Steering Wheel Removal

[kapinkrunch]

This is my first post so Hello All,

I have a question about removing the steering wheel from my 95 M3. I have disconnected the battery and removed the air bag (this seemed to be the easy part). Now it looks like all I need to do to get the steering wheel off is remove the 16mm center bolt... problem is that thing is on there really tight. I have done some searching and best description I can find for the actual removal of the steering wheel is; "remove center bolt". I'm hesitant to get out my impact gun and go to town on this thing since the steering wheel lock and other internals appear to be made of plastic. Am I okay using the impact gun or is there some step I'm missing here?

[DEATH2000]

Rather then using an impact, start with a breaker bar. See if that helps.

As qouted from Doug's Domain:

6.Remove the center shaft retaining bolt with a 16mm socket. A 5/8" socket also fit nicely and can be used if your toolset exhibits an anti-metric bias. If this bolt has never been removed (unlikely for all E36's at this point), you may find it necessary to apply considerable torque to remove it. Mine came off easily because the wheel has been off at least twice.

http://www.dvatp.com/bmw/diy/steering_wheel_conversion/