Topgaiters cheap leather shift boot from ebay

[iwantspeed]

I bought a bav auto shift boot a year ago and it was tearing from having a my z3 1.9 shift lever hit the center console when going into reverse. and the ziptie holding from falling down was poking through the pleather they used.
it was in sorry shape.
in my previous e30 I used a stock e30 m3 leather ebrake boot and a e30 plastic e brake handle.

i wanted to use a e34 leather ebrake handle and a leather ebrake boot. the e30 m3 one is too short to use with the e34 handle and it leaves the metal part of the e brake exposed when its in the down position.

Top gaitors an ebay.uk seller offers shift boots and ebrake boots.
High quality black Italian Leather
I emailed him and explained what i wanted.
a shift boot that didn't have a bunch of extra material up top and that it was a certain diameter for the shift lever so i wouldn't have to use a ziptie to keep it in place.

and for the ebrake-- enough material so that the metal ebrake mechanism would get exposed in the up or down position and that the stitching would match that of the e34 handle. stitch down both sides of the handle.
e30m3 leather e brake boots have stitching only down the center.

I read some reviews here
http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=199113

and was surprised to find a review in a bmw magazine i read.




old shift boot notice the chaffing



ziptie also digging into the pleather and now the ziptie is poking through
I really didnt like having to resort to using a ziptie to keep in place.


both boots removed, you need to reuse the bases.


new shift boot

new ebrake boot mocked up on the ebrake frame


I removed the old shift boot from the frame



very happy with the fit and finish this far.


used contact cement and attached the ebrake boot to the frame


shift boot result


ebrake boot result

[stamar]

I went ahead and ordered the shift boot with m3 stitching, and this shift knob
http://www.ebay.com/itm/280450339111...#ht_899wt_1185

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...ht_1174wt_1139


that way im already covered if I switch in an s52 or an s14 into my e30. just kidding. I have no idea why i chose that stitching

Also, this is with free shipping. It seems like the shift knob is cheaper than the e brake boot thing.
And not offense, that ebrake boot doesnt look that good to me. Its all baggy.... That is not what an oem leather ebrake thing looks like... It looks exactly like the e34 brake end thing tight as can be....

so for 23$ out the door I got the boot and the shift knob. I didnt get the shift knob with the m3 stitching because it was like twice as expensive and I hate spending more.

[FLG]

Only pics I have will try to get some better ones


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[stamar]

Sooo....

i ordered on 3-18

shipped on 3-19. no tracking number. just keeping you in the loop. It says 1-5 days lol for some reason I dont think it could get here in 1 day.

but if it could have, it failed its been 1 day.

[TimKninja]

Originally Posted by stamar

Sooo....

i ordered on 3-18

shipped on 3-19. no tracking number. just keeping you in the loop. It says 1-5 days lol for some reason I dont think it could get here in 1 day.

but if it could have, it failed its been 1 day.

If you read that auction for your Shift knob, you do realize its ONLY a cover for the knob, right?

And everyone on Ebay does that. says they ship it next day.

I got one of these boots. VERY nice quality! Never mounted it on my old car, but i had planned too. New car had a good boot so I never bothered.

[stamar]

ya just the cover for the shift knob. it was 7.12 shipped.

We will see if its cool or not.

I have not seen a picture of it here I may? be the first person who ordered it.

[stamar]

Excellent quality shift boot. Exceeded all expectations even with all of these pictures here. full hide single peice full grain black leather shift boot.

fits perfectly.

The one I got is exactly like everyone elses, except that it has 3 stitches through it for the m colors.

for 1$ extra.... it is not worth it. I recomend getting the straight black and not paying 1$ for any of the stitching options its just decorations. The actual stitching on mine is black. The decorative stitching is 3 colors on top of that. looks and fits perfect. pefect color match, and the grain even perfectly matches the bmw plastic. unlike the leather boot iwantspeed replaced which is a different color and grain, this looks like it is what oem should have been....

get the m boot with the little flaps ( or german flag) if youre feeling the M vibe.... because the m vibe with 3 lines of stitching is not authentic. i think one of the colors is wrong too it looks aqua.

The shift knob cover is a funnel peice that fits the standard shift knob up until the top I got it on but without some sort of glue it looks like a funnel. Ill be back with a picture when i figure out what glues leather to plastic.

not bummed or happy about it yet but extremely happy with the boot.

edit unable to remove the plastic plug on top of the shift knob( the diagram with the gears) it seems permanent. if i took it out, it would be ruined and id need a source for another one. overall I threw it in my glove compartment for some day when i feel like a hassle. the project will be to put elastic in the shift knob, somewhat like the shift boot.

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by stamar

Ill be back with a picture when i figure out what glues leather to plastic.

not bummed or happy about it yet but extremely happy with the boot.

edit unable to remove the plastic plug on top of the shift knob( the diagram with the gears) it seems permanent. if i took it out, it would be ruined and id need a source for another one. overall I threw it in my glove compartment for some day when i feel like a hassle. the project will be to put elastic in the shift knob, somewhat like the shift boot.

If you haven't figured it out yet, you just need to stick a small flat screwdriver underneath the emblem where one of the leather seems is to get the emblem off. It's double sided tape holding it on so don't try and pry from the very edge or it WILL chip the emblem. Shove the blade further and further in and then you can lift the handle up and it should start to come up. Then there is a screw holding the plastic plug down. It's what holds the top of the leather tight.

Don't try elastic or anything, it is easy doing it the proper way. Just get some of the Barge cement or "Tanners Bond" from Tandy Leather Factory on amazon. That's the sort of stuff they use when sticking the leather on from the factory. (It has a little less bonding ability than the "pro" class stuff, but it also has less fumes that will mess you up or give you cancer.) The stuff dries pretty quickly but is very rubbery and strong, so it will hold the leather tight for years compared to the "wrong" stuff.

[stamar]

hey man thanks. comes out so easily I wonder why I wrote that.

It looks like some big plug thing but its like 5mm thick

back to that.

doesnt even need to be glued but it should. If you can pound it back in with the leather it holds. I bet it pops out too though.

its a peice of plastic in a rubber hole.

Back when I find the glue with pictures.

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by stamar

It looks like some big plug thing but its like 5mm thick

back to that.

doesnt even need to be glued but it should. If you can pound it back in with the leather it holds. I bet it pops out too though.

its a peice of plastic in a rubber hole.

If you have the standard leather knob, it should look like this once you scrape away the doublesided tape that is left over from peeling off the emblem. Just unscrew that screw, put a thin coat of contact cement on the rubber part, slide the leather up from the bottom, fold it over the top, stretch out the wrinkles and hold it the glue starts working a bit, and then just screw the top plastic piece back in to lock it in place.

There are 3 pieces to that lever: The rubber outer piece, the plastic inner stem, and the top piece with the screw that screws into the plastic stem to hold the leather down and to also hold the rubber piece up on the stem. (When they're old knobs, the rubber part can easily slide off the plastic part once the leather is removed. That's why I also use some cement on the plastic core before putting it back into the rubber core as well)

Sometimes it's tricky to get the seams into the channels and looking nice if the leather sleeve wasn't sewn just right, so good luck!

[stamar]

So youre saying you dont like my aluminum knob then?

Ok time to switch it back

[bwawuz02]

Just order a set of boots from this guy, will post pics and opinion in a few days once they're installed.

[stamar]

good move.

I just noticed the prices went up.

[iwantspeed]

New picture to add
2 year old top gaitor shift boot

[Blackout]

This is a nice pic Alex. Makes me want to swap an early center console in. Clean!!