Have you ever pulled your shifter knob OFF ?

[JJZ4MR]

On my first test drive of my 2006 Z4MR the owner ( who was an online sales business in a industrial park ) told me that they were not going to put a plate on the car and just drive around the complex streets. It was a Sunday, no open businesses in the complex, alone in the car, I went tearing around the private streets, ally ways...and as I was hooning, shifter knob popped off, pulling down and over to the left slightly going into 2nd. Wires exposed and I try to slightly push it back on and limp it back to the shop. I showed the sales guy, he was like " must be loose "....so now that I have taken out my CDV a couple weeks ago I figured I'd now work on my speed shifting. Came off for the first time I've owned the car, again going to 2nd and I've been driving for 5 months. Got the wires all back in, pounded the top good and hard, made sure I had the notch lined up, which keeps it from turning. Figured I was good to go. This last weekend working on my heel toe technique same thing happened. I think I was distracted by concentrating on my brake/clutch disengagement/blip/release Obviously I'm yanking it too hard, but is there a way to secure the knob better ?

[The HACK]

Tabs on the inside of the knob is broken.

[Vanne]

Yup, the PO glued mine on before I changed it

[Huz-Z]

Check out the Fifth Gear review of the Z4M on YouTube.

[JJZ4MR]

OK, I will check out the tabs. Seems that I looked up inside and knew that I had them lined up correctly, which the second time it happened I don/t think I got it quite right. This last time I thought I did. I also put more conscious thought into not yanking my knob SO HARD ! I will check out the You Tube vid. Thanks everyone, I considered asking this on the forum ( but was already feeling pretty stupid about it ) this last weekend as I was getting a feel for my heel toe, which is why I think I was not being so careful with the shifter. On a side note, my third drive of testing out some left foot braking went a lot better. I feel like all this thinking about something I've not had to think about for the last 35 years had me distracted with just putting the car into 2nd. My new VT motor mounts and RE tranny mounts have changed the shifting characteristics a bit. So much better with the CDV deleted.

[RossBMWZseries]

Originally Posted by JJZ4MR

OK, I will check out the tabs. Seems that I looked up inside and knew that I had them lined up correctly, which the second time it happened I don/t think I got it quite right. This last time I thought I did. I also put more conscious thought into not yanking my knob SO HARD ! I will check out the You Tube vid. Thanks everyone, I considered asking this on the forum ( but was already feeling pretty stupid about it ) this last weekend as I was getting a feel for my heel toe, which is why I think I was not being so careful with the shifter. On a side note, my third drive of testing out some left foot braking went a lot better. I feel like all this thinking about something I've not had to think about for the last 35 years had me distracted with just putting the car into 2nd. My new VT motor mounts and RE tranny mounts have changed the shifting characteristics a bit. So much better with the CDV deleted.

I remember trying to impress my now girlfriend at the time when we first started talking. I accelerated hard and the shift knob came off going to 2nd gear. I felt my face get so hot and red Ever since I changed the knob to the ZHP short knob I haven't had this issue. How's the rev matching coming along? I can't seem to do it

Originally Posted by Huz-Z

Check out the Fifth Gear review of the Z4M on YouTube.

"Germans ya know, they make things so well"

[JJZ4MR]

When I was taking my initial test drive, I felt pretty dumb pulling into the dealers lot and telling them I pulled the knob off, of course I tried to play it off like " your car is broken, price needs to come down " LOL ! This 3rd time it happened right as I was taking a hairpin turn, while trying to get that sweet spot of brake/clutch in/blip/clutch out/throttle....so ....yeah I'm still working on it. When I got everything just right, it was awesome, when I got it wrong it was HOLY SHIT ! I had one 2nd gear denial...that is not a lot of fun in a turn. Mostly I did it slow, in a straight line, with no traffic, but as I got used to it, I went to my favorite twisty road I've driven 1000 times. It's going to take some time, but if I'm going to Sebring, I'm going to have it down smooth. I plan on taking at least one HPDE driving class before that. I'm going to do my 3rd AutoX in July, so at least with that, it's more about brake and throttle modulation/apexing/eyes down track..... and no shifting.

[zgood4u]

Originally Posted by RossBMWZseries

I remember trying to impress my now girlfriend at the time when we first started talking. I accelerated hard and the shift knob came off going to 2nd gear. I felt my face get so hot and red Ever since I changed the knob to the ZHP short knob I haven't had this issue. How's the rev matching coming along? I can't seem to do it




"Germans ya know, they make things so well"

^ I did the same thing, not with wife or girlfriend in the car, also changed to ZHP.

[Punisher3.0si]

Yes several times. I used epoxy for a temporary fix. Once it let go again I got a ZHP knob and am loving it

[3GFX]

Time to get an aftermarket knob with some set screws.

[JJZ4MR]

I've looked at the ZHP Weighted Shift knob, but on Bimmerworld E85 was not listed, but I saw on a post while researching that ALL BMW 6 speeds, use the same knob.

Can anyone confirm this ?

The Jaffster Tall Derlin SK is DIFFERENT. I saw that in racing, getting the shifter as close to the steering wheel is a good goal, which makes sense.

I personally like my M knob with the lights, but as I see it, I'm going to lose the lighted knob if I switch to anything different, or at least NOT WEIGHTED.

All of this surfing led me to reading about SHORT SHIFT KITS...Anyone have one of these and would care to share their thoughts ?

[MOEDARE]

Happened to my z3 coupe all the time. Untill i filled the knob with silicone...

[3798j]

https://www.leatherz.com/collections...ort-shift-knob
Weighted...and lit.

[RossBMWZseries]

As much as I love the weighted ZHP knob, I do miss the lighting coming from it. As 3798j pointed out, leatherz offers it with light but it's a bit more money. Worth it if you ask me.

[pungo]

Originally Posted by RossBMWZseries

As much as I love the weighted ZHP knob, I do miss the lighting coming from it. As 3798j pointed out, leatherz offers it with light but it's a bit more money. Worth it if you ask me.

I went with the M5 lighted knob, part number 25112284205. It's shorter, much heavier and the leather is allot nicer than stock.I just swapped the retaining ring.

[RossBMWZseries]

Originally Posted by pungo

I went with the M5 lighted knob, part number 25112284205. It's shorter, much heavier and the leather is allot nicer than stock.I just swapped the retaining ring.

Attachment 1613772

Attachment 1613773

Attachment 1613774

Shorter and heavier than the ZHP knob?

[StickMon]

I'm with pungo.
Not sure about the ZHP, but shorter and heaver than stock.
Nice bright even lighting, too. Much better than stock.
Comes with the boot, too. You guessed it ... better than stock. Higher grade leather.

[gds52]

Originally Posted by JJZ4MR

I've looked at the ZHP Weighted Shift knob, but on Bimmerworld E85 was not listed, but I saw on a post while researching that ALL BMW 6 speeds, use the same knob.

Can anyone confirm this ?

The Jaffster Tall Derlin SK is DIFFERENT. I saw that in racing, getting the shifter as close to the steering wheel is a good goal, which makes sense.

I personally like my M knob with the lights, but as I see it, I'm going to lose the lighted knob if I switch to anything different, or at least NOT WEIGHTED.

All of this surfing led me to reading about SHORT SHIFT KITS...Anyone have one of these and would care to share their thoughts ?

If you don't go for aftermarket and want the OEM Z4M knob, I have one with only around 11k miles of driving. We can figure out a decent price

[pungo]

Originally Posted by RossBMWZseries

Shorter and heavier than the ZHP knob?

Shorter and heavier than stock, near identical to the ZHP with the exception of the LED.

[chickdr]

Yes- the M5 knob is the way to go. The LED lighting is really nice and even compared to the stock knob.

[JJZ4MR]

OK, thanks to all of my responses on this. I love this forum.

How is the install on the M5 knob ? Set screws ? Since the Z4M shaft has no set screws, not sure how the attachments fit. ECS just says DIRECT BOLT ON. ECS has it for $ 207. Ebay has some listings. Nice attachment pics.

So none of you has gone with a short shift kit ? Rogue Octane has one that looks nice.

[ZeD4Mr]

It's OEM, exactly same way as the stock knob. Just press it down and connect the wire Plug and play. I had the M5, too. After the my AS SSK install, it's too short for my liking. I went with a heavier knob.

Storm motorwerks V1. Since it's using set screws, I can adjusted the height. Tested on the track and it's my favorite knob so far. Not too short for track and not too long for street. Always looking for that perfect feeling of rowing your own gear. (I'm a shift knob fanatic, probably have 7-9 different knobs just for this car)