Since 2006, all z's have been prewired for the steering wheel audio controls. Nissan part 25550-CF40A ($59), contains the cruise and audio steering wheel controls for 06+ Z's. Both button assemblies are wired together, and I decided not to have the non-functional cruise controls installed. I removed the cruise portion from the harness and kept the blank piece on the right side of the wheel.

This all just plugs in. You can install the cruise controls if you want, but they wont work, just light up.

Here a few pictures from my installation.

 

But the audio controls work correct?

 

wait......do the radio controls and cruise controls light up on the 06 steering wheel? My 03 doesn't light up and I thought it was the stupidest thing that they weren't illuminated.

 

My 06 does

 

Yes the 06s light up

 

wow nice mod
i will do this mod on my 07 next year. Great post 06blueZ

 

I feel ripped off now

 

Yes, all of the controls work, volume, seek(presets) power and mode.

Lights up too!

 

I wish there was an easy way to add cruise to my base :-(

 

I tried that on my 04 touring.Too bad my radio buttons dont worklol cruise still does though

 

Great post bro- I'll be trying this out. Thanks for letting us know.

Too bad I need to get the PAC adapter too to get this working.

 

but will this work for aftermarket headunits?

 

Nice! thanks for posting this. I'll definitely be doing this to my car.

Did you just pull the cruise wires out of the connector, or did you cut the wires?

 

i used to work at an audio shop and for cars that we install aftermarket stereos that had controls on the wheel, there was a additional module we installed that made those functional for aftermarket, check out your local audio place they might a module

_Mo

 

If you have an HU that accepts wires remote input, it would be better. If not, you will have to use the wireless PAC adapter. Cons of that are mounting the remote transmitter, difficulty operating in direct sunlight, and a reaction lag from the HU.

 

I went ahead and removed two of the pins for the cruise. The cruise buttons use 4 wires, and two are shared with the radio buttons. I cut the shared ones and removed the pins for the other two..

Thanks guys, its a good easy mod for us base owners. Im not sure what all will be involved with integrating this with an aftermarket HU...

 

I went ahead and ordered the controls. Thanks a lot for the info. You made my week.

 

Glad to hear it.

Just a few tips:

You will need a few sizes of tamperproof torx bits. You will need to remove the airbag and wheel to access the screws that secure the button panels. To remove the airbag connectors, pop up the black clips on the orange and yellow connectors. Once the wheel is out, you will need to remove the screws on the back of the wheel behind the blank panels, as well as one screw on the front bottom inside that is under the airbag/horn bracket. To get at this one screw, remove the airbag bracket by unscrewing the two torx screws that are spring loaded for the horn. then you should be able to remove the black plastic trim from the back of the wheel, revealing one more screw for the blank panel. When you are routing the wiring for the audio controls, run the wires behind the airbag/horn bracket.

Hope it goes as smooth for you as it did for me...

 

Oh wow, you have to take the wheel off the car? That sucks, but I'm sure I can handle it. Thanks for the tips.

EDIT: I found this thread, doesn't look like it will be too hard.
https://my350z.com/forum/body-interior-exterior-and-lighting-diy/77855-diy-for-steering-wheel-removal-and-steering-wheel-audio-control-unit-install.html

 

Ahh, its not that bad... really not a whole lot to it once the wheel is off. It's easy to get the wheel back on at the same angle it was before too. Let me know how it goes!