Have a 7AT? The best $2 mod ever!
 

When I got my 7AT in December one of the first things I noticed was the heavy resistance and long travel of the paddle shifters. Now maybe Im spoiled coming from an E60 M5, whos SMG paddles were short travel, and required very little effort, but I feel these paddles could use some improvement.

Well here is the fix ladies and gentlemen...$2 3M rubber bumpers! Stick these little suckers on the back of the paddles (right where the bumpers would make contact with the steering column plastic) and viola! Very little travel and almost no effort to upshift/downshift now. These basically take up the slack on the paddles and in turn reduce the "heavy" feeling and long travel. Give it a try...you'll love it! The tranny even seems more responsive (placebo obviously) because it seems to have a more immediate feeling to the paddle selection. You can even file down the bumpers a bit if you want a bit more travel.

These are what I used, they are .14" thick --> Shop 3M: 3M Self-Stick Rubber Pads, 751ES, Clear

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n...ket_36868_.jpg

Installed...one on each side...

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n...ket_36866_.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n...ket_36867_.jpg

Cool, thanks.

Cool Idea I might have to try this :)



DAN

ordered !

Go to your local office supply store or ace. Lol

About how much travel is left now after mod? Reason I ask is that I hope it is not too close to the actual shift trip point of the paddle that could accidently change the gears.

Nice mod. Repped

Creative.

I don't know I like the feel of the paddles. and resistance? I flip them barely using a finger, its like a gentle stroke :roflpuke2:

Nice job OP.

I know know there is nothing that 3M doesn't have a solution for :icon17:

I was concerned about this as well but the thickness of this particular bumper worked like a charm the first time. Honestly, I think it is as close to the "trip" point as you want to be, any thicker and the paddles probably wouldnt engage. There is no slop any more, very little travel and barely any effort. If feels very similar to the BMW SMG/DCT paddle setup in regards to resistance and travel now. Ive been driving a few days on these bumpers and am stoked the difference a couple bucks made:tup:

And yes you dont need to order these, I got mine at CVS! most any office supply store should have them.

Sweet. I'll have to give this a try!

Thinking outside the box! Good idea! Going to give try it.

Patent?...... How bout ... "The Jmlenz Pad"

haha maybe your on to something Ztoon! I should become a vendor and sell em for 3 bucks:bowrofl:

Incredible.. A $2 short-throw-shifter for the 7AT... Great job man.. :tup:

I'm gonna convert my Z from MT to AT just to do this.......... :ugh2: