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This story began a long time ago - back in autumn of 2024. Being a car enthusiast, it's hard to keep your hands off a lovely car without retrofitting something. However, this car, unlike the 2020 Giulia I had in Ukraine is pretty well equipped. Therefore, there is a quite small list of additions I'd like to make. One of them is paddle shifters.
Yes, the 2023 Ti Lusso was not equipped with this feature. Like Richo8657 said, it is not something I really miss, but I once had a 2015 Volkswagen CC which I retrofitted with almost everything possible from a factory, so it is just a matter of presence. Also, I realized that I'd like to keep this car for a longer period, as depreciation saves me a lot by having cheap insurance, no loan, etc.
So, I started looking for the paddle shifters everywhere. However, prices for almost everything for the Giulia is the US are exaggerated. Fortunately, I have friends in Poland, so I quickly found the necessary part on Allegro.pl for 749 zloty (approximately $180), which is much cheaper than ~$400 for the same part in the US.
However, I wasn't looking for any paddle shifters, but specifically the ones assembled with the control switch that has chrome side buttons. Not everyone pays attention to this, but at some point Alfa Romeo started equipping all control switches with unpainted black side buttons.
Next, if we decided to remove the steering wheel for the paddle shifters install, why not upgrade it as well? What does every Alfa owner dream of? Of course, it's Quadrifoglio steering wheel with the cloverleaf at the bottom. The prices for such steering wheels in the US are also exaggerated, but on Allegro.pl I found one from a Stelvio for a pretty reasonable price - 1899 zloty, which in September 2024 was something around $520.
Then my friends packed everything well to ship it to the US. The final weight of the parcel was around 3 kg with shipping costs of about $40 via Poczta Polska. During my move from Ukraine to the US, I had shipped many things from Poland, so that was no surprise. The total amount spent was ~$700 - a bargain for a set of QV steering wheel and paddle shifters:
Three months or so, right before Christmas, I finally received the parcel.
You know that feeling when you get new tuning parts - you just want to install them as soon as possible. The paddle shifters were in great condition, but the steering wheel was used. Not a big deal, but I'm super picky with my cars, so I decided to reupholster the steering wheel with the brand new leather before the installation, and add 3-colored stitching (red, white and green) to mimic Tributo Italiano Edition.
However, when I reached out to a couple of local upholstery services, I was surprised to find that none of them offer steering wheel upholstery as a standalone service. They only do it as a part of a larger package - like, when you redoing the seats or door panels. But I only needed the steering wheel done. Well... Maybe the gear shifter too.
After being turned down for the steering wheel upholstery, I remembered that this is actually a pretty common service back in Ukraine. So, I thought: "This shouldn't be a problem for handy person, right?" How wrong I was about that! And here comes the most exciting part of this journey: I decided to start my own steering wheels re-trim and upholstery business!
I spent almost a year of practicing, taking tons of courses, and investing a good amount of money to reach the desired quality level. The thing is, Alfa Romeo steering wheels (and most Italian cars) have a non-standard, complex design. So I had to upholster a lot... And I mean a lot of steering wheels before I was finally satisfied with the result. And I'm still learning, as it is a never-ending process. But, I'm really excited about what I'm doing. Thank you Alfa Romeo for that! The car that sparked an inspiration!
I'm not advertising myself as an upholstery service, but I'd really appreciate if you follow my Instagram and Facebook pages. It keeps me motivated, and honestly there's something beautiful about seeing how old things transform into something new.
So, I restored the steering wheel to the OEM state, but added the red stitching in the end instead of 3-colored. I tried the 3-color combination multiple times, but eventually realized that I just don't like it. And when the installation day finally came, I compared the two steering wheels side by side and... Understood that I didn't want to go that path again - turning a non-QV model into a QV-look. I'd already done this to my previous 2016 Ford Focus Almost RS. This time I want to keep my red "Brilliant" in its original or near-original state. Additionally my eyes told me that it is enough red in the interior - start button and floor mats. Maybe I'll come back to it later, but for now, sorry QV steering wheel. I'll put you aside.
But let's install the paddle shifters then. So, I removed the old steering wheel and the control switches with clockspring.
Since the control switches I bought were from a Stelvio, the right switch has an extra mode - rear windshield washer, which, of course the Giulia doesn't have. So, I moved the paddle shifters over to my original control switch. They're held in place with just 2 screws on each side. There is also a designated plastic spot for their connector.
The side buttons replacement was also pretty simple. You don't need to disassemble the entire switch. Just pop off the plastic cover on the back of the shifter using pry tools. Then use a flat screw driver to remove buttons from their holders.
Now we have the paddle shifters installed onto the original control switch, with the clockspring and chrome side buttons - the perfect combination. Time to assemble everything back together.
But before installing the steering wheel, let's take one more close look at both wheels side by side. Have you noticed any differences, except the lower part with the cloverleaf? I'll give you a hint: the QV steering wheel has chrome bezels around the control buttons, while the Non-QV steering wheel comes with piano black ones. In my opinion, the chrome bezels give the QV wheel a more luxurious look compared to the black ones on the non-QV.
Since the buttons are identical, you can easily swap the piano black bezels for the chrome ones. You might think: "Lucky you. You have QV steering wheel, so you can just take them." But what if you also want those chrome bezels, without spending $$$ on QV steering wheel?
Unfortunately, the bezels are not available for purchase separately as a spare parts. But there is a solution. As we know, the Giulia is built on the Giorgio platform, and many cars built on this platform (or within FCA/Stellantis family) have some parts interchangeable. One of those parts is steering wheel. So, if you're looking for chrome bezels (or want to add additional button instead of the empty one to the left switch) you can grab them from... the Dodge Hornet! Looks familiar, right?
One more difference between the cars equipped with paddle shifters and those without is the lower trim plastic. It has specific cutouts for the paddle shifters. No worries, you don't need to look for this part in Poland. I found one locally for $47. Ok, now we can finally finish the steering wheel installation.
Now this looks far more luxurious than the original setup. The chrome buttons on the control switch perfectly match the chrome paddle shifters, air flow surroundings, and gear shifter trim. I'm more than happy with the result. Even though I haven't reupholstered my original steering wheel. Yet...
One last thing to make the paddle shifters work, was updating the configuration in the BCM and performing the Proxi Alignment procedure using Multiecuscan. I had never done that before on an Alfa Romeo, but I have plenty of experience with VAG (VCDS, ODIS) and Ford (Forscan, UCDS) vehicles.
I was also familiar with the Secured Gateway (SGW) module, which is installed on all Alfa Romeo vehicles starting from 2018. Back in 2022, when I planned the retrofits on my previous Giulia I had already purchased the SGW bypass cables from AliExpress with the 6 colored adapter set. I tested multiple ELM adapters I have, to find the one that actually worked. Eventually the cheapest one with MS-CAN/HS-CAN speed switch did the job. I bought this adapter, oh wow, probably back in 2017. It's flashed so many cars by now, I've honestly lost the count.
So, I connected the SGW bypass cables to the ELM327 adapter with combination of gray and blue connectors to make the changes in the BCM and perform the Proxi Alignment in Multiecuscan. The only issue I run into was the old version of MES (4.9) I had from back in 2022. I had to upgrade it to 5.1 to make it complete the proxi alignment in IPC (dashboard) module. After that, everything worked flawlessly.
Additionally, I disabled the built-in TomTom navigation, since I use Android Auto everywhere. This gives a slight performance boost to the multimedia system. However, if you decide to disable it too, be aware that compass and traffic sign recognition functions will disappear from the dashboard. Even though the GPS module remains marked as "Present" in the BCM configuration, it seems that these features depend on built-in navigation (unlike Ford vehicles, for example, where you can have compass without the navigation system). The traffic sign recognition feature uses map data from the built-in navigation, and if data is missing, it falls back on the front windshield camera, when the sign is detected (mostly speed limits). I don't care about either of these functions (especially when Google Maps shows everything you need on the multimedia screen), so I disabled them intentionally.
After some test driving with the paddle shifters installed, I can definitely say that this is not something I was missing. If you're an aggressive driver, then yes, you need them. But even if you a calm driver like me, you might still find them useful. I sometimes find myself in situations where I want the car to shift one gear up or down based on the road conditions. The paddle shifters are very handy for that. That's all I wanted to share with you. Thanks to everyone for reading. Stay safe and love your cars!
Total:
The steering wheel looks amazing!