Retrofitting Rover 25 / MG ZR Steering Wheel Audio Controls [DIY]

If you want to drag your Rover 25 or MG ZR into the 21st century by retrofitting steering wheel audio controls, you've come to the right place!


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Tools and Parts Required

• Radio Controls (if not already fitted)
• Steering wheel compatible with radio controls
• Phillips head screw driver

Time to Complete - 35 minutes

Difficulty - 3/5 (Due to having to remove the airbag)

Disclaimer: Any information given in this guide is to be used at the readers own risk. I take no responsibility for injuries to the reader or damage to their vehicles. If this guide is followed correctly, no harm should occur to either the reader or the car.

Please read through the entirety of this guide prior to undertaking any work, and take due care.

How to Retrofit Rover 25 / MG ZR Steering Wheel Audio Controls

Step 1 - Disconnect the Battery and Remove the Steering Wheel Airbag

You'll need to follow my guides on disconnecting the battery and removing the driver's airbag before continuing with this guide.

After disconnecting the battery, leave the car for at least 10 minutes to allow the circuits to fully discharge before emoving the airbag. This will prevent the airbag accidentally going off, or the seat belt pre-tensioners firing.

Until you've complete both of the guide above you won't be able to continue with this guide.

After the battery has been disconnected and the airbag removed, your steering wheel should look like this.

Step 2 - Screw the Steering Wheel Audio Controls Into Place

The steering wheel audio control switch pack looks like this when it's removed from the wheel.


Feed the two black wires through the cutout in the steering wheel, where the audio controls go, then push the controls into the cutout. They will be quite a tight fit, so may require a bit of jiggling around to get them to seat down properly.


When your audio controls are fitted correctly, they should look as per the image below.


Once in position, secure the radio controls into place with two screws like so.

Step 3 - Connecting the Steering Wheel Audio Controls

Now that the audio controls are in position, you need to connect them up.

Firstly, unclip the black plastic connector, with the single red wire in it, from the steering wheel.

Take the two black wires and push the metal connectors into the black plastic connector. You need to push the metal pins into the two holes to the left of the red wire, like so. Bare with it, this can be quite fiddly.



Once the two black wires are securely clipped into the black connector, push the connector back into the steering wheel.


If you find that when you test the radio controls they don't work at all, or conversely to how they should, swap the location of the two black wires round.

Step 4 - Replace the Airbag and Reconnect the Battery

Follow my guides on refitting the driver's airbag and reconnecting the battery (make sure you fit the airbag before connecting the battery!)

You should now have fully functioning steering wheel mounted radio audio controls in your Rover 25 / MG ZR!

Step 5 - Steering Wheel Audio Controls with Aftermarket Headunit

If, like me, you've upgraded your car's headunit, you'll need a wiring loom adaptor to allow the steering wheel audio controls to keep working with your new headunit.

This Autoleads PC99-X04 should do the trick, but please do check with Autoleads first to make sure you're ordering the correct adaptor for your car and headunit combination.

Step 6 - Removing the Steering Wheel Audio Controls

If you want to remove your switches, maybe to upgrade to a leather steering wheel like I did, or replace faulty switches, removing the steering wheel audio controls is just a case of following steps 1 - 4 in reverse.

Making sure to disconnect the battery and wait 10 minutes before removing the airbag though!

Related How To Guides

If you're retrofitting radio controls, it's likely you want to upgrade your speakers, check out my guide to removing the door trim and my blog posts on my front door speaker upgrade and fitting a Vibe subwoofer and amp box.

Job Done!

Only thing left to do is grab your keys and go for a drive!

Let me know how you get on in the comments below, and be sure to check out my other service and how to guides to keep your MG Rover running sweet.