I was able to remove mine the first time with my bare hands. Not sure if it is the spinach salads or that I just got lucky and the guy (or robot) at Nissan was trying to save thread lock and when they (it) installed my the gear shift knob. The OEM one still looks like new. My wife hates the aftermarket knob I am using, so I swap it back to OEM when she wants to take the Z for a spin.

You got lucky. Mine was covered in thread locker.

yah, there were some folks that were lucky and got the stock ones off without a scratch (or needing to use tools even). i was jelly.

i kinda liked the stock knob too. :(

Damn now we know that the overly manly man drives a Z. Other people need the jaws of life to remove their OEM knob. I'm curious though, if I install the nismo carbon fiber knob will it be really hot when I leave the car in the heat? I live in Texas and its an oven over here. I don't wanna have to get in my car and cook my hands while I shift.

Is it metal in addition to the cf? I'm in TX as well, and I'll never again have a metal shift knob.

It's a cylinder shape w/ metal on top and cf around the middle. Mostly cf.

I've got the same one, but all leather. It doesn't get hot at all. I'd stay away from one with metal on it.