HOT HANDLES - Fixing bare alum. shift knobs?

[Darkwriter77]

Since the weather's finally cooling off enough that putting a bare-aluminum shifter knob on my car isn't going to be a burn hazard for my right hand, I scored a nice Hurst T-handle shifter. Feels niiiiiiiice.

Aside from switching this thing out as soon as it gets hot outside again, though, does anyone know of any groovy solutions to fixing the hot-as-hell shift knob problem that just about anyone with a bare metal shift knob has to deal with?

I've considered getting one of those cans of that Plasti-Dip stuff made for dipping tool handles and stuff into, but I figured that it would not only look weird or stupid, but it wouldn't stay on and that it'd get into the threads of the shifter and not thread on properly. (They make a spray version, but I dunno how effective that would be, either.) Other things I've considered include just slipping an old black sock over the whole thing, but not only would it look stupid, but it'd pretty much defeat the purpose of even having any particular type or style of knob on there in the first place.

So ... anyone got any magickal solutions they're seen/tried?

 

[Hickfied]

Slip the sock over it while you are parked, and take it off when you are driving. Keeping your hand on the shifter while you are driving would keep it from heating up too much.

 

[mob]

I was gonna say the same, get a small little towel and just put it over the handle while its parked and just put it in your glove box while your driving, im sure it wont be hot.

 

[grey5.0beast]

I always ues a hat anyway over the summer if I'm inside somewhere for more then 15 min and the top is down, I throw a hat on top of the shifter and we're good

 

[iwashmycar]

man up and see how long you can hold it lol.

i usually just shift quicker

 

[spiff]

Thats a feature.. Why would you want to override it, its to train you to shift quicker!

 

[Mustang5L5]

My Mach 1 knob doesn't really get all that warm. Maybe my MGW shifter doesn't transfer as much heat??


Now that the weather is getting cooler, the Mach 1 knob is coming off the the stock GT leather knob is going back on. An aluminum knob is damn cold on a 5 degree morning!!!

 

[Mustang78]

in the summer i would hold it(hurst T handle on 2 rigs) for a few minutes till all the heat went into my hand, or shift quicker, the cold mornings arn't any better, that thing freezes!!

~Mark~

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Get yourself a titanium shifter arm, you can get them here http://www.konaracing.com/ scroll down a bit. Titanium transfers heat very poorly and will help keep it a bit cooler. other than that, the sock thing would work or you can tint your windows and use one of those windshield visors when your car is parked. I don't use any of the above methods and i have no problem with mine, even on hot days. It does get pretty warm but not unbearable.

 

[90_Red_LX]

I know what ya mean about the hot knob. I turned my own in shop class, and it got hot in the car so I felt a little bit of the wrath. The sock idea is a good idea though. I'll have to do that with myn. I also keep my stock one in the car in that event.

 

[mob]

Get yourself a titanium shifter arm, you can get them here http://www.konaracing.com/ scroll down a bit. Titanium transfers heat very poorly and will help keep it a bit cooler. other than that, the sock thing would work or you can tint your windows and use one of those windshield visors when your car is parked. I don't use any of the above methods and i have no problem with mine, even on hot days. It does get pretty warm but not unbearable.

I dont know about that man, I have that handle on my stock shifter, and after driving for like 10 minutes, i can grab the boot and itll be burning hot.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

I dont know about that man, I have that handle on my stock shifter, and after driving for like 10 minutes, i can grab the boot and itll be burning hot.

Hmm...well that's the "science" behind titanium anyways. The only other option i can think of is to use urethane bushings in place of the rubber bushings like the stock arm has....that would probably do the trick enough to make it bearable. The arm i'm using is a stock arm that's cut down and angled by my buddy...it's really short but it's awesome because i have no console. It's just plain old steel like any stock arm but it really doesn't get THAT hot.

 

[Roland69]

hat works well....I used that in my old S-10


in the mustang I rock a leather shifter

 

[Roland69]

 

[mob]

Hmm...well that's the "science" behind titanium anyways. The only other option i can think of is to use urethane bushings in place of the rubber bushings like the stock arm has....that would probably do the trick enough to make it bearable. The arm i'm using is a stock arm that's cut down and angled by my buddy...it's really short but it's awesome because i have no console. It's just plain old steel like any stock arm but it really doesn't get THAT hot.

Yea, i havent really touched the handle itself, so maybe its not that hot, and maybe just all the heat from the tranny is being picked up by the boot, I have a leather knob, so i dont worry about heat.

 

[Foxfan88]

i run a stock knob and no heat problems lol

 

[90_Red_LX]

The problem he's having isn't coming from the tranny. It's from heat building up in the car, and the shift knob when it sits out in the outdoors if I'm reading right.

 

[Darkwriter77]

Yep, mostly due to the interior temp of the car, itself, and the outside air temp. I've done the hat trick in the past, but only with limited success - it makes it bearable, but it's still friggin' hot.

Tinted windows don't help - been there, done that (previous car), no change. I use window sunshades, anyway - they're an absolute necessity out here for 75% of the year - and no difference. Of course, the fact that the car is black outside and mostly black inside probably doesn't help, nor does the absolute lack of insulation on the roof or most anywhere else.

I have a whole collection of different shift knobs: the old stock plastic/rubber knob, a nice leather version of the OEM knob, the obligatory 8-ball that surely everyone's bought at one point in their life, the chrome skull knob that everyone else has bought either before or after the 8-ball knob, an '03 Cobra leather/carbon-fiber replica knob (with 6-speed pattern, HA! It was a freebie), and the most recent addition being the aluminum Hurst T-handle. The only two that never really seem to get hot at all are the '03 Cobra knob and the 8-ball ... possibly because they're so darned thick and full of plastic that they don't hold/trasmit heat very well. (That's also their major downside - they're too friggin' big and heavy for speedy, accurate shifting.)

UPR has a nice composite-material knob for sale that never gets hot or cold, and I've felt one up that was on display at WFC9 - very nice piece, as far as material goes, but I friggin' HATE the shape. If they made different styles of knobs in this same material, I'm sure they'd sell a bajillion of 'em - T-handle, pistol-grip, simple ball type, etc.

And, unfortunately, a sock doesn't fit over my T-handle knob...

 

[stykthyn]

your shift knob needs an intercooler.
and if that is too much a hat will fit nicely over that T-handle

 

[HISSIN50]

For a point of reference for people, I have a thermometer inside one of the cars (Tucson). It can get over 180*F inside the car. Extrapolate those temps to the amount of heat a metal knob is holding and all bets are off.

On that same car, I ended up taking a woman's ankle sock and tossing it over the shift knob.

I now use leather shift knobs.

Good luck with the quest.