up from there for any custom mods you decide to do(big turbo, adding more or an additional fuel source/spark and engine internals).


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Just a heads up fellas. The steering wheel came in today. I'll be busy all weekend but I'm gonna try to get it painted next weekend. Came in nicely packaged from GM. 

I'm pretty excited about this mod because you don't see any of these cars in my area personalized with these touches.

I have two people with black base models in my area that are all blacked out and look pretty good. There already starting to eye me up when we drive passed each other's houses.

Nothing like a little friendly competition.

I plan on doing an in depth step by step of the install with pics when the time comes but if anybody needs pics of anything in particular just let me know.

Until then gentleman......


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

InsideMan said:


> Forgot to mention, outside the front of the car there is a really strong coolant smell. I've been smelling for weeks now but I've been all over the engine compartment top and bottom. No sign of a leak and the overflow is still full. I've read some others have had issues with this as well but haven't found a thread where somebody found the culprit.
> 
> Any ideas?



Not sure what Gen you have or whether you still need an answer, but here are a few threads to read:

*Antifreeze Smell Thread

*[h=1]Mysterious coolant loss[/h]
[h=1]Cruze Cabin Odors, Sources, and Resolution Summary[/h]
[h=1]How-To: Replace 2011-2016 Cruze 1.4L Coolant/Water Outlet[/h]


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## Dolladog (Jun 25, 2014)

Excited to see that painted steering wheel.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Thanks. So am I.
Were having both sides of the family over this year for thanksgiving so I hope I get the time to prep and lay some paint down. I'll keep you posted.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Sorry fellas. Still on stand-by. Getting ready to have the family over for thanksgiving as well as being pre occupied with work and training however, late this weekend at some point I'll blow some paint on this thing and install as well as document how everything went. 
Pic heavy of course.....


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Finally got some time today to get the RS steering wheel disassembled and removed the speaker surround rings and got some paint down. I'll leave them set over night and blow some clear on em.

As soon as the clear dries (24 hours) enough without leaving prints in It from handling I'll get the wheel reassembled, installed and do a nice right up on it.

Pretty excited to see how nice it's coming along.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Ok guys, as promised.

So as you know I ordered up a 2015 Sonic RS Steering Wheel for the cruze. After painting my interior parts and before the wheel install I needed to disassemble it to paint the silver accent trim. Between last night and this morning I was able to find time to lay down some paint and clear. While i was doing this I pulled the speaker surround rings and hit those while i was at it. My write up is the process i used to do this and in my opinion you may want to grab one of these wheels before it becomes a popular upgrade mod and the prices go up for demand. This will be a picture heavy write up.

On with the show





So above we have the 2015 Sonic RS Steering Wheel. This will be installed on my 2015 Cruze 1LT RS. But before we get to the install well be disassembling it in order to switch the Cruise Control buttons and Stereo Control Buttons out.
The reason well be switching the Sonic buttons that came pre-installed on the wheel is because the Chevy Sonic buttons will not communicate with the Chevy Cruze. No worries because its pretty much a plug and play swap but well be getting to that latter.

The first step will be to take the wheel apart.




First unplug your harness from the left and right steering wheel controls




You can see at the bottoms of these plugs is a simple push button. Simple push down on the buttons and pull the plugs straight out to unplug.



Well have to use the old Cruze harness with the Cruze buttons so this plate will have to come off via these Three torque screws in order to do so. Once again well be moving forward with this particular task at a later time.





Next up will be to remove the button assemblies and the silver accent pieces as a whole.
Grab the top off the button assemblies and the silver accent trim just bellow the assemblies to start the process.
when you do this use force but make sure your gentle at the same time. we don't want to break anything on a brand new wheel and possible give ourselves a rattle that we cant get rid of.
You can see in the last pic above the stripped down steering wheel.






Now that the whole assemble is off we have to remove the controls from the accent pieces in order to spay the accent pieces by themselves to avoid over spray.
Use a T20 bit to achieve doing this. After the screws are out the buttons will fall right off so use caution.



Next will be to remove this guy.





You can see in the first pic that this simply comes of by pushing the Two tabs and pulling the silver trim piece back at the same time. Once again use caution while your doing this. If one of these tabs get broke theres no way for the trim to stay attached to the center piece that were currently removing.



And there you have it. Accent trim is now ready to be prepped for paint.




Se here is the trim pieces scuffed up with a Scotch pad and wiped down with paint prep. Be sure to use a Tac Rag and wipe these down to remove any debris. Even if it looks clean, if theirs anything on these the paint and clear will magnify it Ten times and unless you sand it down and start this process over your stuck with it.

You can also see the speaker rings. One thing i didn't do that i would suggest anybody else do is spay them with a light colored primer before you paint them. It took a lot of paint to cover this dark color and sometimes you wont end up with them matching something else that was sprayed at the same time with the same color. Its always good to have a light color base.




Now, first coat is always very light. We call this a tach coat. After it sits for approx Fifteen minutes it not only grabs the piece your painting but gives the additional coats something to latch on to. I don't like the spray cans im using for the paint because it doesnt have a good tip on the can to atomize the paint that well. You can see in the pic that the paint on the parts are big spots instead of a mist but well make this work.


Second coat is another quick mist fallowed by another Fifteen minute flash.



Third coat is a little thicker coat followed by a Twenty to Thirty Five minute flash time depending on the temp and humidity of where the parts are being sprayed.



Fourth coat is a nice thick wet coat so the paint and metal flake will lay down nice and flat and uniform.

After your final coat you want the paint to set up for a minimum in my opinion of twelve hours because we don't have a spray booth to speed this process up. Its better to play it safe because if the paint isn't set up and you clear it, the clear will be heavy enough to actually pull the paint down and cause sags. Again, the only way to correct this in most situations is to strip the part back down and start over. No thanks.




Here we have all the parts cleared with the same process as paint. Sorry about pic quality here.

So now that the parts are on stand-by to completely dry so i don't ruin them while putting the wheel back together i will bring this write up to a close. After i get home from work tomorrow i will update this thread with the reassembling and complete install of the Sonic RS Steering Wheel into the Cruze.

Until then.......


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Sorry guys. Was more than half way through the write up to finish this up and my computer decided to do an update and shut down and erase my progress. Given the time, its not happening tonight. Story of my life.
Ill try again tomorrow.


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## InsideMan (Sep 23, 2017)

Before i get into the new wheel install i must say that dealing with the button assemblies were a little more in depth that i thought. Definitely not a "Plug and Play" scenario. If i could do it again though with the guidance that i will leave in this write up it would have went much faster and easier. The challenge was just the unknown and all the test fitting. I spent from 3:30 to 7:30 on this project however i feel if i had to do it again knowing what i know i could take a good hour or more off of that.  The first thing well do is start the car and turn the wheel upside down. Well be accessing holes that are located on the bottom backside of the steering wheel. With the wheel now upside down the holes will be located on the backside of the steering wheel just above the steering column, Sorry i have no pics here. Didn't have a camera i could fit back there and i tried to shoot through the windshield to no avail.  Next use a 10mm wrench to unhook the positive battery cable. Were going to be disconnecting the airbag and we don't want any expensive accidents here. Back in the car insert a very small screwdriver into one of the holes in the back of the steering wheel and pivot the screwdriver horizontally toward the outside left or right of the wheel. If you have done this correctly you will see that half of the airbag assembly pop off the front of the steering wheel toward you. Do the same thing with the other side but use your other hand to keep hold of the airbag. It will fall free from the wheel with only the wiring for the airbag holding it on.  You can see in the picture above the rods that your manipulating to release the airbag assembly.  To remove the wiring harness from the back of the airbag assembly, use a small flat head screw driver to pop the orange piece of the clip up. You can now pull straight up on the clip and remove the wiring from the back of the airbag and set the assemble aside.  Were going to now remove your button assemblies. I was able to get my nails under the top left of the button surround and grab the bottom right corner. with a rocking motion pulling straight up from the wheel the button assembly worked its way off without an issue. do this for both the left and right assemblies. Now unplug your harnesses for your button controls. You can see in the picture above these are the typical clips. just simply push the button and pull the clips straight out of the button controls. Set the buttons aside for the time being.    At this point you can remove the wheel or take the metal plate off. I chose to take the metal plate of because one it gave me more room to work and two its coming off anyways. I felt it would be easier this way. This plate not only holds the airbag on but it also serves as the horn for the car which explains the springs on the backside of it. Unplug the white main button control harness plug and use a T30 bit to remove the three bolts holding the plate on. The plate is now free from the old wheel.   Its time to remove the old wheel from the car completely. Now, a wise man told me to use in impact for this and rightfully so. I attempted to use a breaker bar for this task and because the Steering wheel doesn't lock on the Cruze the only thing i succeeded in was turning the wheel. For this step your going to need and Impact gun and a T50 bit. I cant stress this enough guys, when you go to impact this bolt out of the steering wheel make sure your holding the bit square with the bolt while keeping pressure down on the bolt while "Blipping" the trigger of the impact. Don't go Rambo on this. Be careful and pay attention to how square your holding the bit into the bolt while holding pressure down. If you strip the head of the bolt its game over for the removal. Once the bolt is out, pull straight up on the wheel removing it from the column. Notice the reference point on the steering shaft as well as the spline that the steering wheel slips on to. This is so you cant possibly put the wheel back on crooked so worries here.  Install the new wheel and reinstall your T50 bolt. I'm not sure of the torque spec on this so i just got it as tight as i thought the old one was. Again we don't want to go too crazy with the impact.  This is where things get interesting. Notice the difference between the old button surround and the new one. The old one is shaped differently and will not fit on the new wheel. We have to use the old buttons with the new surround.    Remove the button assemblies from the surrounds. This is a very daunting task and i cant guide you through this because i ended up intentionally breaking some clips off that will not serve a purpose for keeping everything tight but was preventing the button assemblies from being removed from the surrounds. In the next few pics you can see which ones i broke. Hopefully you can do this without having to break them so i didn't document that. The small tabs at the tips of my fingers had to clipped off with snips then shaved down flat with a razor blade so the old buttons would sit flush in the new surround sue to a small difference in design. This has to be done. The first button assembly made me cringe because i didn't know what direction i was headed, however after it worked out perfectly the second set was done in the matter of a few minutes. Don't worry here guys, i wont lead you in the wrong direction and have you do something that i wouldn't. If i thought this was the wrong way to go about it or thought this was "hacking" my car up i wouldn't went through with this.  The button assembly had to be trimmed back a bit as well as the tit that the surround clips onto in order for the surround to properly clip and hold tightly onto the button assembly. I did this with a razor blade and the camera makes it look worse than it is. It worked and held flawlessly and i yanked and pulled on the surround and assembly to make sure it was going to hold tight with great success.  I was now able to reassemble my freshly painted trim work and reinstall my button assemblies. This looks absolutely amazing in person and i love the decision i made to paint the trim work in the car.  We can now reinstall the trim and buttons on the new steering wheel. This takes a little patients. You have to press down with a fair amount of pressure to reinsert the tabs of the trim work back into the steering wheel but you'll get it.  Hook your wire assembly back up to your airbag. Line the tabs up on the back of the airbag with the holes on the steering wheel and press firmly until it "clicks" in.  Hook your positive battery cable back up with your 10mm wrench and that's all she wrote. Over all this wasn't too bad. when i reached the point of having a hard time removing the button surrounds from the buttons themselves i thought about turning back but once i figured out the first set it was incredibly easy. I wouldn't hesitate to do this again. This sight has been a tremendous help to me. i hope this helps you guys just as much. Until the next project.....


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## anthonysmith93 (Jul 15, 2015)

I'm one of the dummies that didn't have an impact when attempting to remove the steering wheel bolt. Breaker bar managed to slightly loosen the bolt before stripping it completely, so now I'm stuck with a stock, very slightly loose steering wheel :'(


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Yeah, notifications are pretty much moot here unless someone likes a post. Looks like you came through fine and the paint came of well. Yes Cleveland area, I'm a member at Point Blank off of Heisley Road. Most the cars I seen this side of town (Solon, Highland, Lyndhurst, Beachwood, South Euclid) are modified. There is one BGM that pretty much bullied me into some mods just before trade in. He is a slammed 2LT RS with Z Spec grille, U bar headlights, can't remember tails and a Thule rack up top. To this day I have no clue if he is even here or on the FB group(s).The one car I see on the way to work usually on 271 between Mayfield and Cedal 271 is a silver 1LT with LED exterior lights and limo tint.


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