First OEM upgrade didn’t go quite to plan!

[paultaylor]

Even though I prefer the face lift s tronic gear knob I still think the golf ball s tronic gear knob is the best I went thru the worry of the heat and twist when fitting one to my wife’s A3 8p years ago.

So I bought an OEM s tronic gear knob with no gaiter thinking that the knob would use the existing gaiter but the square front side of the current knob prevents separating the knob from gaiter so I thought I was stuck until I remembered that I still had the old A3 gaiter

Obviously the clip in surround is different but I thought it would only be a matter of undoing the staples and swapping them over.

Big mistake. The leather doesn’t stretch!

So now I’m kinda stuck as I fear a gaiter for a C7 that fits the round gear knob might be hard to find unless the pre facelift one works.

See pics below


Any advice will be greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance.

 

[The Black Panther]

Silicone sealer round the missing bits use black colour. Smooth over.

 

[RAF_S7]

You could try a car leather trimmer, have him make one for you.

I’m pretty sure that the gaiter is not available separately from the dealer, but you could try a friendly parts department, including using the forum Parts Request at the top of the page.

The exploded parts diagram is here. Item 4 is the gaiter, but not listed separately.

 

[RAF_S7]

Or eBay....

Just search for “Audi A6 C7 Gaiter”

Plenty there....

 

[RAF_S7]

Or eBay....

Just search for “Audi A6 C7 Gaiter”

Plenty there....

 

[RAF_S7]

Or eBay....

Just search for “Audi A6 C7 Gaiter”

Plenty there....

 

[RAF_S7]

And I have no idea why that posted 3 times

 

[paultaylor]

Or eBay....

Just search for “Audi A6 C7 Gaiter”

Plenty there....

Thanks for all the replies.

I saw the gaiter on EBay but I’m always trying to keep things OEM

But have a plain black gaiter with black stitching will look ok as long as the leather is good quality

 

[paultaylor]

Just found that and it’s the existing gear knob and gaiter.

I think even if I could separate the gaiter the twist lock mechanism might not work and it’ll look strange with the front side being square.

 

[paultaylor]

I managed to get the existing gaiter separated from gear knob.

Aside from the fact that the locking mechanism inside world work the odd shape where it meets the knob looks terrible.

Not to put off I managed to hack it together using a locking ring from old A3 8P auto and despite getting slowed down by having to reset the s tonic button with a coat hanger I got it to work!

My only issue is there is too much leather bulked up where it meets the gear knob so I’ll have to trim it and stitch it at some point but overall I’m delighted to have got it.


In hindsight I should have just bought the gear knob and gaiter but I could only find one for an Rs6 and there is no way I was going down that road!

 

[Devilz]

This mod is on top of my to-do list but I am not confident enough to do it myself

 

[paultaylor]

This mod is on top of my to-do list but I am not confident enough to do it myself

If you can find the knob with a C7 gaiter the installation will take ten minutes.

If your C7 is pre facelift you’ll have to heat and twist the plastic rod and gently rotate it so it points forward.

Thinking about it I’d say your best bet is to combine the gaiter from your existing and one the OEM s tronic gear knobs I bought.

 

[Devilz]

If you can find the knob with a C7 gaiter the installation will take ten minutes.

If your C7 is pre facelift you’ll have to heat and twist the plastic rod and gently rotate it so it points forward.

Thinking about it I’d say your best bet is to combine the gaiter from your existing and one the OEM s tronic gear knobs I bought.

Yeah mine is pre FL. You got part number for S Tronic stick?

 

[paultaylor]

I managed to hack together a pre facelift gaiter with the new gearknob.

I looks ok but only remaining issue is that the gear knob shaft is too short so it doesn’t reach the twist and lock mechanism so despite it feeling very secure it’s not held in place

It would appear that the only OEM gear knob and gaiter that you could just install in 5 minutes is the RS6 one.