Review: GarageStar Stainless Steel Shift Knob

[Justin]

Ken(GarageStar) has been a friend of mine for a while now, and is one of the most influential Roadster owners in my life. I've seen many of his products in person and have lusted after many of them, especially his carbon plug cover and the aluminum cooling panel. Since I got my Miata, I've focused mainly on maintenance, and that came with rebuilding my shifter with new boots and bushings, and fresh gear oil. The shifting dramatically improved, but my 5th gear grind was still prominent, and at times it felt clunky with the stock shift knob.

That was when I started to look for a new shift knob, I wanted a weighted one for sure. I was thinking along the lines of a Moddiction Anvil II, or a Voodoo. I rocked a bubble knob for awhile as I was in my drifting stage, but I got it out of my system, it made the throws too long. Ken then told me at the local NorcalRoadsters meet that a ball type shift knob was in development. At first I thought it would look like the those small Greddy ones, not like those spun stainless steel ones that I wanted.

Finally, they were released:


Shipping was fast, ordered it Tuesday night, got it on Thursday. He even included a special knit cover to help during the times the knob is scorching hot or frozen.

It looks perfect, not too big, not too small. It also weights perfect at around 303 grams. The stainless steel perfectly matches my brushed aluminum gauge panel and my soon-to-come vent rings. Best of all, is that it's made of the traditional good quality GarageStar is known for.

Left to right: stock, GarageStar, not mine



I installed it and I felt a huge difference in shifting. The extra weight really helped to minimize the 5th gear grind that I had. It's still there, but just less noticeable. The shifter wants to actually go into the gear you tell it to go into. No more hunting for gears, and downshifts are a bliss. Honestly, it makes me go out for a drive more often :woolery:



This shift knob is definitely worth the $55 it costs, the feel of a Joyfast for roughly half the cost. I can't wait to see what GarageStar has planned next...

[xjdesertfox]

Ive got that same 5th gear grind and was looking for a knob which i had hoped would be a band aid for a short amount of time while I built a new tranny.

This is the exact style I wanted too. Ill be hitting him up soon!

[blu92]

Is that a cusco e-brake button?

[★ garageSTAR ★]

It's a T3 ebrake button.
http://garagestar.com/shop/t3_spin_turn_knob.html

Is that a cusco e-brake button?

[—Bryan—]

Still liking it?

[Blueiii]

I also have the same shift knob in my miata. Although I've only put about 3,000 miles on it since purchase, 2800 of them have been with the shift knob. When it first arrived I liked the weight, however it appeared smaller than what I thought it should be. Over time, however, the size has grown on me. Its one of those things that you eventually forget is there. The only complaint is that it has a tendency of spinning off which results in a rattling sound.

[George]

try aplying some tape (don't know if duct tape would be the right choice, but you can try it anyway) to the shifter before screwing on the knob.

[—Bryan—]

I also have the same shift knob in my miata. Although I've only put about 3,000 miles on it since purchase, 2800 of them have been with the shift knob. When it first arrived I liked the weight, however it appeared smaller than what I thought it should be. Over time, however, the size has grown on me. Its one of those things that you eventually forget is there. The only complaint is that it has a tendency of spinning off which results in a rattling sound.

Are you running the knob, or knob + shifter?

Thread pitch should be 10x1.25, right?

[Blueiii]

Just the knob. The rattling isn't terrible - it just likes to spin off a hair every so often. No big deal.