Hi gang,

I have a Voodoo Titanium Shift Knob and though the mirror like shine looks great, it gets dirty easily. I would like to put some texture on the knob so it won

 

Not sure aboutthe Ti Voodoo Knob, but the MY00-MY01 stock aluminum knob has a clearcoat on it to prevent oxidation of the metal. If you take some steel wool to the knob surface, you will just be scratching the clearcoat. This may or may not result in the look you are going for, but if you go too deep into the clearcoat, you will get to the metal and have a very uneven finish until you take off ALL of the clearcoat.

Now, assuming you have either taken off all of the clearcoat or you do not have a clearcoat at all, your best chance to get a "machined" finish, aside from chucking the knob in a lathe and recutting the surface, is to chuck the knob in a drill and hold some sandpaper to the surface as the knob spins. If done correctly, you will have the circular markings like the older OEM knobs.

 

I would think you could use some etching paste. I saw this stuff on a home improvement show once. You can basically put a vinyl sticker as a template on a piece of glass, paint on some etching paste (I guess it's basically just acid) wait like 5 minutes, wash it off, and you have custom-etched wine glasses. I would imagine you could do the same to the shift knob, but don't yell at me if it backfires somehow.

 

Acid etch won't do a thing to Ti.

You will find it very hard to mark with sand paper as well.

It might be possible to anodise it or clear powder coat it. These finishes don't show fingerprints as easily.

 

Something like This?

 

Thank you guys for your input.
I'm going to try the steel wool this weekend.