[chip_dip19]

Hi all,

Recently picked up my car and am loving it. Searched around the forums and didn't find a DIY to swap the M performance shift knob over to the stock blue stitching boot and decided to write one when I swapped my shift knob.

1. Remove stock shift knob but first unclipping the stock shift boot. Pull hard up on the stock shift knob to remove.

2. In order to remove the existing shift knob from the blue stitching boot (same for M performance shift knob from white stitching boot), you need to remove the existing glue surrounding the 2 pins (red box in picture) on the shift knob. I did this by drilling the stock glue and then prying the clip of the boot (blue box in picture) away from the shift knob. It should come out with little force. If it's hard to remove, you need to remove more of the glue.

3. Once you have both shift knobs and shift boots separated, you now need to reattach the M performance shift knob with the blue stitching boot. To do this, first clip the shift knob back into the shift knob ring and align the 2 pins. The boot should be flush with the bottom of the shift knob. You now need to glue the pins back into the ring in the shift knob like it comes from the factory. I used a hot glue gun as the only purpose of this is to hold the boot to the shift knob. You can epoxy it if you want a more solid connection but I personally think it's overkill.

4. Reinstall the M performance shift knob with the blue stitching boot by aligning the shift knob and then hammer down with your fist to clip the shift knob back into shifter. Reclip the boot back in to finish the installation.

[tenkies]

Great Post. I was able to save most of the pin by just exacto knifing off the glue then hot gluing the MP knob back onto the boot.

[alscks0414]

I had the same struggle and ended up ordering the full set with blue stitching from iND...

I initially purchased the alcantara boot with white stitching for 2ers and thought about replacing the knob with stock but did not work well.

I sold it boot+knob with white stitching to another forumer and he said that he has done the swap, said that he said to drill some holes to remove the knob from the boot.

Read the post that I made asking same question and some forumers that posted reply to here do have experience and u may wanna ask them for detail.

http://f87.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...ght=shift+knob

Hope it helps

[F87_LCI]

Originally Posted by alscks0414

I had the same struggle and ended up ordering the full set with blue stitching from iND...

+1

So much easier...45 second install.

[Nezil]

I did this exchange today, and wanted to provide some additional information...

As shown in the photos above, the knob is held to the boot with two pins and a large clip. Rather than drill out the pins, I used a craft knife to cut the glue and pin into a square shape so that it would easily fit through the square holes in the boot.

You can check if you've cut enough shaping the pins by gently trying to lift that side of the knob away from the boot. If it moves, you should be good to go. Push the knob back fully on, and then use a flat blade screwdriver to pry off the clip, pulling down on that side as you do it. Once the clip is free you can pull the knob off straight.

Currently, I haven't used any glue on the underside of the knob. If you cut the square pins fairly close in shape, the clip holds the boot on pretty well. Once I'm 100% happy with the M Performance knob, I'll probably glue it on.

[gphung]

Originally Posted by Nezil

I did this exchange today, and wanted to provide some additional information...

As shown in the photos above, the knob is held to the boot with two pins and a large clip. Rather than drill out the pins, I used a craft knife to cut the glue and pin into a square shape so that it would easily fit through the square holes in the boot.

You can check if you've cut enough shaping the pins by gently trying to lift that side of the knob away from the boot. If it moves, you should be good to go. Push the knob back fully on, and then use a flat blade screwdriver to pry off the clip, pulling down on that side as you do it. Once the clip is free you can pull the knob off straight.

Currently, I haven't used any glue on the underside of the knob. If you cut the square pins fairly close in shape, the clip holds the boot on pretty well. Once I'm 100% happy with the M Performance knob, I'll probably glue it on.

I did the same thing, no drilling. Worked out very well and it was super clean. I still finished it off with glue, but overall I think this is the best and most economical way. Really doesn't make sense to pay IND their incredible markup for this particular item lol.