New to me 2017 XSE and I'm tall. Steering column mod?

#1
I joined the forum because I like to tinker with every car I get, and I like to get info from others who have 'been there, done that'.

I drive a lot of miles for work- about 20,000 miles a year, and when car shopping I ended up with a lease turn in 2017 XSE. It's a beautiful car, with power, heated leather seats. The problem comes in as I'm 6'3" tall...I can almost get comfortable with the seat adjustments, but the steering wheel, even at full tilt and the telescoping fully pulled out is not low enough for me to have a comfortable reach.

So I got to looking at the column itself. When I tilt it down, it bottoms out about an inch from where I need it, so I wanted to see what was stopping it. I removed the black plastic "collar" and I can see a nut on either side that appears to hold the column in place.
I loosened each nut and backed them out until they were flush with the bolts; about 1/2", and then tried the tilt again- Bingo! That's it- those nuts hold the column in place.

So...here's my ideas: if I find some metal spacers to put behind those bolts, I'll get at least a little drop...but does anyone have any experience or info of how this is put together? I'm wondering if those bolts are 'fixed' or attached, or can they be removed and replaced with longer bolts, which could get me a bigger drop....?

I can't see what's above the bracket to see how they are fixed, and I hesitate to do any further disassembly without knowing what I'm dealing with.

Thanks!
 
#3
Wow! How are you holding the steering wheel while driving? Left hand, right, top,bottom,etc?

I have the seat so far back the door armrest is of no use, so I'm pulling my left leg up and resting my left arm on it, and steering with holding the wheel with my left thumb and two fingers. Then I'll grab with my right when turning...

I think the most uncomfortable part is I have the seat all the way down so I have headroom, and that puts my knees above my hips, which hurts my lower back.
If I raise the seat bottom high enough to correct my leg angle, I have to lean the sweet back so far I can only reach the bottom of the wheel...
 
#4
Depends on how I'm driving or where I'm driving, if traffic is thick I'll keep both hands at 10&2.. if its relaxed I just use like one finger on the bottom of the wheel until I'm taking a turn

The arm rest is absolutely useless, I either do the same as you or use the windowsill as my arm rest

I have manual seats, so I just pump it up as much as I can before hitting my head on the roof which is like 1.5-2 pumps
 
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