E39 Paddle Shifter Conversion

[MtekJosh]

Lol thanks for reminding me to do this on mine.

It's been quite a while since I put my SMG M3 wheel on, but without hooking up the paddles.


Apparently, it's just a matter of wiring the paddles through a heated steering wheel clockspring and splicing into the tiptronic controls on the shiftier.


I'm a weirdo, so my plan is to make a mini-harness out of oem components to enable this feature while being completely removable.


One day.....

I made a plug and play harness to do this in my e38, did not have to cut into a wire at all on the car, worked great!

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[jicaino]

I made a plug and play harness to do this in my e38, did not have to cut into a wire at all on the car, worked great!

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share it with us plz

[jp5Touring]

This is what you need .Everything is OEM. Links I posted on first page have all the info for the swap, its very easy.
Hardest part is finding the correct clock spring. ECS Tuning is where I purchased the connectors and wire from.

[sealbeach740]

And, if anyone is interested, if you swap the middle 2 wires of the 4 wire connector, you change the "+" / "-" shift pattern. My 2000 740 came with pushing the shift lever forward for an upshift, which always felt awkward to me. I prefer pulling back for an upshift (as you're being pushed into the seat), and pushing forwards for a downshift (as you're leaning forwards while braking). A simple 2 wire place swap changes that.

[balidawg]

And, if anyone is interested, if you swap the middle 2 wires of the 4 wire connector, you change the "+" / "-" shift pattern. My 2000 740 came with pushing the shift lever forward for an upshift, which always felt awkward to me. I prefer pulling back for an upshift (as you're being pushed into the seat), and pushing forwards for a downshift (as you're leaning forwards while braking). A simple 2 wire place swap changes that.

Interesting...I seem to prefer the opposite (pushing forward for upshift and pulling back for downshift) because it’s more intuitive, rather than how I’m being pushed into the seat.

I still find it weird that all newer automatic transmission BMWs have you pull back for forward gears and push forward for reverse! Probably some “good” reason for this...

[computiNATEor]

Interesting...I seem to prefer the opposite (pushing forward for upshift and pulling back for downshift) because it’s more intuitive, rather than how I’m being pushed into the seat.

I still find it weird that all newer automatic transmission BMWs have you pull back for forward gears and push forward for reverse! Probably some “good” reason for this...

Look at any rally car, sequentially shifted race car, or the simple action of changing from 1 to 2 for 99%+ of manual transmissions. Forward shifts down, rearward shifts up. That's the only right way.

The BMW auto shifter is forward for reverse because shifting a manual transmission BMW is usually forward and left for reverse.

[Dking078]

Just to put it out there, I've made a few of these from recycled / Spliced OEM wiring.

Not too hard to do honestly. 1.5/10 difficultly. But I sell them under the table for a bit of parts cost and my time. But most certainly not $300 XD

[jicaino]

This is what you need .Everything is OEM. Links I posted on first page have all the info for the swap, its very easy.
Hardest part is finding the correct clock spring. ECS Tuning is where I purchased the connectors and wire from.

Thanks!

And, if anyone is interested, if you swap the middle 2 wires of the 4 wire connector, you change the "+" / "-" shift pattern. My 2000 740 came with pushing the shift lever forward for an upshift, which always felt awkward to me. I prefer pulling back for an upshift (as you're being pushed into the seat), and pushing forwards for a downshift (as you're leaning forwards while braking). A simple 2 wire place swap changes that.

Done that. I prefer it that way too, seems logical while pushing the shifter towards the dash to downshift makes me wonder what the heck were those german engineers on.

[MtekJosh]

share it with us plz

Looks much like the one jp5touring posted. All the connectors are available to buy separately but I just dug through the 55 gallon Rubbermaid I have that's full of connectors from dozens of parts cars. Including the wheel, new clock spring, new amg paddles etc I am $100 into it. Found the clock spring and paddles for cheap on Craigslist.

This mod is worth the small amount of time and money IMO. Makes the driving experience a bit more involved, I find myself using steptronic 90% of the time now. Will definitely hold me over til I put my 6spd in.



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[MtekJosh]

I didn't bother reversing the shifting pattern though, only because my Acura mdx is also forward for up, and back for down and I would never remember which was which if they were different. Lol totally agree the opposite feels more natural though.

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