xBrian

I am not responsible for anyone's mistakes. I offer these tips and pictures for educational purposes only.

Album of all photos
I really do not like the grey buttons in the trans am, so i finally got some black ones from a camaro. I have seen pictures of others who have done this, but i didn't really know much about how to do it. So here are some pictures for anyone who is also interested. The guide i went by is on the lighting faq, but apparently there are two different styles of buttons, so i took pictures.

Firstly, removal of the buttons is very simple, however I was too hasty and actually broke a tab off of my original buttons. This mistake did make for a procedural change(notice ahead)

To remove the buttons, i first removed my airbag fuse which is on the side of the dash. There are two hex head bolts at the back of the steering wheel which loosens up the airbag. The bolts do not remove completely, they stay in, which was nice.

Once the airbag is down, you can see how the wires are routed to the buttons. They are held in place by some rubber. Just pull it out to allow some slack. There is a squarish hole where the wires connect. I used a combination of my finger(in that hole) and a flat screwdriver to pry the buttons out.

I installed the camaro buttons to make sure they worked. I knew the color would be different than the stock red.

Comparison picture:


Both installed:


I wanted to keep the stock red illumination, but since i broke a clip part of my original button assembly, i decided to just swap the circuit boards from the original to the camaro buttons. It would have been super easy and a lot faster to just swap the actual buttons. There are little push tabs that hold them on. Just gently pry them off and swap them right over.

For myself, i wanted to put good unbroken parts back in my wheel so this is what i had to work with:


There is another version of this button and there is only one light and a screw that holds the board into the housing. This style has two lights and tab slots where the board 'snaps' into place. I did not need to remove the buttons to take the board out.


I pryed it out with the same flat screwdriver as before, which took a little persuasion. I worked on getting the more rounded side out first. Then it literally just fell out.

Two circuit boards:


The two red ***** are the bulbs. The red is actually a rubber cover that make the light red.I tested the boards to make sure they still worked after i removed them.

The ones from the camaro are a blue cover.



To swap, i laid the flatter half of the board into the housing and got the tabs in their slots and pushed down on the other (more rounded) side. It pretty much slid right in place with no problems.

And a bad picture, but a finished job:




For anyone that plans to swap new bulbs for a new color or replacement, this should be a really easy project. There is another write up in the lighting faq that actually covers that aspect, this i just wanted to write fore anyone who is unsure of the work involved. Good luck