This is it guys, a fully-documented procedure on how to swap the black pastic paddles that come standard on the 3.2 TT's for the aluminum ones seen on the VW Golf R32.

First, here are a few pictures of the new aluminium paddles to explain what needs to be done in order to take them apart:


1. Here are the paddles themselves, unpacked:




2. Zoom-in on the right paddle:




3. Here, the left arrow points at the Torx screw which also acts as a "pivot", and the right arrow points at the "lip" by which the paddles stay within short distance of the switch:




4. The paddles ship with a protective layer of some sort, you can take it off now or leave it
on until the install is done:




5. Use a Torx screwdriver to take the only screw all the way out:




6. Hold the paddle steady as the spring will push it out further:




7. Carefully pull the paddle back from the switch, keeping in mind not to lose the spring:




8. Here is the spring fully released:




9. Now you can remove the paddle, by pulling up then out to release the "tab" or "lip" from the switch:




10. Here's the paddle fully separated from the switch:




11. Now go to your car, turn the steering wheel 180? so that it is upside down, and unscrew the plastic paddles:




12. Slowly push back the plastic paddles from the switches, keeping in mind that spring again:




13. Here's a comparison pic between the aluminium and plastic paddles:




14. Hold the aluminium paddle upside-down and place it behind the wheel:




15. Slide the aluminium paddle into the appropriate switch:




16. Screw the aluminium paddle in with the Torx screw, and adjust tightness for more or less "click":




17. Repeat for other paddle, and Voil?!!




18. View from the side:




19. A couple of other pictures from another install:






The whole story of how these paddles finally came through, after the price jack from VW, can be found HERE and a similar "how-to" post I made on the UK forum is HERE.

I'm hoping to get mine installed soon, as they're waiting for me in Paris and I'm leaving on Thursday to pick them up - amongst other more important things of course.. ;-)

Enjoy!
-Marc