<$10 Steering wheel gear selectors (aka poor mans paddles)

[stockyhome]

Just decided to modify my legnum, this was my first mod...

I bought two momentary tactile switches for $6 and the plug terminals for $2 I already had a hot glue gun, cable connectors and solder.

Before I found my switches I used a pin to check the depth of the foam padding on the back of the steering wheel.
The wiring goes into a factory plug for the horn and airbag that can rotate 360+ degrees, there were three vacant holes in the plug

Popped a hole in the foam with a hot drill and cut out the switches with a hot knife. There a lot of cable i left in the steering wheel photos but i trimmed it back after.

Works great!
There is about 1mm of travel for the switches and they are very responsive with the sensitivity of a mouse button, I have been changing the sensitivity by adding different adhesive foams but standard is still great!

I believe if the car automatically went into tiptronic when you select a gear on the wheel, without moving the gear selector across, then there would be some safety issues so I have not altered it.

These work great and follow your hands around the wheel...
It is difficult to select gears when doing low speed traffic maneuvers so I just use the stick selector if I am unsure but I am getting better thwe more I use them...

Another thought is to extend the switch trigger above the steering wheel spokes so they are visible or accessible by the thumbs. There are so many switches around and DIY'ers I kinda think someone will have some fun improving this idea further.

Takes about 2hrs if you go shopping first.

 

[tails]

That's pretty cool. Nice and stealth too, I like it.

 

[Abusive]

Well done, nice work.

 

[stockyhome]

Thanks guys. IMO seeing those paddles sitting behind the momo wheel have it beat tho

 

[Brenton]

View attachment 15076

View attachment 15074

View attachment 15075

Just decided to modify my legnum, this was my first mod...

I bought two momentary tactile switches for $6 and the plug terminals for $2 I already had a hot glue gun, cable connectors and solder.

Before I found my switches I used a pin to check the depth of the foam padding on the back of the steering wheel.
The wiring goes into a factory plug for the horn and airbag that can rotate 360+ degrees, there were three vacant holes in the plug

Popped a hole in the foam with a hot drill and cut out the switches with a hot knife. There a lot of cable i left in the steering wheel photos but i trimmed it back after.

Works great!
There is about 1mm of travel for the switches and they are very responsive with the sensitivity of a mouse button, I have been changing the sensitivity by adding different adhesive foams but standard is still great!

I believe if the car automatically went into tiptronic when you select a gear on the wheel, without moving the gear selector across, then there would be some safety issues so I have not altered it.

These work great and follow your hands around the wheel...
It is difficult to select gears when doing low speed traffic maneuvers so I just use the stick selector if I am unsure but I am getting better thwe more I use them...

Another thought is to extend the switch trigger above the steering wheel spokes so they are visible or accessible by the thumbs. There are so many switches around and DIY'ers I kinda think someone will have some fun improving this idea further.

Takes about 2hrs if you go shopping first.

Do you recall the size of the switches? Like this idea and shopping for some.

 

[NuffNuff]

This is an old post

Paddles or switches that turn with the wheel are annoying

Although faster than a lot of Autos.. By the time the auto changes gears you have ample time to place your hand back on the wheel again anyway using the tiptronic stick

 

[Brenton]

Did this mod using motor scooter horn rocker switches, works well. Btw, porsche and bmw use wheel mounted switches.