webbrowser

Received mine today and they are excellent !!!

THANK YOU!

Best wishes
Ronny

lkirchner

I received my paddles yesterday and they look great. The question is how do you install them? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

AntonioDestiny

How much?

coolcamden

There's no installation instructions. How do I install them?

bartdude

DO they work on 06 E55? i see that it goes on new steering wheels? Does anyone have pics?

AMGSC

I got mine today also. No instructions either...I figured it out BUT to my surprise they do not work. First of all, the shifter bracket assembly with paddles cannot stay securely mounted and does not snap into place no matter how hard I tried to get it to fit. Secondly, pressing the paddles does absolutely nothing. They are just frozen solid. Are these supposed to be functional or just comestic?

btw...Because of the lack of instructions, I ended breaking the left bracket hinges while trying to fit the paddle into place. Now I need to order one from the dealer. A simple little bracket may end up costing me more than these paddle shifters.

Not a very user friendly install at all. You guys better be very careful and gentle when handling the OEM mounting brackets (for the buttons). If you force the paddle into the bracket. You will most likley break the hinges,

The Godfather

lol all that money spent on pretty packaging didn't leave budget to include instructions :P

supre55

Any update on the E paddles?

coolcamden

Ouch! Thanks for the heads up. Sorry to hear your painful experiment. I am not going to chance it and try to make it work without the vendor's instructions. I wonder if anyone knows VRP's return policy? I sent email asking 2 questions: Installation instructions, and return policy and have not received an answer on either.

vrus

I didn’t have installation instructions put into the packages but it is a really easy install to do at your home with just simple tools:

1) Remove the stock steering wheel buttons very carefully with a small flathead screwdriver. Pry them up from the wheel.
2) Once the buttons are off the steering wheel you will see the point where the button and button base are attached to one another. There is a pivot point where the buttons are held in place on the button base.
3) Pop the button out of the base by removing each side from the retention hole on the base.
4) The new paddles will pop into the same location.

Note: These paddle shifters when they come out of the mold may or may not have excess material on the 2 protruding pins. Those 2 pins are what fit into the retention holes on the button base. If the pins are too thick (too much material present or excess paint present) you just need a little hand file or sand paper to thin them down a bit. DO NOT FORCE them into the button base retention holes if they are too thick as the button will no longer pivot and you may damage the base.


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I'm sorry that you had a hard time installing them... Because of the huge delays in getting the manufacturer in Asia to get everything here I didnt want to delay the shipments any further..

I didn't get a chance to go through and create installation instructions.. I know some people that received them were able to install and use them so I am wondering if your car either has a different size pin hole or maybe your paddles ended up with thicker pins??? Can you take a pic and email it to me or post it..

trustz

VRP, Do you have this paddle shifter instock after all the pre order customer, I like to order one set if you have instock, if not, when will be avalibe for next shipment. thanks

AMGSC

I did exactly what you just typed above. The paddles were installed correctly and it looks just like your original promo pics. I cracked 1 and broke the other rentention hole (I called them hinges) on the left base (I called them brackets) because it was so hard to fit the pins (not too big but too small compared to stock buttons) into the holes. It simply does NOT WORK. The paddles don't budge at all and it's not because the pins are too big. The base and paddles look fine. One paddle is loose due to the broken retention hole but still does not click to change gears. The right paddle which has a undamaged base still does not shift gears but it's firmly mounted now. Honestly, at this point. I just want a refund.

lkirchner

I installed my paddles yesterday and had the same type of experience. On the SL there is a small, I will call it a U shaped loop, at the front of the button assembly. In order to pop the paddle in , once you fit them to the pivot points, you have to get a tab on the paddles snapped into place near the "loop". On both paddles the "loop" broke off and this is what holds the assembly to the wheel. The paddles now fit loosely to the wheel. Even with this I can shift using the paddles when the transmission is in S but cannot shift when in M. I will have to say that the buttons shifted much more positively than the paddles.

At this point I am not sure as to what I am going to do. I have thought about using JB weld to glue the buttons to the wheel but with it not shifting when in M I am probably going to end up buying new button switches. I would also advise anyone trying to install the paddles to wait until someone has definitive instructions as to how to do this without breaking the brackets.

AMGSC

Now I've got to go through the hassle of pulling my paddles off to take pictures to prove they don't work and risk breaking the off the tabs on the base/bracket AGAIN. What a PTA. If it's already caused damage to my OEM equipment due to lack of instructions, then what else do I have to prove? I'll do it but when I do. The feedback is going to get much worse. Pics coming up and I'm going to post them here and not directly to VRP for all to judge if I installed them incorrectly as VRP claims.

Now the first two customers had negative experiences. As with ANY product or service it's just best to wait until everything is tested and complete on all MB models before launching the product to the mass market. The lack of instructions is just inexcuseable. This is just poor planning and execution.

supre55

Playing devil's advocate, if it didn't come with instructions then why not call VRP and ask "Hey Vic/Vadim, do these things come with installation instructions?" before attempting to install?

I'm not saying that I wouldn't have been excited to install them too and tried to do it without instructions (which of course I would have), I'm just throwing the question out there.

vrus

I am sorry that you guys had trouble with the installation. Since the paddles had been delayed for months and months and the fact that i wanted to get them into people's hands as quickly as possible, I had them sent out right away without including installation instructions.

For those people that felt uncomfortable installing them without instructions they would just wait for us to email them the step-by-step instructions but at least have their product in their hands. The other choice was to hold onto all the boxes of paddles until the instructions were ready.

I didnt think there was any point in holding onto the product any longer since alot of people were anxious to get them and wanted to install them right away.

Robert, you yourself emailed and called me several times because you didnt get tracking information for your purchase and wanted to know when the product was going to ship. If I had told you that you had to wait another week while I tried to put together installation instructions would that not of upset you even more?

I thought I did the right thing by sending out the product right away so that everyone could have them in their possession.. If they had to wait one way or another it was better to wait with product in hand rather than without. The installation instructions will be in PDF format electronically downloadable from the site.

The paddles are delicate and I use a micro screwdriver to pry the tabs to swap them in and out. I've done them 3 times on the same car and have not broken the tabs. Even with instructions, all I could possibly say is "BE REALLY CAREFUL when prying the tabs because they are plastic and will break if you push too hard on them."

I wasnt asking for pictures from you because I wanted you to prove anything.. I was asking for pictures so I could visualize what went wrong and if the pins were too thick on the pair that you received or if it was infact due to prying too hard on the tabs. Its hard for me to determine what caused the problem without being able to see the paddles and base.


One of the members on here "Brian D." emailed me on 8/21/08 and said:

I installed them last night and they look and work great.. Thanks.

The paddles do work and fit properly. The only issue is the delicate nature of the plastic components you are working with.

vrus

Lou.. I'm really sorry about the installation troubles. Can you pry the buttons off the steering wheel, leave them hanging, and just snap a pic or two so I can see which area sustained the damage.

AMGSC

Here it is Victor...

Wasted my Saturday doing this...

The picture is of the right paddle. The steering wheel is upside down as the front tires are turned to the left. This is not the one with the broken retention hole but the paddle is still frozen with no movement or shifting capability.

lkirchner

I e-mailed Victor and got the instructions you Devil.

coolcamden

I will sell you my set at cost. PM me. I'll even ship it ot you for free.

It has not been opened beyond just to see that there is no instructions sheet. I am not handy and do not want to do anything that will give me more trouble than it's worth, and may jeopardize the warranty if I screw up.

vrus

Robert,

I'm sorry buddy but I can't make out anything from those pics.. all the areas that I wanted to see are all blurred out because the camera was focused on the parts located behind (the rear dash area).

The area on the paddles with the pins and moutning location is out of focus so I cant make out what the pins look like or the base.

When you pop those paddles out of the steering wheel it should take less than 1min.. can you pop them back out please and take some focused shots of the paddles and their base so I can see what is happening. At that point I can identify where the problem lies.

AMGSC

You're killing me Vic. Your other customer had similar problems as I. He PM'd me and told me the downshift paddle does not work at all and just falls out because it's so loose while the upshift paddle jumps from 1st to D back to 3rd in 1 click. I will take another set of pics tomorrow.

AMGSC

OK. These are the last pics I will post. Go ahead, find and correct the problem for future customers but please just refund my money including shipping and PayPal fees or send me a set that's been tested on a C55 before. Did you ever fit these paddles successfully on a C55?

AMGSC

Victor,
Please reply to my emails, PMs and phone calls. So now you don't give a **** about your customers anymore?

Vadim @ FD

Robert, Victor has been tied up with family affairs this week, he will get back to you over the weekend.

Thank you for your patience.