Control Knobs for a 1.5?

Mine would break by looking at them hard. The service centers always replaced them. Back in the day they had a supply on hand because they broke a lot. Last time they had to order them and took a couple weeks. I'd check with them. Of course, if it's still the same part, it'll still break easy. The only reason I went few as few pairs as I did was because I very rarely turned on the fan or changed the balance knob.

If you search the roadster forum, I recall an old thread that had a pic of different replacement knobs the owner had found on their own and put on. As I recall they were strong metal vs. plastic and looked like they wouldn't break.

ra-san said:

Mine would break by looking at them hard. The service centers always replaced them. Back in the day they had a supply on hand because they broke a lot. Last time they had to order them and took a couple weeks. I'd check with them. Of course, if it's still the same part, it'll still break easy. The only reason I went few as few pairs as I did was because I very rarely turned on the fan or changed the balance knob.

Click to expand...

The solution for the breaking knobs that I implemented for myself and that Tesla later did also (at least at the old Palo Alto SC) was to fill the inside of the knob with epoxy. That keeps the part that fits around the shaft from cracking. If you have one that is cracked but does not have pieces missing, you could probably repair it by tying a piece of wire around the cracked part to hold it tightly together, then filling the void with epoxy. If you can't find any other solution, I have one spare that I filled with epoxy six years ago but have not needed.

If you search the roadster forum, I recall an old thread that had a pic of different replacement knobs the owner had found on their own and put on. As I recall they were sting metal vs. plastic and looked like they wouldn't break.

Click to expand...

At least one such example was VIN 55, which just sold. A picture of the knobs is included in the eBay listing

I have fixed 2 of these so far using the epoxy method. In both cases the inner piece had broken, but I had all the pieces to glue back in place and then fill the void with epoxy. I did not need to use wire to hold the parts in place because the epoxy was thick enough to keep everything in place while drying.

I bought my roadster with a broken knob. The seller gave me some spare knobs filled with something, but they didn't work. The service center replaced it for 25 bucks.

My SC guy said he broke one while installing it.

I remember reading somewhere where someone was replacing them with nice shiny metal knobs which are more robust.

There is a picture I saw online i.e.
http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag247/Shifttech/Tesla%20Roadster%2055/Will%20A%20Tesla%20Roadster-8708_zpsrszfp5cx.jpg

spaceballs said:

I remember reading somewhere where someone was replacing them with nice shiny metal knobs which are more robust.

There is a picture I saw online i.e.
http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag247/Shifttech/Tesla%20Roadster%2055/Will%20A%20Tesla%20Roadster-8708_zpsrszfp5cx.jpg

Click to expand...

Yep, that's Tesla 55, as I mentioned in post #3 :smile:

slcasner said:

Yep, that's Tesla 55, as I mentioned in post #3 :smile:

Click to expand...

Ah I see I missed your post
Now be nice to find that part number, as I don't want to have to do trial and error to find one that works well and looks good.
Knobs | Hardware, Fasteners, Accessories | DigiKey

That was a long time ago but I think I got them at Radio Shack. Nothing special. Any old knob that fits the (standard) shaft and that you think looks OK will do.

I found one laying on the floor once or twice. Finally, I pulled them all off cause I like the way it's illuminated.