# Custom Wood Shift Knob with OE Fit and Finish



## dirtydiesel83 (Mar 8, 2010)

So, 

I've always wanted a vintage-looking solid wood shift knob, but VW/Audi has that pesky proprietary coupling mechanism for their shift knobs, so this makes it very difficult to customize, yet maintain the OE fit and finish. Anyway, thanks to the cheap OE Golf Ball shift knob assembly and my friend's lathe, I was able to do a custom fabrication and create, what I consider to be a personal favorite for shift knob look and feel. 

Jezza once said that there's nothing like the feel of a simple beech wood gear lever, and I couldn't agree with him more. He was saying this in his review of the Carrera GT, which was a source of inspiration. I know it looks similar to the Carerra GT knob, and I like that fact, because I'm in love with that shift knob, my mine isn't simply a knock off, which I also like. 

As such, I thought I'd share this in case there are other enthusiasts looking to do something similar. 

I purchased the OE Golf Ball shift knob for $20 from ECS, and also purchased the solid wood knob for around $75. I Disassembled the OE Golf Ball knob, put it on a lathe and machined it down enough as to keep the plastic OE clamp insert intact. Using a micrometer for measurement, I then cored out the hole in wood knob until the diameters matched. I then gently nudged the wood knob onto what was left of the OE knob. And that's about it. 

So now I have a custom knob that fits like an OE knob, is fully removable like the OE knob, but has a vintage look and the feel that only finely sanded wood can provide. The knob has no lacquer or varnish, and is just finely sanded. , which makes it feel so much better in the palm, and will make for some great patina! 

It's currently in a MK VI Golf 2.0 TDI 

The result: 










The new knob 










The donor:


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## durtydubmk3 (Jul 30, 2007)

it looks really good 
where did you purchase the wood knob?


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## schwarzhaserotmarke (Aug 14, 2008)

damn dude, looks really clean. almost looks better than the original:thumbup:


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## dirtydiesel83 (Mar 8, 2010)

durtydubmk3 said:


> it looks really good
> where did you purchase the wood knob?


 I purchased the knob from here: 

http://tremotorsports.com/product.cfm?Node=10299&Photo=1


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