AT owners only, custom CF paddle shifters, pin stripe custom color
 

So I love using my paddle shifters, but sometimes they are too short and miss them. Not to mention they are kinda puny looking.

I know high end super sports cars have CF paddles shifters from the factory but I am going to custom make the shifters with a Portland CF fabricator company.

My plan is to have custom stripes with our car color around the edge, (also no stripe option) and a glossy or flat looking CF paddle shifter that is much bigger so it is easily reached. And they will look bad ass.

I personally will have my SWP striped color on them for extra cost, and is in the process of making them. This will not be a complete replacement of the shifter, but rather an attachment to make them bigger. They will still rotate with the steering wheel and not stay put like some high end vehicles or a $2000 replacement.

This is an example with the red stripe, CF paddle shifters:
http://www.maseratilife.com/forums/a...rs_detail3.jpg

This process is just starting, and was seeing if people will be interested in purchasing them since I will probably make multiple of them, doesn't make sense to make just one after creating a mold. I am planning on making about 4 of them when they make the mold, to sell only for what the materials cost for prototype. Let me know if you are interested! :thumbsup:

Update 3/9/13:

The steering wheel needs to come off for the paddle shifters to come out. I'm sure it is possible to screw the paddle shifter bolts from behind blindly, but taking off the steering wheel is pretty easy.

Follow the guide to take off the airbag on this DIY tutorial, very easy: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...airbag+removal

When you take off the airbag mechanism, you will notice some screws that are in facing towards you (backwards), and that means the steering wheel needs to come off to take off those screws. The red arrow indicates the "bottom" of the screws.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...psed012390.jpg

Then the next thing you notice are some wires coming out of a box on the top side, with wire clips. There are 3 main wires coming out of them. One is for the horn/cruise control, one is for the airbag (yellow wire) and one is the for the paddle shifters. We are focusing on the paddle shift wires that splits in to "L" and "R" of the paddles. The red arrow indicates the wires for the paddle shifters, going right and left.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps85f8e089.jpg

There are clips on the wires that you will need to pinch and take off before taking off the steering wheels. These are the various wires that does the controls. The very left wire is the airbag (big yellow cable), next one is the cruise control/horn, and the one farthest to the right is the paddle shift wires (red arrow). The airbag wire will not come off, they are attached to the main column so you can let that be hangin.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...psb4837800.jpg

The steering wheel is attached by a single 17mm bolt. You will need a 17mm socket wrench to take this bolt off. This is what it should look like when you take off the steering wheel, with the airbag yellow cable still hanging out.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...psd866de78.jpg

When you take off the steering wheel and flip it around, you can see the individual wires that split in the previous picture going to the paddles. Now that the steering wheel is flipped, you can unscrew the screws that were facing backwards from the front view. Also unclip the wires that are attached to the paddles. The red arrow indicates the wires that were connected to the paddles and the green arrow indicates the screw holes that were keeping the paddles in place. Once the screw comes out, you just take the paddles off, very simple.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...psb166bed1.jpg

The cables that are still attached to the steering wheel is only the cruise control/horn and the paddle shift cables. The green arrow indicates the cruise control cable and the red arrow indicates the paddle shifters. Since the cables on the shifter is unplugged and the connector to the column is unplugged, the cable will come out. However the cruise control cables are still connected to the steering wheel it self since we did not unplug those.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps2e41401a.jpg

Now the paddles shifters are off, with the cable that attaches to the column and the shifter.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps1c9e7450.jpg


One mistake I made was when you re-plug the big yellow cable to the airbag system on the steering wheel, be sure to clip back those tabs that are on the connectors or else the "check airbag" light will come on. Learned it the hard way!

More info to come once we get the design and mold made.

Update 3/10/13:

It will be an add on piece, and not a brand new mechanism. The video shown here is an aftermarket CF paddle shifter for the R8.
[ame]http://youtu.be/rp_kdgNzQAw[/ame]

Just stick it on with 3M tape and bam. I don't have the resources to make a whole new paddle shift mechanism that replaces the OEM ones.

let me know how the shifter come off please do a right up im looking to change mine as well.

I'd be interested to see how these look when installed, but I've definitely noticed they're a little too small. Subscribed.

Good idea! I like!

I dont care how much just put me for the first person on your list to purchase these thanks! I actually dont mind red because they go well with the red stitching better than white imo~

Yes please!

Definitely interested

Yes please

I'm actually surprised nobody has made this already.

It may take a while, or some vendor might start making them before me but I will keep you guys posted. Going in for the first design meeting tomorrow

Great! no worries man! haha i just got new front lip, and getting side fenders soon cause i got hit and run :( sighh.. that aside tho im thinking of the seibon side venders ;) cant wait haha!! Updates when possible!!!

Im soo in for these!!!

Wouldn't it make more sense to have them replace the existing paddles? A replacement needs primarily to cover a larger angle of the wheel circumference so you can still catch the correct paddle with the correct hand even on sharper turns without having them so big that you over stress the pivots and activation switches.

Good idea

When I see stuff like this I wish I had the patience to wait for an AT, but I opted for the MT instead because I didn't want to wait 4 months :(

Also would be cool to have a two - way paddle shifter like BMW. A push would be down shift and pull - upshift.

I think he's saying it does replace the paddles, just not the mechanism itself.

Sounds cool to me as long as they don't cost an arm and a leg!:thumbsup: With a hot lava exterior is it better to match the seat wing red or the exterior orange, or just black?

i think it would be best just black or match the red stitching in the car because say people have white out it would be weird with the only white interior detail.. just my thought haha

Just updated an DIY to take the paddles off. It was pretty easy with no special tool required.

Great post.:thumbsup:

I'd be interested depending on the price, they look really cool as is in the picture. Would really like them like that as they would match the interior really well.

Interested if they can be done with blue lines.

Interesting... It's a good idea

Niiiice, interested bc I dislike all the silver parts

Any updates on these? :) can't wait!

interested for sure

I'm interested as well...

Wish you didn't have to unscrew anything...If somehow they clipped on to the stock ones...that be pretty sweet.

Edit: Looks like that's what it will be. 3m tape...I hope these bad boys go on sale soon!

Subscribed, interested.

I had a similar idea for a replacement paddle shifter, but never had access to an AT. We could do a full replacement mechanism, but it would probably be too cost prohibitive. Best of luck to the OP!

Very interested! Please let me know if this happens.

I want!!! That being said, I'm scared this will be lots of $$$.

Thanks for the interest guys, I am not a professional vendor nor a manufacturing company. I am having trouble first of all, finding a CF prototype manufacturing company for one-off type product that takes me seriously. I am working with a company that makes bicycle CF parts, since big manufacturers want such a huge down payment for mass production only.

Most only cater to large industries or government projects.

I am only making a 3M type attachment piece to the existing paddles. I am plasti-dipping or wrapping the original paddles black so the CF piece that attaches behind will blend in better.

I wonder if ZetaPerformance would be interested.. They seem to make a bunch of random CF pieces.

They might...You have a great idea...I just hope you can make yours before other companies join in. There's a huge market for this! :D

There are other ways around this. Since it's just a stick on part, you can machine carbon sheets. Problem is there really won't be a 3D shape to it. If you have a CAD file, manufacturing process in mind, quantity, it's much easier to get quotation.

I believe @Shankenstein is taking delivery of an AT and he has access to CAD software. If he's willing to help the cause, it might greatly improve your chances on getting these made.

Since we will have a big chunk of metal cut out from the aluminum plate when we make our control arms, I was thinking of using the excess material to make aluminum paddles to reduce waste. If you PM me, I can give you a few ideas on manufacturing and a few leads on manufacturers for this piece in carbon.

http://www.zmaxautosport.com/r32mk5mkv2.html

They sell a lot for Audi...

Crazy priced tho...but they use 3m tape as well. Not sure if someone be able to cust one of these to work on ours.

sub'd

Any updates :D?

Something I've wanted since day one of owning the car! I wonder if it's possible to buy a spare paddle part to tear it apart and see how the mechanism works?