Hi all. Wanted to share my project. I bought blue Alcantara and had my mother stitch it in silver for me. I was able to put the E-Brake boot on no problems. But I am unable to take my shiftknob off. You're supposed to just pull on the **** and it should come off right? Well, me and 2 of my friends tried pulling on that sucker and it won't budge. The previous owner of the car switched out the stock **** for the MC40 ****. Is that **** any different? (I think it's the same, no?) Any ideas/suggestions as to how to take the **** off?? Please help me, after seeing how good the E-Brake boot looks, I can't wait to get the shift boot on. I'll be sure to post pics when I'm done. Thanks In Advance.

 

My advice is be a man and PULL on it dude.

It should pop right off.

 

Yeah, pull the crap out of it. I put it in 2nd gear and pull it quickly. If you have a sunroof, you might want to open it.

 

Keep your chin out of the way!

 

Hopefully they didn't apply some sort of loctite or epoxy or something... You never know.

 

My wife got it off so it can't be that hard

 

If it's an aftermarket ****, you might have setscrews. If not, put it in second gear and straddle the shifter with each foot on the drivers/passengers side. Pull up like a madman into your beer gut and not your mug. I did that with the 3-series and almost lost a tooth. Or you can try and race someone, power shift into 4th and have the **** come off in your hand like I did!

 

Unless there is loctite or epoxy, it should just come off with a good pull.

 

My stock **** is damn near impossible to get off. (I just see this thread degrading into talk about *****)

 

You can try lubricating the ****.......

But all joking aside, it ain't that hard to pull it off. As per someone's suggestion above, it helps to put it in 2nd gear first, then use two hands, open your sunroof (just in case it flies off) and a nice, steady pull towards your stomach and off it comes.

I know someone else who was learning to drive stick in someone else's Mini (driving along on rt 125 in PA on a rally with me and like 8 others or something) and was so damn EXCITED that when he shifted the **** popped off and rolled into the back seat footwell!!! HAHAHAHAHA. He had to shift with the stick until he came to a stop.

I have also popped off the whalen before (which is one of the reasons why I got rid of it).

 

Or rather, it shouldn't be. So, since it is, I'd be careful. Is it possible to contact the previous owner and ask them if it's secured somehow?

 

Could a 10 year old get the **** off? Because that's about how small/strong i am.

I've tried to take mine off for the heck of it, but i couldn't get it and gave up... since i don't need it off.

And speaking of your shift boot...




I went crazy and put anime fabric all over my miata

 

Yeah my **** was hard as **** to get off. But it came off after a few good pulls. Using the car without a boot or **** now. Gotta buy some good adhesive and stick the boot to the ring, then it goes on... Test fitted it, looks amazing IMO... Anyone have an idea of how much the black plastic shiftboot ring costs? I'm talking about the piece of plastic the boot goes attached to. Thanks.

 

Well, I finished the boots. Took me long enough but they're finally done. Here are some pics of a "mock-up" before I made everything final and put the shiftknob back on (correctly at least). The blue isn't a perfect match but it's impossible to get a perfect match when your comparing suede to leather. Well, without further delay. Let me know what you think.

Shift Boot:


E-Brake Boot:


Both Boots:


Interior Shot:

 

If that's true, then you didn't have it locked on properly, in the first place.

 

Hmm that's great, take your customer service somewhere else (like PM or e-mail, don't deal with that on someones thread... I asked for input on my shiftboot, not whether or not he had his shiftknob on correctly). Ever consider changing your slogan... From Mild, To Custom doesn't flow, From Mild, To Wild, actually rhymes and flows .. Just a thought..

Anyways, thumbs up or down on the Alcantara?

 

I think it looks great.


You didn't ask for Whalen to answer, but neither did you ask for the previous guy to dump on Whalen's product. I think it was right of him to respond here.

 

I think Whalen is justified in correcting misinformation about their products when they see it, especially since they support the site financially.

 

second that......most threads go off topic a little, or a lot for that matter.

I don't have a whalen, yet, but he didn't get into the need to seat the **** properly so the collar will engage which shows some restraint, his defense was appropriate.

Perhaps a little patience would be appropriate.

The blue alcanterra (sp?) looks great, compliments the interior colors well, wish I had a personal seamstress.

 

Thanks for the comments. It is ok for Whalen to address problems but I feel that he should PM him or do it on his own terms. I guess I overreacted but I'm tired of seeing threads go off topic because of vendor bashing/defending... And BTW he wasn't bashing Whalen products, no where did he say it was a bad **** or anything, he just said he'd popped it off before, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

BTW, If anyone wants this for their car, I have extra Alcantara and I think I'd be able to make 2 more.... If anyone is interested, PM me..

 

Great job! A couple of questions. What did you use for a pattern? Also, I have been searchiing for Alacantara and there does not seem to be much available retail. Where did you get it?

 

I definately think it looks great... unfortunately it also makes me want the seats in blue alcantra

 

Thanks for the comments. By pattern you mean template I suppose. I used the stock boots as templates, unstitched of course. I too had a hard time finding Alcantara and I actually just got really lucky. My brother's friend used to sell it a while ago and actually had some left over, and it just so happened it was the color I needed, so I bought it from him.

theroyalwe - yeah it makes me want to redo the seats in blue Alcantara. Unfortunately my mom can't upholster my seats so they'll have to stay in Lapis Blue

For those of you who don't know what Alcantara is. Its the suede looking stuff found on the BMW M3s (steering wheel, shift boot, ebrake boot), some Porsches have it on their headliner, Audi uses it in the S4 seats. Its real great quality stuff, best on the market