Paddle Shifters for Alpina B7 - how do I swap out the buttons for paddles?

[CaliradoMike]

Hi, I am new to the forum and a very happy new owner of a 2014 Alpina B7. Love this car. One wish is to switch from the Alpina buttons to some nice paddle shifters. Can any of you experts tell me how best to get that done? Living in San Diego, CA. Thanks very much,
CaliradoMike

[Norrie]

Answer from a technical point I have no clue. Answer from they way it is designed by ALPINA, the button as opposed to paddles is why its an ALPINA feature?

[JohnW]

Not sure about the B7 but I’ve modified 2 sets now and fitted the LCI paddles to the E92 2008 B3 BiTurbos wheels I’ve owned which are/were pre LCI. Not all Alpinas have buttons, the GT3 has the BMW LCI paddles. Basically the resistors need bypassing and the pin moving from 3 to position 2 on the plugs as in this diagram I made at the time. You need to take apart the paddle assembly to get to the circuit boards inside to do this, they are spring loaded so had great fun putting them back together again , but very “do-able”.

[JohnW]

End result

[TonyS]

Very interesting response with good precise info

[ali]

If you are not so eloctroniocally minded you can just swap out the steering wheel for a BMW paddle shift one.
Direct plug and play. I did this with my B3 and swapped over my Alpina airbar Downside was I lost the slpina stitching colour to black thread instead

[Bob]

Downside was I lost the slpina stitching colour to black thread instead

And now everyone thinks you’ve got a 330i with some ALPINA badges stuck on.

[ali]

Downside was I lost the slpina stitching colour to black thread instead

And now everyone thinks you’ve got a 330i with some ALPINA badges stuck on.

Sleeper look, Just the way I like it

[CaliradoMike]

Just wanted to say thank you for all the helpful replies! Great to know I can post and get some great information quickly. Thanks for taking the time to provide helpful suggestions! Particularly John W, really appreciate it and very impressed with the ingenuity and detailed "how to" diagram. I've got a genius mechanic I am going to run this by. Thanks again! CaliradoMike

[JohnW]

The later and LCI models may not need any modifications, I did this as they didn’t work plug and play so then took them apart to compare the circuit boards.

[MattOz]

I did this with my F31 D3. Once the wheel is off, the buttons simply unscrew and can be directly replaced with paddles. The buttons have additional wiring that you remove from the steering wheel.

Since changing from buttons, I find I use the paddles much more often. Makes the car more engaging. Many of the LCI cars come with paddles rather than buttons.