Pulled the original and replaced it with a ZHP short shift knob. Paying extra for no //M badging is sort of ironic. I ordered the plain 6 speed version and I think the swap went well. It's got a nice palm bulge for going into 2,3 & 5 and the sides mushroom out a bit. That with the added weight makes for a different feel over the stock version. Worth it if you're considering pulling your knob. I snapped some camera phone photos.

 

Looking great! Congrats!

I hope you didn't knock yourself out when pulling lol! I almost did when I changed my shifter knob .

- Antti -

 

I read that digging through the forums researching which knob to buy. I chuckled a bit thinking about it when I started to bear down on it.

It was tough to find one that matches the overall feel of a manual 528i. It's not performance enough for carbon or stainless, wooden seemed like it would clash if not a perfect match...leather it was.

Really glad it has the metal collar at the base, just to break up the leather on leather look.