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In Reply to: It's happened to me 5-6 times -sucks! (nt) posted by ROBERT MAININI on August 21, 2000 at 11:00:38:
Mark Sipe told me that if any of these fingers are broken (as one is on mine) that the knob will keep coming off. If broken, hopefully you're still under warranty!
A BMW mechanic was at the autocross, and he said that this was a common problem. Nevertheless, I still like the shift knob.
In the middle of an autocross! The first time it happened, it really threw me. I had a couple of more shifts to make, and only a short metal rod to do them with.
The second time was even worse. The knob came off on my first shift to second, at the beginning of a slalom. I thought I had made it, but the engine just revved. Had to drop the knob, find the rod, and shift into second. By the time I shifted, I had just drifted through the slalom! Still, my best time of the day, and I won my class (with two tough competitors).
One of the plastic fingers inside the knob is broken. I will have this fixed when I take my car in for inspection II in a few weeks. I will try silicon to hold the knob on until then, as I have at least two more autocrosses.
No, I don't want a new knob. I like the lighted pattern on my M Roadster. One of my competitors was in a corvette Z-06. A MONSTER of a car. He was bone stock on street tires, and I still only beat him by a second. Glad he'll be in a different class next year! And I had the great pleasure of being a passenger in Mark Sipe's car again. He is very, very smooth. He also kept power on a lot more than me. His car (AS Z3 Coupe) rides much more harshly, with the same tires and similar pressure. It must be the custom valving in his Koni's, which he is trying max settings all around on. Interestingly, his afternoon runs were all 2-3 seconds faster than his morning runs. He said that he adjusted his air pressure by 2 psi, and that this made the difference. I'm not sure that I could feel that - but clearly there was a difference.
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