Installation Procedure of R32 Aluminium Paddles!!!

[Marc3.2TT]

This is it guys, a fully-documented procedure on how to swap the black pastic paddles that come standard on the 3.2 TT's for the aluminum ones seen on the VW Golf R32.

First, here are a few pictures of the new aluminium paddles to explain what needs to be done in order to take them apart:


1. Here are the paddles themselves, unpacked:




2. Zoom-in on the right paddle:




3. Here, the left arrow points at the Torx screw which also acts as a "pivot", and the right arrow points at the "lip" by which the paddles stay within short distance of the switch:




4. The paddles ship with a protective layer of some sort, you can take it off now or leave it
on until the install is done:




5. Use a Torx screwdriver to take the only screw all the way out:




6. Hold the paddle steady as the spring will push it out further:




7. Carefully pull the paddle back from the switch, keeping in mind not to lose the spring:




8. Here is the spring fully released:




9. Now you can remove the paddle, by pulling up then out to release the "tab" or "lip" from the switch:




10. Here's the paddle fully separated from the switch:




11. Now go to your car, turn the steering wheel 180° so that it is upside down, and unscrew the plastic paddles:




12. Slowly push back the plastic paddles from the switches, keeping in mind that spring again:




13. Here's a comparison pic between the aluminium and plastic paddles:




14. Hold the aluminium paddle upside-down and place it behind the wheel:




15. Slide the aluminium paddle into the appropriate switch:




16. Screw the aluminium paddle in with the Torx screw, and adjust tightness for more or less "click":




17. Repeat for other paddle, and Voilà!!




18. View from the side:




19. A couple of other pictures from another install:






The whole story of how these paddles finally came through, after the price jack from VW, can be found HERE and a similar "how-to" post I made on the UK forum is HERE.

I'm hoping to get mine installed soon, as they're waiting for me in Paris and I'm leaving on Thursday to pick them up - amongst other more important things of course.. ;-)

Enjoy!
-Marc

[Lightweight-USPowah]

they look perfect in the car.. : /

[EighTT]

[S4iscool]

electronics on the new paddles, your just replacing the plastic with the new silver paddle which has been removed from the electronics?

[Marc3.2TT]

1. it is just so much easier this way, and

2. the switch with all the electronics has a wire that turned out to be shorted than the TT's switch, so wire splicing would have to occur..

[EighTT]

I was the Guinea Pig and my dealer did the installation. We've been discussing and refining the procedure ever since, and now we have an excellent documentation (thanks to Marc) on the installation procedure.

The bad news is that as the "pioneer", I had to spend about $100 for the installation. The good news is that I wasn't charged for the parts, as the shop that provided them thought that they might end up getting a fair amount of business from my idea. They almost did, but VW/Audi jacked up the price and that threw a wet blanket on things.

To view my writeup, follow the link:

• R32 Aluminum Paddles Install

[S4iscool]

[TT-Square]

Very cool. Any idea on the "off" graphic? Might just have a buddy of mine laser scan the parts and have 'em machined in Al. No doubt they'll be offered at some point soon by Forge or those Al nuts that have been slowly giving us all parts to turn the TT interior into the inside of a Calphalon pan - not that there's anything wrong with that.

TT 3.2 Silver/Blk Avus wheelset, BOSEII due in about a week. I think I felt a "kick" just now.

[KenRS4]

[TTigg]