golfprorich
New member
Well I'd seen the conversion done on Boxsters, 996s, 997s etc and thought it would be a nice for the Cayenne and relatively simple. However.....
Unlike the others the Tip buttons do not sit in the steering wheel itself but are part of the airbag unit, and this includes the wiring. It is not the same, simple two wire system the other cars use.
Not to be put off as I had already bought the paddles I arranged a quick trip to a friend armed with airbag unit and some cider. He had advised me that the airbag unit uses canbus so he set about with his ohmmeter to work out how the buttons send the signal and through what pins. There are resistors on the ribbon cable so there was no other option than to solder the paddle wires direct to the button terminals.....which are tiny!
On the way back I stopped in at the in-laws as I have no soldering equipment and the father-in-law managed to solder some lengths of wire to each terminal. As to not cramp the wiring I used the right side for the upshift and the left side for the downshift. Unfortunately one of the solder joints let go on the way home so back I went!
The next challenge was to get the Tip button circuit boards, new wiring and the backplate all back together without breaking the solder joint. A bit of dremmeling and a couple of holes for the wires to run through and it went back ok. I had to cut off the button for the steering wheel lights which is fine as I never want to turn them off anyway!
I then taped the wiring safe and soldered some wires which had a terminal as I wanted the paddle wiring to not be hard wired to enable future airbag or steering wheel removal.
It's not pretty but does what I needed it to do..
I repeated for the other side and then did a test in the car to make sure the wiring actually worked! Connected everything up but didn't push home the airbag and left the paddle wires out the side. Started the car and put it in D. Touched the end of the upshift wires together and it moved to M2, result! Touched the downshift wires together and it changed to M1. Felt this was the turning point now so it was on to mounting the paddles!
Firstly marking it out then attacking it with a dremel and multi tool! There's quite a bit of metal that needs removing, some carbide tipped bits were very useful!
Where the paddles mount is quite curved and I wasn't able to get a flush fit all round because the paddles are flat. So I smeared at little bit of silicon sealant to take up where the gaps are, which is only about a mm on part of each side. Not ideal but you can't see it anyway from the driver's seat!!
Paddles fitted with wiring run through..
Now onto putting it all back together, my biggest fear was damaging the new wiring whilst reseating the airbag unit. I think I closed my eyes whilst giving it that final shove home! However nothing was damaged and the paddles worked perfectly.
How it looks..
Nice and subtle, I had the thought of painting the paddles button silver but glad I didn't.
Went out for a decent drive this afternoon and it really is miles better than the buttons or using the stick.
It's not been an expensive mod at all but has taken a lot longer than I would've expected, mainly because of not wanting to break anything. Even the grinding out of the steering wheel you have to be so careful because if you cut it too far that's your wheel knackered!
What with the dash LCD replaced and now this the driver's seat is much more pleasant place to be. Although it was grief I'm glad I did it!
Unlike the others the Tip buttons do not sit in the steering wheel itself but are part of the airbag unit, and this includes the wiring. It is not the same, simple two wire system the other cars use.
Not to be put off as I had already bought the paddles I arranged a quick trip to a friend armed with airbag unit and some cider. He had advised me that the airbag unit uses canbus so he set about with his ohmmeter to work out how the buttons send the signal and through what pins. There are resistors on the ribbon cable so there was no other option than to solder the paddle wires direct to the button terminals.....which are tiny!
On the way back I stopped in at the in-laws as I have no soldering equipment and the father-in-law managed to solder some lengths of wire to each terminal. As to not cramp the wiring I used the right side for the upshift and the left side for the downshift. Unfortunately one of the solder joints let go on the way home so back I went!
The next challenge was to get the Tip button circuit boards, new wiring and the backplate all back together without breaking the solder joint. A bit of dremmeling and a couple of holes for the wires to run through and it went back ok. I had to cut off the button for the steering wheel lights which is fine as I never want to turn them off anyway!
I then taped the wiring safe and soldered some wires which had a terminal as I wanted the paddle wiring to not be hard wired to enable future airbag or steering wheel removal.
It's not pretty but does what I needed it to do..
I repeated for the other side and then did a test in the car to make sure the wiring actually worked! Connected everything up but didn't push home the airbag and left the paddle wires out the side. Started the car and put it in D. Touched the end of the upshift wires together and it moved to M2, result! Touched the downshift wires together and it changed to M1. Felt this was the turning point now so it was on to mounting the paddles!
Firstly marking it out then attacking it with a dremel and multi tool! There's quite a bit of metal that needs removing, some carbide tipped bits were very useful!
Where the paddles mount is quite curved and I wasn't able to get a flush fit all round because the paddles are flat. So I smeared at little bit of silicon sealant to take up where the gaps are, which is only about a mm on part of each side. Not ideal but you can't see it anyway from the driver's seat!!
Paddles fitted with wiring run through..
Now onto putting it all back together, my biggest fear was damaging the new wiring whilst reseating the airbag unit. I think I closed my eyes whilst giving it that final shove home! However nothing was damaged and the paddles worked perfectly.
How it looks..
Nice and subtle, I had the thought of painting the paddles button silver but glad I didn't.
Went out for a decent drive this afternoon and it really is miles better than the buttons or using the stick.
It's not been an expensive mod at all but has taken a lot longer than I would've expected, mainly because of not wanting to break anything. Even the grinding out of the steering wheel you have to be so careful because if you cut it too far that's your wheel knackered!
What with the dash LCD replaced and now this the driver's seat is much more pleasant place to be. Although it was grief I'm glad I did it!
