How to replace the Leon Mk3 shifter paddle by Urus paddles.

This week, I installed some Urus paddles on my Leon. After driving with them for about 400km, I'm confident they feel good, and work nicely.

So here's a short tutorial on how to do it!
Note: this will describe how to replace the entire paddle, not just pasting some plastic on top of the old one with glue!

Step 1: buy the right one!

So. it's pretty important you get the paddle which suits your car. The difference is mostly within the hinges of the paddle itself. See what I mean in the following picture:

The Urus on the right has a difference hinge design, so it wouldn't fit on the Leon switch, which has 3 hinges instead of 2. Luckily, there are sellers out there that sell the correct hinge design that does fit the Leon:

I got these from Aliexpress (I'm not affiliated with the store, but I can higly recommend them!)
nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005003245142469.html

They have a "C-design" paddle, which looks like this:

Here you see the two versions next to each other on my desk (slightly dusty ;-) )

Step 2: Removing the airbag and panels around the steering wheel

First, to give you some more access to the steering wheel, undo the panel around the steering wheel column, which is fastened with 3 Torx screws in these positions:

After these 3 screws are gone, you can just pull the two halves apart, the bottom part can drop to the floor. Now set the steering wheel in a position so that the logo is sideways. The flippers should aim up and down.

Then, go to your battery and remove the — from the car. Wait some time until all systems are fully powered down. This is to prevent any issues when detaching the airbag systems.

Now comes the funny part. Behind the steering wheel, you can feel 2 spots where you need to insert a flat screw driver, and pull to the side, so undo the clips of the airbag. This is a fairly awkward thing to do, so I made a picture of it. It's blurry and focused on my beard, but you'll get the idea:

Insert a flat screwdriver in the position of the arrow, and then use the screwdriver as a lever to pull to the outside of the steering wheel. The clip will release, and 1 side of the airbag will move toward you. It's very satisfying once you find out how to do it. I used the selfie camera of my phone to see what I was doing, and used a short screwdriver.
Repeat it on the other side, and the airbag can be taken out. There's a connector that connects the airbag. I left it in place, because I could work around it.

Step 3: Remove the buttons and paddles:
Images are from www.seatia.com/secon-1134.html:
Once the airbag is out, remove the buttons:

And unscrew the paddles on both sides:

Now you have 2 pairs of paddle + switch on your table:

Step 4: Removing the paddle from the switch

Well, here's the tricky bit and where I gave up during my first try… on other paddles, the rod that holds the paddle to the switch can be pushed out because there's a hole on both sides. On VW Golf paddles, this hole is even exposed on the outside, so you don't even need to remove the airbag to replace the paddle. However, on the Leon, (and some Audis) this is different. Someone else, on Audi-sport.net, faced the same issue, and he made this picture:

My solution was to pry the axle from the switch by using a connector terminal tool to push it out.

I inserted it here at the end of the rod, and kept on wiggling and pushing. I got behind it after 2 minutes of trying, and then I could pull the rod out using pliers. Don't be discouraged if you don't succeed immediately. There's some room behind the rod where you can slide the tool and you will be working blindly in a small space. There's no need to damage the switch!
After this, you can easily remove the paddle from the switch, and reinstall the Urus switch! Be careful, don't lose the little white runner damper thingy. Push the rod back (it can only go back in 1 way, doesn't require much force to do so).

After this, you're done, and you can place the paddles back onto the car, screw them back on (using 2Nm of torque), and put the multifunction buttons back on the steering wheel. Reinstall the airbag, enjoy the way it clicks back into place with a firm click. Put the power back on, and enjoy your new and improved shifting sensation!

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