General > Product Reviews
DSG Paddleshifter Extensions....
RedRobin:
--- Quote from: tony_danza on February 20, 2009, 09:17:35 am ---Oh, and RR. Good write up, don't know if they're my cup of tea but I'd be interested in a feel of them - I've only got little hands and the paddles when at the quarter to three postion and thumbs up are only really at my fingertips.
--- End quote ---
....Then make please sure you ask me when we meet sometime in the future and I'll let you have a feel.
[Don't let Nathan know though :evilgrin:]
:happy2:
Greeners:
--- Quote from: RedRobin on February 20, 2009, 02:56:35 pm ---
--- Quote from: tony_danza on February 20, 2009, 09:17:35 am ---Oh, and RR. Good write up, don't know if they're my cup of tea but I'd be interested in a feel of them - I've only got little hands and the paddles when at the quarter to three postion and thumbs up are only really at my fingertips.
--- End quote ---
....Then make please sure you ask me when we meet sometime in the future and I'll let you have a feel.
[Don't let Nathan know though :evilgrin:]
:happy2:
--- End quote ---
Been there done that, he's all yours :wink: :rolleye:
cmdrfire:
--- Quote from: RedRobin on February 20, 2009, 09:12:55 am ---
....A very interesting tuppenny-worth!
I'm having difficulty imagining just how such paddles might be damaging but I'm not able to totally disagree with you.
Just thinking aloud about this important safety point: As these paddle extensions are attached by adhesive pads, might they in fact come off relatively easily when subjected to the force of an accident? I'm thinking that although they wouldn't break within their own structure before a human finger would break, their adhesive fixing would break first.
Their fixing is such that they are very strong when pulling towards you (which is the action of their everyday operation) but weak when pushed away from you (which is an action you neither take nor do you travel with your fingers between the wheel and the paddle extensions).
At the moment I'm not convinced you are right but I keep an open mind and I may be wrong. Could you elaborate, please?
:happy2:
--- End quote ---
If in an accident the driving wheels are made to turn - easily possible in a number of situations - the steering wheel will spin and these extensions could very easily act as a blade (even though they aren't sharp). Remember, in a serious accident, arms/hands/fingers can go into a number of places, not always in a controlled manner.
Whether or not the paddleswould break off on contact with a hand depends on the shear strength of the adhesive, but if the adhesive is strong enough the carbon blades will go through bone (it's unlikely to suffer structural failure). The tensile strength of the adhesive (as you describe) is unlikely to be important.
A number of components in the Golf (indeed, in all modern cars) are designed to fail in a controlled manner, in the case of knobs/buttons through a shearing motion. It's my guess that these paddles are not and the main decision behind choosing the adhesive is "is it strong enough to hold the paddles on securely".
RedRobin:
^^^^
I understand your points and your concerns.
Perhaps the only way to establish whether the paddles' adhesive fixing would fail (as preferred) or not, would be with controlled tests.
The laminated carbon paddles themselves are extremely strong and are unlikely to break easily in the circumstances we are discussing, but lateral forces or forces in some other directions are likely to cause the paddles to fall away. All this is theoretical but based on my experience of fitting them and using them - However, I may be entirely wrong.
I'm afraid it's a risk I'm currently prepared to take as being no more of a risk when driving a Golf GTI Mk5.
The hope is that whereas it's been designed and produced to hold the paddles on securely, it's not welded on.
:happy2:
Phil Mcavity:
--- Quote from: cmdrfire on February 20, 2009, 12:26:27 am ---I have great safety concerns about extension paddles for the wheel-equipped paddle shifters. In the (heaven forbid) event of accident, the wheel could spin around and one of those things could cause significant injury to your hands or arms. You will notice that "long" paddle shifters are used on vehicles where the paddles are fixed to the steering column box - this is what Ferrari, Bentley, Lamborghini, et al do. On the Scirocco race car the situation is the same, the paddles are not affixed to the wheel and will not spin around.
On vehicles with the paddles attached to the wheels - VW/Audi/Seat range, Bugatti Veyron, Porsche PDK-equipped cars, the paddles are very small and heavily integrated into the wheel to help avoid injury.
If you track your car at all I would strongly advise against using these, and would advise against using them on the road as well.
Just my tuppenny-worth.
--- End quote ---
The last thing id be worried about in the event of a prang is my finger nails!!. in a major smash, your hands wont be still on the wheel and the airbags would be my 1st concern and the crumple zones do there job. Either one of those fails it would be good night nursey.
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