F8X M DCT Paddles (Retrofitted)

[acoustix]

links to oem paddles here for anyone who wants them.. $105usd! only downside is they are shipped from hk

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-F30-F06-...FYvCDT&vxp=mtr

[chosen1]

Originally Posted by acoustix

links to oem paddles here for anyone who wants them.. $105usd! only downside is they are shipped from hk

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-F30-F06-...FYvCDT&vxp=mtr

Thats a steal, new to forums here and i was looking for something like this. i hate the dct paddles on our cars

[WhatsADSM]

Originally Posted by acoustix

links to oem paddles here for anyone who wants them.. $105usd! only downside is they are shipped from hk

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-F30-F06-...FYvCDT&vxp=mtr

Wow that's cheap. I may buy that just cause.

[acoustix]

Originally Posted by WhatsADSM

Wow that's cheap. I may buy that just cause.

I purchased the last set as a last minute decision.. i take it you got the other one

[WhatsADSM]

Originally Posted by acoustix

I purchased the last set as a last minute decision.. i take it you got the other one

Yes sir

Too cheap to pass up. If I decide against it I'll just pass the deal on to the next guy.

[KaiEstrada]

Following. This is freaking awesome news! Just got my bespoke carbon fiber wheel in the mail yesterday. Hoping this helps push our options further

[acoustix]

Just did mine today!! Couldn't of been more simple!!

[WhatsADSM]

In case anyone is interested, I finally completed my brackets.

These mount the readily available (and inexpensive) E9x style M3 paddles (including the aftermarket ones) to the LCI paddle shifters. No need to purchase E9x paddles and electronics or do any electronic changes at all. Plug and play.

Excuse the picture quality it was 2AM in the morning:





upload the pictures

[houtan]

Originally Posted by WhatsADSM

In case anyone is interested, I finally completed my brackets.

These mount the readily available (and inexpensive) E9x style M3 paddles (including the aftermarket ones) to the LCI paddle shifters. No need to purchase E9x paddles and electronics or do any electronic changes at all. Plug and play.

Excuse the picture quality it was 2AM in the morning:





upload the pictures

What did you do to make them work?

[WhatsADSM]

Originally Posted by houtan

What did you do to make them work?

Created a custom bracket. Provides the mounts for the lci style paddles to the older M3 style. Those black things you see in the last two pictures are my custom mounts

Basically spent a bunch of time CADing up some mounts to get them just right. Actually takes a fairly precise part.

If people are interested I could purchase a bunch of E9x M3 paddles in bulk and sell them as cheap kits.

[Muppet]

Yes please.

[houtan]

Originally Posted by WhatsADSM

Created a custom bracket. Provides the mounts for the lci style paddles to the older M3 style. Those black things you see in the last two pictures are my custom mounts

Basically spent a bunch of time CADing up some mounts to get them just right. Actually takes a fairly precise part.

If people are interested I could purchase a bunch of E9x M3 paddles in bulk and sell them as cheap kits.

Would you sell just the brackets for people who want aftermarket paddles?

[BimmerAg]

Originally Posted by WhatsADSM

Created a custom bracket. Provides the mounts for the lci style paddles to the older M3 style. Those black things you see in the last two pictures are my custom mounts

Basically spent a bunch of time CADing up some mounts to get them just right. Actually takes a fairly precise part.

If people are interested I could purchase a bunch of E9x M3 paddles in bulk and sell them as cheap kits.

Sounds awesome! What are the brackets made of? 3D printed, machined aluminum? Depending on price I'd be interested in a set

[Orangee94]

Originally Posted by WhatsADSM

In case anyone is interested, I finally completed my brackets.

These mount the readily available (and inexpensive) E9x style M3 paddles (including the aftermarket ones) to the LCI paddle shifters. No need to purchase E9x paddles and electronics or do any electronic changes at all. Plug and play.

you have me interested

[GoodMoodley]

Interested as well.

[WhatsADSM]

Originally Posted by BimmerAg

Sounds awesome! What are the brackets made of? 3D printed, machined aluminum? Depending on price I'd be interested in a set

The brackets are plastic (just like the stock ones are) and are 3d printed. Final material will likely be polycarbonate or possibly a CF reinforced polymer. It would cost dramatically more to have them CNC'd from an aluminum due to all of the features.

The paddles themselves are the pretty popular aftermarket cnc billet aluminum paddle extensions from the E9x M3. These are the ones:

http://m.ebay.com/itm/1Pair-Steering...-/322141976109

[WhatsADSM]

Originally Posted by Muppet

Yes please.

Originally Posted by houtan

Would you sell just the brackets for people who want aftermarket paddles?

Originally Posted by BimmerAg

Sounds awesome! What are the brackets made of? 3D printed, machined aluminum? Depending on price I'd be interested in a set

Originally Posted by Orangee94

you have me interested

Originally Posted by GoodMoodley

Interested as well.

If everyone is serious I can contact the guy I bought my paddles from (found the direct source in China).. I hinted that I may be interested in a slightly​ larger order. He manufacturers them in three colors. Silver, titanium, and black. I got the silver which is almost a chromeish color. I may try a darker titanium next. In any case I'm pretty sure I could source the aluminum paddles for somewhere around $35-$40 shipped to me given a small order.

So figure $60 shipped for just the brackets (have to make up for some of my time and use of printer/materials) or $100 shipped for the paddles, brackets and bolts all assembled ready to bolt on.

[houtan]

Fair prices for both. Any durability concerns? Or is the design final?

[WhatsADSM]

Originally Posted by houtan

Fair prices for both. Any durability concerns? Or is the design final?

For all intents and purposes I would say the design is final. I think this is the 10th revision or so. I played with various parameters to get them to fit *just* so. If you take a look at your steering wheel you will find that there actually isn't a ton of room between the wheel and the stalks (namely the lane change stalk and the the wiper stalk). You need to balance the ability to easily get to the paddle without being so close that the back of your fingers are always on it, and being so far away that you can't easily get to the stalks.

As for durability they are FAR stronger than the stock piece. They are a few times thicker than the stock part (my bracket on the left, stock on the right):

For fun I actually put one end of the bracket on the ground and the other on a 1" piece of wood and stood on it. Didn't budge. So I am confident in saying if you do something crazy with the paddles you won't break my part but likely one of the other stock plastic brackets which hold it to the wheel. BTW it appears the weakest link in the whole assembly would actually be to PUSH against the paddle (opposite of what you should be doing) as hard as you can. That will stress the two little tabs on the one of the stock plastic parts that are fairly small. So I don't ever recommend trying that, aftermarket paddles or stock.

The only thing left really is to dial in the final material which will almost certainly be polycarbonate.

If someone wants to test drive them and give me their opinion I'm certainly cool with that. Always nice to have a second opinion, and my car is down at the moment for a bunch of other track prep work anyways.

[Muppet]

Cost seems reasonable.

[zx10guy]

I'm in.

Oh and I think this kit should be split into its own thread so it gets better visibility and attention.

[Yeineken]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

I'm in.

Oh and I think this kit should be split into its own thread so it gets better visibility and attention.

Agreed here. This is really cool and I'd hate for it to not get noticed being in this retrofit thread.