Shift knobs don't seem to fit...

[dadsbmw]

So at some point my dad replaced the shift knob on this 1990 325i with a brown faux wood knob, despite the black and grey interior. I've been wanting to replace it with a stock black knob, but also not wanting to spend a ton of money to do so.

I first purchased a super cheap knob on Amazon ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) figuring anything would be better than this brown knob, but upon attempting to install it, it didn't fit. The shaft of the shifter is too large a diameter for the knob to fit over. Figuring this was due to a cheap low quality knob, I proceeded to buy another ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) that had a number of good ratings, and this one is even further from fitting!

Am I a crazy person? I would assume it's the stock shifter, but it's made of some sort of fiberglass/abs/non-metal material. Anyone have insight into what's happening here? I am thoroughly confused and/or missing something.

[15Michaeljoseph]

Does the shifter appear to be a short throw or something? The stock shaft is made of aluminum, and has a slot in the top. I would assume the knobs you've purchased are just fine... post a pic of the shifter?

[thebutterson]

I had one where the previous owner had cut the shift lever down to make a "short shifter". The shaft diameter gets larger as you go lower, so I had a similar problem. I ended up buying a Z3 1.9 shift lever and no longer had problems installing shift knobs. Any shift lever that wasn't hacked up would have worked though, I just took the opportunity to go from a hacked up lever to one with less throw.