F10 M5 Gear Knob on E92 Install (Pics)

[landaishan]

Hi,

First of all, thanks to everyone that's posted in the other threads on this topic so far. I copied you and probably couldn't have done it otherwise. Basically it is SO much nicer and more comfortable to shift with this new knob. I have knocked the idrive button tho, but worth all of the effort for improved driveability for sure.

So here's generally how it went.

1 - New knob



2 - Seperate the neck from the boot



3 - Cut it off



4 - Break that ring off. I used pliars and short nose wire snips (Don't damage that wire!)



5 - Rip the knob off that old boot to re-use the boot.



6 - Punch the new M5 knob down with the existing M3 boot in place, connect the wires and cable tie it high under the neck of the new knob. You should try to use a low profile cable tie if possible, unfortunately I did not. Be careful that your stitching doesn't come apart like mine did. When removing the original knob, undo the boot from the base and disconnect the wires before popping that knob sucker off. The new knob connects perfectly with the old wire connector.



7 - Snap that old M3 boot back in place and it's installed.

It's not perfect and I would have liked it to be better. I think at the end of the day if you can do the base ring replacement with the new M5 boot/knob then that will be a better option. You have a cleaner neck and more solid overall construction. However I also wasn't sure if the left hand drive boot would fit well to the base of my right hand drive boot and I noticed that the bases of some modified boots also looked a bit sloppy.

But the knob replacement was definitely easy and it works. In hindsight I can't see how replacing the boot ring could have been that hard in comparison to this tho. That would take more time and this method didnt take long, but I might have chosen to spend more time doing that instead, this method was quite fast and easy and it seems like it should hold just fine.









The colour of the illuminated knob might look off in the photo, but to the naked eye it's indistinguishable from the rest of the orange lighting.



My dirty old knob

[SukSqueezeBangBlo]

Nice DIY, i'm doing the same thing this weekend. This is a lot easier than trying to do the base ring swap which i tired and gave up on doing. Unless you have a professional cut the leather around the boot ring and glue/staple it you will have slack around that area and it wont look as clean as the OEM base ring/shift boot.

[landaishan]

Originally Posted by Mattgfx

Nice DIY, i'm doing the same thing this weekend. This is a lot easier than trying to do the base ring swap which i tired and gave up on doing. Unless you have a professional cut the leather around the boot ring and glue/staple it you will have slack around that area and it wont look as clean as the OEM base ring/shift boot.

Yeah I definitely agree and that was what I noticed in the other peoples pictures as well. There's a silver plastic clip on the base of the M5 knob, after you cut the plastic ring off from around the wires, the silver plastic clip will still protrude. I broke the end of the clip taking the plastic ring off from around the wires, and I left the rest of it sticking out still. I think that makes my cable tie even bulkier than it needs to be and you should be able to cut that plastic clip off completely. I'm about 99% sure it has nothing to do with the way that the knob attaches to the gear shaft. I'm planning on stitching up the little bit of leather that came unstitched, cutting off that protruding clip from the base of the M5 knob, and using a low profile cable tie to make the neck even cleaner. Yep I'd say in my picture #4, cut off that excess plastic clip on the bottom of the knob for a cleaner neck and less cable tie protrusion.

However be aware the changing the base ring to fit the M5 leather boot is a more permanent type of construction and more like OEM, provided that it sits neatly into the center console trim. The way I've done it, there will always be a cable tie and it will always look like a hack job in comparison. You have the detach the boot ring from the center console and cut the cable tie off before removing the knob or wiring or anything. I'd have to warn mechanics or future owners of that so that they don't tear the wiring in the future.

[SukSqueezeBangBlo]

Originally Posted by landaishan

Yeah I definitely agree and that was what I noticed in the other peoples pictures as well. There's a silver plastic clip on the base of the M5 knob, after you cut the plastic ring off from around the wires, the silver plastic clip will still protrude. I broke the end of the clip taking the plastic ring off from around the wires, and I left the rest of it sticking out still. I think that makes my cable tie even bulkier than it needs to be and you should be able to cut that plastic clip off completely. I'm about 99% sure it has nothing to do with the way that the knob attaches to the gear shaft. I'm planning on stitching up the little bit of leather that came unstitched, cutting off that protruding clip from the base of the M5 knob, and using a low profile cable tie to make the neck even cleaner. Yep I'd say in my picture #4, cut off that excess plastic clip on the bottom of the knob for a cleaner neck and less cable tie protrusion.

However be aware the changing the base ring to fit the M5 leather boot is a more permanent type of construction and more like OEM, provided that it sits neatly into the center console trim. The way I've done it, there will always be a cable tie and it will always look like a hack job in comparison. You have the detach the boot ring from the center console and cut the cable tie off before removing the knob or wiring or anything. I'd have to warn mechanics or future owners of that so that they don't tear the wiring in the future.

The M5 knob has 3 plastic clips on the bottom, so you are saying remove all 3 ? I have the main one still(longer clip/arm) and i was thinking of cutting it off to keep it all flat..

True, its more OEM but from what i've seen online the boot never looks clean where it's merged with the old boot ring unless a professional glues it together or you decide to glue it together.

When removing the shift knob most remove the boot first, then disconnect the wiring followed by pulling the knob off.

[Rafstar]

sorry for the bump but anyone looking to do a f10 m5 shift knob DIY; should definitely use this method.

After 3 hours of glueing the m5 booth to the m3 ring. It was nearly impossible to get the booth to fit into the center console. Ended up glueing back the m3 booth to the ring and doing this method.

It took me 10min. the result are perfect. looks just like oem.

[mkPOTO]

hmm never thought to cut the knob off. Good move!

[Iyzmi]

Originally Posted by Mattgfx

The M5 knob has 3 plastic clips on the bottom, so you are saying remove all 3 ? I have the main one still(longer clip/arm) and i was thinking of cutting it off to keep it all flat..

True, its more OEM but from what i've seen online the boot never looks clean where it's merged with the old boot ring unless a professional glues it together or you decide to glue it together.

When removing the shift knob most remove the boot first, then disconnect the wiring followed by pulling the knob off.

Maybe I just haven't noticed, but from the pics I've seen it does look clean around the base regardless of glue. Could you post some pics where it doesn't look good? I'd like to see that and decide if it looks better or worse than this ziptie method.

[BIGW0RM]

I did mine this way last year or so. Great write up man!

[keensyntax]

For reference, I just did this and found the cable tie approach did not look great as you can see the bulge from the plastic. I'm using one of those velcro wire wrap ties and it seems to be holding up and looks much better.

[IND-Distribution]

Nicely done!