RE: Audi 5K Shifter Knob

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

Thanks for the BTDT Chris!  I know that it is a bit too late for you now,
but to the people who read your post and think its a good idea ... you will
find that with _careful_ pressure underneath via the threaded hole that
attaches to the shifter you can fit in a #2 pencil, eraser up and push the
plastic piece out.  This will allow you to fully remove the leather and
prevent damage to the plastic piece ...

I've gone back to OEM now on the ur-q, but at one time both it and the '78
Fox GTI had nice looking wooden shift knobs with the 5-speed plastic pattern
in the top.  I learned to like the style as the Fox came with a 4-speed
version of the same knob ...

HTH!
Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)

> -----Original Message-----
> 
> On mine, I just stripped off all the leather and briefly 
> sanded the wood
> underneath.  I spent a little care cutting and scraping the 
> leather where
> the leather meets the plastic on the top.  That, plus the 
> sanding scratched
> the plastic.  Then I varnished the whole thing - wood and 
> plastic.  The
> varnish slightly darkened and highlighted the wood nicely and 
> filled in all
> the scratches on the plastic so that they were unnoticeable.  
> Now I have a
> nice wooden shift knob with the correct and original gear 
> pattern on top for
> almost no cost and little effort.  It would probably take 
> longer to find and
> order a shift knob than to do this procedure.
>