Ever since I had 2012 R56 MCS, I never liked how the paddle shifters work. Pull to upshift, push to downshift on both side.
I wanted it to be, left pull to downshift, right pull to upshift.
I googled around for a solution, but couldn't find. There were few posts that talks about re-wiring paddles like how I want it to be, but again, no solution.
Then I realized BMW e92 has pretty much the same paddle setup, so I googled that and found it's pretty easy. 3 wires are coming from each side of paddles. Easy peasy.

So, went out to the car, disconnect the battery, and removed the airbag.
To my surprise, there are freaking 5 wires coming out from each paddles. WHY? WHY??? WHY do they have to make everything so difficult. What the hell is wrong with them?
Anyhow... grabbed my multimeter and started poking around, and eventually I was able to re-wire.

This is how the paddle works now.
LEFT PULL -> Downshift
LEFT PUSH -> Upshift
RIGHT PULL -> Upshift
RIGHT PUSH -> Downshift
Not 100%, but I can live with it until I find a way to disable PUSH on both side. Not sure if it's doable tho.

Here is the re-wiring.
1. Black connector. From top to bottom as how it's shown in the photo below.
BEFORE
Green - Green
Red - Red
Brown - Brown

NEW
Green - Green
Brown - Red
Red - Brown


2. White connector
Switch the bottom Red and Brown wire.


Enjoy!

 

how did it go? Disabled the push yet?

 

Haven't tried anything further yet. I'm actually leaning towards leaving it as is.

 

I did this on my E90 and loved it. I actually liked having the push option because it allows you to shift one-handed. If I am holding a coffee in my left hand or something I can still downshift by pushing the right paddle and not have to reach across the wheel.

Can't wait to do it to the mini!

Was the airbag easy to get off? I have not looked yet but it seems there is a hole at the bottom of the wheel, does that access the release 'button'?

 

Yeah. More I use it, I like having an option to shift with one hand when the other hand is occupied doing something else.
But when driving aggressively, love the feeling/sensation of pull to shift up and down.
The hole is used to release the airbag. It's the same mechanism with BMW. If you've ever done it in BMW, you'll have no problem with Mini.

 

Its the same for the Porsche 991. The early models had the same paddles. Pull downshifts both and push upshifts both.I was going to swap it out for the newer standard. but like what carbonduc27 was sayin, its nice to be able to do both with one hand.

My mini on the other hand, doesnt have paddles. So I was looking to retrofit this

 

Man I tried this and think I may have f**ked it.
was trying to set the wires free from the connector and accidentally cut them... now they're too short to go back in hahahaha (not funny tho)
1) how did you unhook them from the plastic connector
2) how did you reconnect them?
3) do you think any standard flat wire will be goor enough to fix my lenght issue? (No pun intended)
**help**

 

Consider scouting junk yards for the connector. If found, cut the connector wires at a sufficient length from the connector to allow for the needed wire splice repairs.