XSeries-forum

What they do to lighten the steering is remove the torsion bar at the end of the column where it goes into the rotary valve and grind some of the diameter to make it not as resistant.
I have found various hot rod and racing websites where it is commonly done to set up vehicles.
My M wheel arrived today- tip top condition, smaller and chunkier. Install tomorrow I think. Is it really necessary to disconnect the battery? What about airbag fuse removal instead?

Safer to take the battery off as that kills all power.  A fuse only kills that circuit but other circuits are still connected and that could matter.  Many of the BMW electrics split across multiple connections and fuses, miss one and the warning light comes on!

It takes very little current to trigger an airbag, safer to kill it all off.

Done the wheel swap. Why I didn't think of doing this ages ago I don't know.. Feels so much better and modern.