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What Is A Weighted Gear Knob?
This is a question that we at TWM Performance hear from curious customers every day.
Rather, most customers ask what is a TWM weighted gear knob and what are the benefits?
Gear knobs have been around since the first car was made, however until recently
a weighted gear knob was regarded as only an aesthetic modification to spruce up a cars drab
interior.
TWM Performance has taken the weighted gear knob to the next level. Instead of just producing a
weighted gear knob which looks flashy, we decided that there must be a way for a weighted gear knob to
improve a car's performance. Wouldn't it be great if your weighted gear knob could make you feel
like your car actually performed better, and allowed you to shift faster and more smoothly
than ever before?
TWM Performance has the answer. Enter TWM's stainless steel weighted performance gear knob.
A TWM weighted gear knob is not only designed to be extremely smooth in styling with an extremely
durable finish, but to actually perform better than any other weighted gear knob on the market
as well.
A TWM weighted gear knob is made of the most dense material readily available, stainless
steel. More dense materials exist on earth, however for this application stainless steel is
ideal since it is very hard, unlike lead, and not absurdly expensive like platinum, gold, or depleted
Uranium. A material's
density is a measure of it's mass per unit volume, the more dense, the more a given volume
of the material weighs. This allows a TWM weighted gear knob to retain stock, comfortable dimensions
but weigh a great deal more than a stock gear knob. Many other aftermarket companies produce
gear knobs as well, however they are often made of very light plastic or aluminum which
offer no benefit of added weight.
Why is a heavier gear knob better you may ask yourself? The answer is simple and relates
to basic physics. A heavy gear knob carries with it more kinetic energy and has greater
momentum than a less massive (lighter) gear knob travelling at the same speed.
Kinetic energy is defined as the energy possessed
by a body because of its motion, equal to one half the mass of the body times the square of
its speed. Momentum is defined as the product of the mass times the velocity of an object.
Since kinetic energy and momentum are directly proportional to an objects mass, the more
massive (heavy) an object is the more kinetic energy it carries with it through it's movement,
and it has a greater momentum than a less massive object travelling at the same speed.
This theory applies to a weighted gear knob in the following manner. While shifting, the weighted gear knob is set in
motion by the driver. While the weighted gear knob is travelling between gears, it has a certain velocity and carries with it
kinetic energy. The additional kinetic energy the heavy gear knob carries with it helps it to engage
in to the next gear. Essentially, the shifter with a heavier gear knob is more "difficult"
to stop because of the added kinetic energy, which actually helps it engage in to the next
gear with less direct effort from the driver. The net result is a smoother engagement in to
the next gear with less effort put in from the driver on the weighted gear knob to get it in to gear. It is for this
reason that a heavier gear knob feels much smoother to shift than a shifter with a stock gear knob.
Once you try driving with a weighted TWM gear knob, you will never want to go back to stock.
The difference is quite simply amazing.
Does TWM Make A Weighted Gear Knob For My Car?
The answer to "Does TWM make a weighted gear knob for my car" is probably "yes". In addition to a TWM
weighted gear knob being a great performance enhancing modification for your car, they are also universally
adaptable to virtually any vehicle. The secret to this amazing adaptablity lies in what we call "ATIS".
ATIS stands for Aluminum Threaded Insert System. The system allows a TWM weighted gear knob to be threaded for
virtually any thread diameter and pitch simply by replacing the threaded insert within the gear knob.
ATIS also allows OEM like fitment of a TWM weighted gear knob to difficult to shop for cars such as the Corvette
and Camaro, who have very large shaft diameters which virtually no universal gear knob will fit.
In addition to fitting virtually any car or truck, a TWM weighted gear knob equipped with ATIS is height adjustable
by approximately 1.5 inches. The height adjustment screw in the gear knob as shown in the below illustration can be set to
virtually any level to accomodate any driving style or position. The height adjustment screw can also be
completely removed in order for the weighted gear knob to sit at its lowest possible position for a sportier look and feel.
The concept of a TWM ATIS gear knob may be more clearly illustrated in the diagram below:
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