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Home > Maintenance & Modifications > Optimill and momo steering wheel fitted - thoughts

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pilsburypie

Member Since: 19 Jul 2021
Location: Birmingham
Posts: 176

2014 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Corris Grey

Optimill and momo steering wheel fitted - thoughts

I’ve fitted the Optimill removable steering wheel kit along with a momo Jet steering wheel and I thought I’d give my opinions. This has clearly been around for a while so my post is hardly ground breaking. But for those considering it might be useful.

Optimill kit:
Rather expensive, but very well made. Looks like machined aluminium. The quick release boss fits so easily. Took me 5 mins to remove the old steering wheel and fit. A word of advice, don’t fit the centre cap that covers the centre nut until you’ve driven your car. I was certain my wheels were straight, but on driving the steering wheel was slightly off. So easy to fix, but a bummer trying to remove the cap.

The swivel lock is also great. Lovely finish and seems to be a decent security measure and visual deterrent. Steering wheel removes and the lock fitted in 10 seconds with a bit of practice. Yo have to line up 3 pins, which sometimes is hard, but a little twist and jiggle sorts.

I made the mistake of purchasing the £25 swivel lock docking station. Also well made but in my naivety I thought this was needed to mount the lock. It’s not. It’s simply a dummy boss to screw inside your cubby box to attach the lock to hold it in place.

Momo Jet steering wheel:
Brilliant. Really pleased. Looks great, however I’d loose the little carbon bits if I could. Feels so comfy and the finish is top notch. The size is also perfect. Slightly smaller than the stock wheel which always felt big to me. It obsures the Rev counter a bit, but Speedo and other dash info is unobscured. Also the smaller wheel gives the steering a little more resistance which I love. Feels perfect and positive. I found the old wheel made me wallow around the road more as the car rocks over bumps…. Kind of like an involuntary reaction. The new wheel has so much less with the increased resistance.

To conclude - Optimill seems well made and a good security upgrade. In turn allows the mounting of aftermarket steering wheels, although you can do so without Optimill. The momo Jet is fantastic. Simple.

Last edited by pilsburypie on 7th Aug 2021 10:00am. Edited 2 times in total

7th Aug 2021 8:31am

scotty38

Member Since: 21 May 2011
Location: Lincolnshire
Posts: 571

2012 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Aintree Green

Ditto I bought the same although I went for a 15" Moto-Lita. Great kit.

7th Aug 2021 9:29am

strang

Member Since: 16 May 2012
Location: Happy Valley
Posts: 1380

2009 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Galway Green

Ive got the same set up too, but miss the old larger steering wheel. I don't know why, it just felt better to me. Euro-Leafing to infinity and beyond.....

7th Aug 2021 2:30pm

scotty38

Member Since: 21 May 2011
Location: Lincolnshire
Posts: 571

I prefer the thicker grip of the original that’s for sure but most of my motive to change was security so I sacrificed that bit……

7th Aug 2021 2:50pm

90 Dreamer

Member Since: 13 Jul 2019
Location: Oop North
Posts: 2141

2016 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Corris Grey

The truck originally came with a Momo 360mm 'ish wheel but always felt a little too small, recently swapped out for an OMP 380mm wheel and far better (think the std LR is approx 400mm)
This is a nice compromise and still allows the Optimal lock install

Click image to enlarge

7th Aug 2021 7:34pm

pilsburypie

Member Since: 19 Jul 2021
Location: Birmingham
Posts: 176

How long did you drive with the old steering wheel before swapping? Maybe you got used to it?

I didn’t drive that long with mine before swapping.

8th Aug 2021 2:15am

discomog

Member Since: 09 May 2015
Location: Notts/Lincs Border
Posts: 2526

2015 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Santorini Black

Another thumbs up

for the Momo wheel and Optimil swivel lock Defender 90XS SW
Mini Countryman Cooper S
Morgan Plus 8

8th Aug 2021 5:34am

Simboii

Member Since: 09 Jun 2021
Location: Carmarthen
Posts: 70

scotty38 wrote:
Ditto I bought the same although I went for a 15" Moto-Lita. Great kit.

Also got a moto lita steering wheel, although i went 14”, with the optimill QR, thinks its great!

8th Aug 2021 11:01am

John P

Member Since: 26 Dec 2013
Location: West Sussex
Posts: 312

2012 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 SW Corris Grey

Re: Optimill and momo steering wheel fitted - thoughts

pilsburypie wrote:
A word of advice, don’t fit the centre cap that covers the centre nut until you’ve driven your car. I was certain my wheels were straight, but on driving the steering wheel was slightly off. So easy to fix, but a bummer trying to remove the cap.

Is the cap supposed to have an “O” ring fitted as mine is loose. It looks like it should have one?

Any ideas?

Cheers
John

26th Dec 2021 7:15pm

swt

Member Since: 24 Aug 2018
Location: Cumbria
Posts: 160

2008 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Stornoway Grey

Mine certainly came with a o-ring. It made the difference between ludicrously tight and ludicrously loose.

26th Dec 2021 7:25pm

JPE

Member Since: 19 Nov 2018
Location: South West England
Posts: 333

2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Firenze Red

Yes should have an O ring which makes it hard to push in & even harder to get out!

26th Dec 2021 8:02pm

blackwolf

Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
Location: South West England
Posts: 17351

2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Stornoway Grey

Yes, should have an O-ring.

A useful mod I did to mine is to drill a small hole radially through the cap just under the flange (between the lower face of the flange and the O-ring) to allow the air which gets trapped underneath when fitting the cap to escape, and similarly the vacuum created when removing the cap to be relieved. With some lube on the O-ring it becomes easy to fit or remove yet remains suitably snug. The hole is invisible when the cap is fitted.

Before I had this stroke of modest genius my cap would slowly eject itself a few mm after fitting due to the trapped air pressure and was impossible to keep fully inserted.

26th Dec 2021 8:35pm

Roy5695

Member Since: 15 Feb 2014
Location: Cornwall
Posts: 1123

2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 XS DCPU Indus Silver

I used the swivel lock dock to store the steering wheel in the house. Mount it on the wall somewhere. Mine lives in the utility room so in the cold weather the wheel is always here arm when I start the journey. 2011 Defender DCPU 2.2 - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic30623.html

Instagram - @r22oyp

Roy

26th Dec 2021 8:54pm

donmacn

Member Since: 06 Nov 2017
Location: Nth Scotland
Posts: 1841

I used the docking boss to fit the lock into the front part of my cubby box (though admittedly that’s a non-standard and no longer available ‘bare box’ one).

This means I have the swivel lock securely stowed just above/beside the handbrake lever. Couldn’t be more convenient without putting it on top of the dash.

Like many things on a Defender there are probably other options/locations that would work for different cars/drivers/configurations. Donald

1994 Defender 300Tdi 110 SW - owned since 2002 - 230k miles and going strong
(The 'rolling restoration' or tinkering thread: http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic58538.html )
2000 Range Rover P38 4.0L V8

in the past..
RR classic - fitted with 200Tdi
1984 RR classic - V8 with ZF auto box
1993 Discovery 300Tdi

not to mention the minis and the Type 2 VW camper...

26th Dec 2021 10:39pm

Piggy501

Member Since: 27 Sep 2017
Location: Scotland
Posts: 56

swt wrote:
Mine certainly came with a o-ring. It made the difference between ludicrously tight and ludicrously loose.

I must be doing something wrong as my centre cap falls off freely, especially when removing the wheel. Has anyone else had this happen?

26th Dec 2021 10:44pm

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