So if youre like me, you want to pay as little as possible for parts if you can.
For my M3 conversion i noticed that M5 gear knobs go for much cheaper than M3 ones and look exactly the same.... well, not exactly.
This is an M3 knob
And this is an M5
They are also different in that the m3 one illuminates the “+” and “-“ only when they are available ie no “+” when in 7th gear and no “-“ when in 1st gear...I dont care much about that functionality. If it matters to you though buy the M3 one..
If you want to save a few bucks then you can use the M5 knob it will need to be re-pinned when installing. The M5 knob has 6 wires and the M3 one has 9.
The M5 one has a smaller leather boot also and I don’t know if it will fit on the standard 335i surround
I found some helpful articles where others have figured some of the wiring out before
DIY: BMW E90 (pre-LCI) - M5 SMG Knob retrofit - Team-BHP
M3 DCT shifter wiring guide help
348482d1273879860-diy-bmw-e90-pre-lci-m5-smg-knob-retrofit-01-bmw-m5-smg-knob-retrofit-_e90_e91_e92_e93_-wire-splicing-diagram.jp
I won’t be installing this myself for a while but I know a few of you are looking to convert so hope this saves you some dollars!
For my M3 conversion i noticed that M5 gear knobs go for much cheaper than M3 ones and look exactly the same.... well, not exactly.
This is an M3 knob
And this is an M5
They are also different in that the m3 one illuminates the “+” and “-“ only when they are available ie no “+” when in 7th gear and no “-“ when in 1st gear...I dont care much about that functionality. If it matters to you though buy the M3 one..
If you want to save a few bucks then you can use the M5 knob it will need to be re-pinned when installing. The M5 knob has 6 wires and the M3 one has 9.
The M5 one has a smaller leather boot also and I don’t know if it will fit on the standard 335i surround
I found some helpful articles where others have figured some of the wiring out before
DIY: BMW E90 (pre-LCI) - M5 SMG Knob retrofit - Team-BHP
M3 DCT shifter wiring guide help
348482d1273879860-diy-bmw-e90-pre-lci-m5-smg-knob-retrofit-01-bmw-m5-smg-knob-retrofit-_e90_e91_e92_e93_-wire-splicing-diagram.jp
| Description | M5 | M3 |
| Night illumination- | 4 | 1 |
| Night Illumination + | 5 | 2 |
| R | 1 | 3 |
| N | 2 | 4 |
| D/S | 3 | 5 |
| Arrows | 6 | |
| + gear | 7 | |
| +12v | 6 | 8 |
| - gear | 9 |
I won’t be installing this myself for a while but I know a few of you are looking to convert so hope this saves you some dollars!
