S4 paddles too small

monkey66

monkey66

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Hi all. Any advice on fitting bigger paddles on the steering wheel. The stock ones are simply too small for '10 to 2' wheel positions (my preferred serious driving grip). It seems an oversight as the wheel has the thumb stops in that position but one can only reach the paddles with a 'quarter to three' grip.

Has anyone upgraded / retrofitted anything different?

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I agree! The larger paddles on my B8.5 S4 were much nicer, Audi seem to have took a step back to the previous design, thought this might be due to restricting the view of the VC, but probably just a cost saving.
No offence, but all the aftermarket solutions I have seen look a tad to fast & furious for my liking. Suspect the B8.5 OEM plastic chrome type may fit.
 
Bump ...any thoughts?

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Keef said:
@monkey66 sorry mate, busy week!
Some of the designs look good, but not keen on a 'stick-on' solution personally
Click to expand...
Yup, can't argue there so what is the solution, the only pair currently listed for the B9 is the carbon/plastic stick-ons.

Do the grub screw items work well and do we just have to wait until B9 versions become available. ..or are they all poor?

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audi upgrades
So no good products anywhere? Are the paddles the same on the RS5?

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You do know what metalized means, plastic coated with a aluminium looking coating...
 
'Ugly' , 'plastic' ....we need a solution. This is a significant requirement for anyone who wants do do spirited driving.

It appears the paddle design is the same for most of the current Audis so hopefully that will be enough market insentive to see some good product. I am supprised there is only one currently on the market (the pkastic/carbon ones).

Perhaps this should be a cross forum thread?

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Really depends on how much you hate them, and how much you want to pay for something different.

These guys here are at the top of the pile in terms of cost, but you get what you pay for.... :racer:
 
RAF_S7 said:
Really depends on how much you hate them, and how much you want to pay for something different.

These guys here are at the top of the pile in terms of cost, but you get what you pay for.... :racer:
Click to expand...

How much?!


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How about some middle ground!

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monkey66 said:
How about some middle ground!
Click to expand...

And thats the problem, Ive been looking for paddle extensions for months, probably in CF, and there doesn't seem to be any middle ground.

You have cheap and cheerful stick-on extensions from China, a few aluminium screw-on's, that would look better in a Honda Civic than an Audi, then you have custom manufactured carbon ones, that include the actual OEM paddles as part of the production process (hence the huge cost - the OEM paddles run over £200 a set from the dealer)
 
There was talk on here somewhere of someone buy a set of r8 paddles to try and fit expensive tho sure they weren't far off the 600 dollar carbon ones
 
Might have been the 8V rs3 section come to think of it
 
It looks like most of the current gen Audis have the same paddles. Hopefully there is a market for some half decent ones. Any idea why Audi would miss such an obvious thing?

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Depends which side of the fence you sit on, I have no problem with mine. Bigger paddles don't make for a better, or faster, driver...
 
cuke2u said:
Depends which side of the fence you sit on, I have no problem with mine. Bigger paddles don't make for a better, or faster, driver...
Click to expand...

That totally depends on your hand position. The little paddles are very had to get at without changing or lightening your grip on the 10-2 configuration. When I was at the track, I gave up and just let the auto do it's thing. I would love to have paddles that reach a little higher.
 
yyuksel said:
That totally depends on your hand position. The little paddles are very had to get at without changing or lightening your grip on the 10-2 configuration. When I was at the track, I gave up and just let the auto do it's thing. I would love to have paddles that reach a little higher.
Click to expand...
This is the issue for me, I prefer 10-2 when pressing on and the paddles simply dont work in that situation.
 
I haven't really looked too closely at the Audi paddles perhaps I should!
These are the billet ones I made when I had my XF.







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Did you design them, what sort of cost?

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I took the original plastic paddle, laser scanned it. Tweaked the scanning to extend the top by about 10mm and the bottom about 5mm.
This was cleaned up to give a decent 3d CAD model and then I produced the cutter paths to machine them on my machining centre.
The first pair took about 15 hours to make with various tweaks to the programme. They were then hand polished to remove the machining marks, wet vapour blasted and finally anodised.
The picture below shows the original plastic version and my version. In fairness my version was similar to the ones you can get from JLR but theirs aren't billet machined. This is what people wanted. Basically they can be what ever shape you want. The only thing I would add is if they are too big, like alot of the carbon ones, you can catch your leg on them and change gear!
The JLR ones are about £300, I was selling mine for £160. They were fitted to the original plastic part that fitted to the steering wheel. I also supplied a slightly stronger spring to give a much better feel.




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Now I would pay £160 for something of that quality.

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Do the paddles come apart?
I have never looked at the B9 versions.
I have a B8.5 RS4 and quite like the ones that are fitted as standard so never really took a lot of notice!

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I am not sure but I am sure someone will know.

For me the standard ones are just too short on the top for 10-2 use.

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To be honest at that price that was ****** cheap. At proper hourly rates they should have been about £250 a pair!
I wanted a pair for myself so I made some, just because I could. There was a bit of interest so I made some more.
The only thing I would say though, if everyone who said they wanted a pair actually bought some I may have actually made some money

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There is the additional complication that the later model DSG paddles are a different shape to earlier models, and as someone said earlier, Audi seems to have used the same model paddles across a wide range of cars. Most aftermarket producers haven't yet caught up with the new shape yet.

These here are one of the few aftermarket ones for the new shape Ive spotted at a reasonable price, however the "quality solid plastic" aka fake CF comment does put me off.

These are the other end of the price spectrum, and tbh I don't really like the look of them. :racer:
 
audi upgrades
All the ones I have seen stick on the existing paddle, even the expensive ones you link to are bonded to a standard paddle.
I would prefer to make the whole thing, I am just unsure how the paddle is fitted to the base part.
I need to have a look at mine to give me a better idea. I don't even know if they come off without removing the airbag?

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Needs the airbag off to remove, since the connecting cables for the paddles are under the airbag.
 
audi upgrades
Keef said:
@no_idea those paddles are a work of art my friend, very nice! Nice RS4 as well!

The OEM paddles I had on my B8.5 S4 were just right for me, I recon these might fit the B9 http://www.cars-equipment.com/www/en/shop/shift-paddles-3/oem-8v0951523xha-audi-rs-flat-bottom/

A billet, anodised version of these would be my perfect choice!
Click to expand...
Thanks on both counts.

I can see why most aftermarket solutions are stuck on, most people will not want to remove the airbag.
I will take a closer look at mine and decide from there.

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no_idea said:
I took the original plastic paddle, laser scanned it. Tweaked the scanning to extend the top by about 10mm and the bottom about 5mm.
This was cleaned up to give a decent 3d CAD model and then I produced the cutter paths to machine them on my machining centre.
The first pair took about 15 hours to make with various tweaks to the programme. They were then hand polished to remove the machining marks, wet vapour blasted and finally anodised.
The picture below shows the original plastic version and my version. In fairness my version was similar to the ones you can get from JLR but theirs aren't billet machined. This is what people wanted. Basically they can be what ever shape you want. The only thing I would add is if they are too big, like alot of the carbon ones, you can catch your leg on them and change gear!
The JLR ones are about £300, I was selling mine for £160. They were fitted to the original plastic part that fitted to the steering wheel. I also supplied a slightly stronger spring to give a much better feel.




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Click to expand...
Wow, top job....
 
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monkey66 said:
Coming out in July.
http://relakmoto.com/Rallytech-Paddles-Aluminum-RtechAluB9.htm

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I like these a lot! Most elegant design I've seen

AD%20-%2001%20640.jpg
 
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