Gear Knob!
 

Decided to change my gear knob today to the SMG one found on the e46 M3. I already had the gear knob from a previous mod I done on my e39 so thought I would have a go at fitting it to the X5. Plus with having the SMG paddle shift I thought the the gear knob would compliment the Steering Wheel. It was a pretty straight forward mod, but what I have noticed is. On the ORIGINAL X5 gear knob you have the black push button which you pull to select gear....well so I thought!!! Actually the black button does nothing at all! It used to be a safety feature on the early e39's e38 etc but on the newer models it does nothing as the safety lock feature is controlled by the break pedal. Which is much better as it means various Gear Knobs can be used on the Auto X5!

Sounds very interesting but...:worthless: !

You dont need pictures to work out the safety feature! You cant photograph it to begin with.

:confused: :confused: :confused: Didn't you say you installed a different gear knob? I'd like to see pics of that! :thumbup: ;)

Oh right! Though you were talking about the other items. Yeah no problem, Ill get some photos posted up!!

Whenever you get a chance... - thanks Sudesh!

I always thought that gear button did something and i always felt cool havin it!!:mad: haha

It used to be a safety system on early cars as they did not have break pedal gear release. I also though it did something on the X5 but on testing a few things first before I remeoved it, I discovered it didnt do anthing! BMW most likely kept it in production to save costs as this type of gear knob has been in production since around 1995!

HERE YOU GO!! I'm not finished with this mod yet as I may change to the illuminated M5/M6 Gear Knob. But I'm also working on modifing the GEAR KNOB SHAFT as I want it to be shorter. But here is some pics of the SMG M3 gear knob and SMG steering wheel with paddle shift, all working correctly too!!!

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...5/DSC00535.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...5/DSC00534.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...5/DSC00539.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...5/DSC00538.jpg

That looks pretty cool - thanks for the pics! I like your idea of making the shaft shorter too. I suppose the only thing that would bother me is the pattern on the shift knob not matching, i.e. reverse isn't left & up on an X5. Are you planning on somehow addressing that?

Yeah I was looking at that and not sure if I can get the clear covering off the gear shift to do some modifications to it. It could be a case of baking the gear knob to see if the cover will lift.

It doesn't just come apart? It looks like that top piece would unscrew, but I really don't know. It would be great to find something that matched the X's shift pattern, but I can't think of anything off the top of my head. GL & looking forward to see what you come up with!

No it doesnt come apart!! Its not in two pieces although I can see where it may look like that! But I have got a bit further.
What I did was remove the thumb pads from the gear shift and baked the gear know for 10mins, took it out of the oven and hey presto the clear bit with the gear selector positions came off!! Looks like this now
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...p/DSC00541.jpg

Wow - you're making great progress! :thumbup:

Yeah! Thanks! I'm actually another step ahead and spoke to a friend at a graphics company who can make me up the exact shift pattern in graphic form to fit the gear knob. Here is a rough sketch of what he suggested he will do. It will also be done in color the same as the original with small M logo. I'm pretty excited about it now!!
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...HFTPATTERN.jpg

Awesome! Will you be able to hook up the illumination too?

Illumination is only available on then NEW M5 or M6 gear knob. This one is an M3 SMG gear knob so doesnt have the feature. Here is the finished product and I'm very impressed. It feels much better than the standard Gear selector and even when driving in manual the shifting of the gears feel fantastic. I was planning on shortning the gear stalk but after fitting this it sits alot lower than the original so I'm not going to bother plus this way the original can be put on again with no problems. I had my friend make up the graphics to replace the original shift pattern. Then we used the original insert and covered it with the new graphics, on top of that we then put a clear film so there would be no wear of the new graphics. It cost me in all £8.00 and he gave me 10 replacable graphics!!
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...p/DSC00552.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...p/DSC00553.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...p/DSC00557.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...p/DSC00558.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...p/DSC00563.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...p/DSC00562.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...p/DSC00560.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...p/DSC00561.jpg

You are a lightening-fast modder! I can't believe you got that done and installed again already! Looks great! The only think I may have done differently is not include the ///M since our X's are not M's, but that's a real minor point - still looks great and if you like the ///M that's what counts!

Thanks!! Just kept the M because the original had it, all SMG cars are M cars and the M also stands for Manual like on the X5 gear change anyway plus on my SMG steering wheel it also has the M on the lower trim. Just a bit of a styling statment really.

You have a good point there. You could probably start up a little business selling those around the forums... ;) :thumbup:

You're making me think - I wonder if the '07 X5's shift knobs will fit our X's - I think those are illuminated. I'm sure it won't be too long before someone gives it a shot!

Yeah I might advertise the one I modded on ebay to see what type of interest I get! The gear knob itself is $109.00 dollors about £58.00. The other thing is trying to get it from your dealer. I have a very good relationship with mine so I can get any M parts without a chassis number.

Not true...at least for USA models. My '04 won't allow me to shift out of park without pressing the shift knob button, even with the foot on the brake pedal. Nice Mod, by the way!

Did anyone with a U.S. spec X5 ever change out their knob? If so lets see some pics I am interested in doing this mod!!!

I tested the no push thing and mine won't let me move the lever with out pushing the button.

There is an article on the main page about changing the shift knob. It says something about when you remove the stock knob, the finger trigger automatically unlocks itself or something. Not sure. I am really interested in getting the smg knob for my X. So if anyone figures out if it will work on US spec X5's, let me know.

Ok upon reading what you guys have said I decided to check the push button again. So I put it back into my X and I still find it does nothing! So I then decided to check my dads 4.6is and I noticed that the black push button DOES have a use like what you guys were saying. So I then thought something is not right as both our 4.6's are the same year. So I took his gear knob out and then it all became clear. My gear knob at the bottom was missing a very vey small piece which is what stops your gear selector from moving unless you press the button. Because mine was missing it, I never knew it did anything! So that is why I reported that it didnt do anything, because for me it didnt!! So to rephrase what I originally said about the instillation.
YES the black push button does work! But that does not mean you cannot change the gear shift as, I did and there is someone on the front page that did also.

So how do you engage your gear selector with the SMG? or dont you have to

Not sure what you mean??

Not exactly true - I looked at a Z4 one time that had an SMG tranny but was not an M. Anyway, great mod!!

Are you sure its SMG? BMW also made SSG!! SSG is a form of paddle shift that was for non M cars!

Nice, I still cant get use to seeing right hand drive cars, I am sure left hand drive is as odd to you as right hand drive is to me:)

The ad stated it had SMG and the gear shift knob said SMG on it. Some guys on bimmerfest confirmed that there was a year or two where they made SMG Z4's.

Never knew that! Learn something new everyday!