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Shift boot replacement

M

MadSc13ntist

Ready to race!
So I ordered a universal suede shift boot for my MK6 and the material seems too thick to make it work since the space between the bezel and plastic holdy ring thing is so tight. Aside from gluing it on the inside of it Im not sure how to make it fit. And trying to make it fit i broke the black plastic holdy ring thing, yay. I have tried looking online for a new one but dont see that part which i think i may just be able to glue back together. Anyone have recommendations of where to get good shift boots that fit? Trying to go with black and red color scheme with more black than red. I have a red shift knob and think a red boot would be too much. I have the plaid seats but a plaid boot also seems like too much plaid. Im almost tempted to just order some fabric and see if i can cut and fit my own but that sounds like a lot of trial and error and that much spare time really isnt on my list of options.
 
Thumper

Thumper

Autocross Champion
M

MadSc13ntist

Ready to race!
Well fudge. Thats what i found also. Im sure they do that just to sell you more $ worth of product. Not worth their time to sell you something for a few dollars. I think Im going to try to glue it back together and see how well it holds. If it seems sturdy enough i may try and glue the boot to the inside of it. If that doesnt work then Ill be heading to a U-Pull it type place to get a new one and start over. The OEM one is just too much. Id rather have to buy fabric and learn how to stitch and sew and make my own. For $300 I could get an intake or maybe used exhaust, not a shift boot. lol
 
Timothy Bryce

Timothy Bryce

Ready to race!
MadSc13ntist said:
Well fudge. Thats what i found also. Im sure they do that just to sell you more $ worth of product. Not worth their time to sell you something for a few dollars. I think Im going to try to glue it back together and see how well it holds. If it seems sturdy enough i may try and glue the boot to the inside of it. If that doesnt work then Ill be heading to a U-Pull it type place to get a new one and start over. The OEM one is just too much. Id rather have to buy fabric and learn how to stitch and sew and make my own. For $300 I could get an intake or maybe used exhaust, not a shift boot. lol
Click to expand...

Hey, I just did this:-
https://golfmk6.com/forums/index.php?threads/what-did-you-do-to-your-mk6-today.236354/post-7490672

You're right, the original material is extremely thin where it connects to the snap-ring. I had to trim a lot of material away to get this one to clip back in and even then it was still outrageously tight. There seems to be quite a few places selling leather or suede replacements and I've no idea how they expect them to fit!
I think I found one company selling shift boots with the retainer rings already attached which I assume have been designed in such a way that they actually work but not sure who that was...
BFI sell the shift boots already attached to the silver frame but they're crazy money.
Have you seen the cheap copies on amazon? You can get a whole shift knob, boot and plastic frame for very little; as long as the fit is OK you could just get one of those and throw away what you don't need.
 
M

MadSc13ntist

Ready to race!
Timothy Bryce said:
Hey, I just did this:-
https://golfmk6.com/forums/index.php?threads/what-did-you-do-to-your-mk6-today.236354/post-7490672

You're right, the original material is extremely thin where it connects to the snap-ring. I had to trim a lot of material away to get this one to clip back in and even then it was still outrageously tight. There seems to be quite a few places selling leather or suede replacements and I've no idea how they expect them to fit!
I think I found one company selling shift boots with the retainer rings already attached which I assume have been designed in such a way that they actually work but not sure who that was...
BFI sell the shift boots already attached to the silver frame but they're crazy money.
Have you seen the cheap copies on amazon? You can get a whole shift knob, boot and plastic frame for very little; as long as the fit is OK you could just get one of those and throw away what you don't need.
Click to expand...
I thought about check Ebay but I never really know how the fit is. They will always say its a fit but who really knows till after you invest time and money to find out. I was tempted to glue back the snap-ring and then glue the suede to the edge of it and trim off everything else and see if it fits. If not Ebay and I may become friends.
 
GolNat

GolNat

Autocross Champion
Yeah I had to remove the seam at the bottom of my boot to get it too fit. It was really tight. It was worth the hassle tho.

 
Thumper

Thumper

Autocross Champion
Timothy Bryce said:
Hey, I just did this:-
https://golfmk6.com/forums/index.php?threads/what-did-you-do-to-your-mk6-today.236354/post-7490672

You're right, the original material is extremely thin where it connects to the snap-ring. I had to trim a lot of material away to get this one to clip back in and even then it was still outrageously tight.
Click to expand...

How did you trim the material? Do you mean you cut off length or removed material from one side, like making a line/groove in the material? If so how did you do that, mark it with chalk and then Dremel?

The one I have I got from BFI through ECS, the picture showed an assembled trim ring.......but of course the last fine print line in the description states it is boot only.....LOL
 
Timothy Bryce

Timothy Bryce

Ready to race!
Thumper1 said:
How did you trim the material? Do you mean you cut off length or removed material from one side, like making a line/groove in the material? If so how did you do that, mark it with chalk and then Dremel?
Click to expand...

I attached the material to the ring using the original staples first of all leaving about 3 or 4mm of material spare. Then when I realised it was going to be way too tight I used some small sharp scissors to trim away as much of the fabric under the staples as possible. The worst bits were in the corners and bottom of the seams where all the material was bunched up. Luckily the fabric I was using could be compressed to some degree but I wouldn't fancy doing it with thick leather or similar.
If I was doing it agin I think I would probably glue it and cut away all the material on the corners so it was only attached to the ring by the bare minimum of material...
 
Thumper

Thumper

Autocross Champion
Timothy Bryce said:
I attached the material to the ring using the original staples first of all leaving about 3 or 4mm of material spare. Then when I realised it was going to be way too tight I used some small sharp scissors to trim away as much of the fabric under the staples as possible. The worst bits were in the corners and bottom of the seams where all the material was bunched up. Luckily the fabric I was using could be compressed to some degree but I wouldn't fancy doing it with thick leather or similar.
If I was doing it agin I think I would probably glue it and cut away all the material on the corners so it was only attached to the ring by the bare minimum of material...
Click to expand...

Cool, I'm hoping to tackle it this weekend or next on the long 3 day. I have some really sharp razor knifes/Exacto blades that might make it easier than scissors. I can't remember if the alcantara it's made of is "thick", but I guess all that matters is if it's thicker than the factory one. lol
 
Thumper

Thumper

Autocross Champion
Got mine done this weekend. I had no issue with the ring, the alcantara on the BFI boot I ordered felt the same thickness as the OEM leather. I did notice there were grooves in the ring for the stitch seams to fit in once I got those seated right it had no issue.

I actually removed the staples with a blade staple remover, I wanted to try to re-use them as the BFI boot just came with some adhesive tape. I ended up not being able to as I didn't have a needle big enough to make the hole in the alcantara, but hopefully the tape and pressure hold it under normal use. I don't think I will be able to use the shift boot trick to pull up the trim ring anymore though, I don't think the tape would hold for that. I saved the staples though so if I need to I can try to mod that at a later date.
 
M

Mo11yMkVI

New member
Thumper said:
Got mine done this weekend. I had no issue with the ring, the alcantara on the BFI boot I ordered felt the same thickness as the OEM leather. I did notice there were grooves in the ring for the stitch seams to fit in once I got those seated right it had no issue.

I actually removed the staples with a blade staple remover, I wanted to try to re-use them as the BFI boot just came with some adhesive tape. I ended up not being able to as I didn't have a needle big enough to make the hole in the alcantara, but hopefully the tape and pressure hold it under normal use. I don't think I will be able to use the shift boot trick to pull up the trim ring anymore though, I don't think the tape would hold for that. I saved the staples though so if I need to I can try to mod that at a later date.
Click to expand...
With the BFI boot, did you notice any reason that another brand knob wouldn’t work with it? On their site they state they only work with BFI knobs, but do not specify why and from pics available I can’t see what would keep the boot from working with any shift knob.
 
Thumper

Thumper

Autocross Champion
Mo11yMkVI said:
With the BFI boot, did you notice any reason that another brand knob wouldn’t work with it? On their site they state they only work with BFI knobs, but do not specify why and from pics available I can’t see what would keep the boot from working with any shift knob.
Click to expand...

The boot gets zip tied to the knob base, so as long as the other knob has a similar size shaft it should work.
 
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