alexwilson94
New member
- Location
- Washington State
- Car(s)
- 2017 MK7 GTI SE
Shorter shifter diy: ~$60 OEM+ (with added weight) or $35 (without weight).
I’ve never really liked the golf ball much (might just be me
), and I don’t like how tall it is, or the weight of it.
So I purchased a mk5 golf plus shift knob from eBay (picture of part number included) for $35. It sits lower making the shifts shorter and more crisp, weights slightly more - I believe I saw something online that says it’s ~130 grams, and looks better imo. Essentially it’s a straight up replacement with a few tweaks. Apologies in advance - I didn’t take progress pics and I really should have.
There are plenty of videos online on how to take off the oem shift knob off with the boot. Get to this step - please don’t cut anything like the videos show. It’s lazy and unnecessary, this shift knob will not work if you do. Simply heat up the release mechanism with a heat gun, and it’ll be much easier to pry it off gently with a flathead - you can still go back to oem.
Do the same thing with the new shift knob, as it comes with a boot attached to it. You can just twist the mechanism off - I used those rubbery grip kitchen pads to get a better grip on it. Once the boot is off, just reassemble everything with the new shifter! I used a small hose clamp instead of the metal ring for the shifter knob attachment.
The top of this knob comes off just by prying it off with fingernails, and has 4 hollow slots inside. I put some 1x1/4” tungsten rods into mine and filled the empty space with a steel epoxy. This added ~60-70 grams for a total of approximately 200 grams.
Again I’m sorry for the lackluster detail and lack of progress pics, I just really wanted to share since I personally love how it came out visually and how it feels.
Tldr: spend ~$60 on shifter + epoxy + some small tungsten weights and use your witty adventurous sense of ingenuity to make it work.
I’ve never really liked the golf ball much (might just be me
), and I don’t like how tall it is, or the weight of it.So I purchased a mk5 golf plus shift knob from eBay (picture of part number included) for $35. It sits lower making the shifts shorter and more crisp, weights slightly more - I believe I saw something online that says it’s ~130 grams, and looks better imo. Essentially it’s a straight up replacement with a few tweaks. Apologies in advance - I didn’t take progress pics and I really should have.
There are plenty of videos online on how to take off the oem shift knob off with the boot. Get to this step - please don’t cut anything like the videos show. It’s lazy and unnecessary, this shift knob will not work if you do. Simply heat up the release mechanism with a heat gun, and it’ll be much easier to pry it off gently with a flathead - you can still go back to oem.
Do the same thing with the new shift knob, as it comes with a boot attached to it. You can just twist the mechanism off - I used those rubbery grip kitchen pads to get a better grip on it. Once the boot is off, just reassemble everything with the new shifter! I used a small hose clamp instead of the metal ring for the shifter knob attachment.
The top of this knob comes off just by prying it off with fingernails, and has 4 hollow slots inside. I put some 1x1/4” tungsten rods into mine and filled the empty space with a steel epoxy. This added ~60-70 grams for a total of approximately 200 grams.
Again I’m sorry for the lackluster detail and lack of progress pics, I just really wanted to share since I personally love how it came out visually and how it feels.
Tldr: spend ~$60 on shifter + epoxy + some small tungsten weights and use your witty adventurous sense of ingenuity to make it work.
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