Available Now! New transmission switches to replace rubber buttons

EDIT - Thread started as a development thread but these are now available for purchase:

R & AUTO version: https://store.**********.com/products/ferrari-f430-599-reverse-auto-button-switch-assembly-and-harness

R, AUTO, LC version: https://store.**********.com/products/f430-599-reverse-auto-l-c-button-switch-assembly-and-harness



Greetings folks,

So, we are in the process of developing a solution for the failing rubber transmission buttons (R, AUTO and LC) for 430's and 599's.

Our solution will be a permanent fix to a long standing problem.

1st, the coating will be our hard touch coating with factory correct, laser etched graphics - it will never fail or get sticky.

2nd, our solution will be complete new switches, buttons and electronics that will be hard plastic - not rubber.

This is not going to be a band-aid fix, it will be a profession solution.

We will be building prototype circuit boards and harnesses end of this week.

So, we are looking for 2 beta testers.

- We need one person in the USA with the R & AUTO assembly and another outside the US with R, AUTO and LC.

Please email (not PM) if you are interested to discuss details. dave.lelonek@**********.com

My best,

Dave

Here are some photos of the progress.


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Prototype electrical boards and harnesses complete for non LC and LC cars. These have been bench tested and work as designed and are now off to beta testers to check in-car operation.


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So, I just spoke with my tech friend Matt who tried the harnesses today in a 430 SCUD. Everything worked as designed! He will create a cell phone video for me later. Discussing production electronics with a vendor next week. We are on the way folks

 

Our first run sample injection molded buttons are being sent to us today for approval


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Sample buttons received today. We will inspect these over the next two days (visually and dimensionally) and then provide approval to run production parts.

Mean while, 1st batch of housings in route and awaiting electrical build quotes to award wire harness and boards. We are getting very close


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Samples have been inspected and are conforming. Approval has been issued to run production

 

Samples have been racked and have translucent white applied. Black to follow and then laser etch Thread title changed also since we have our beta testers


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Sample buttons now have low gloss black coating and will hopefully be laser etched tomorrow


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So, here is an update: We laser etched 3 of the sample buttons today but these are not for a 430 or 599 - they are for an Alfa 8C - Yep, the Alfa 8C uses the same crappy rubber buttons also So, our new switch assemblies will work for that model too More updates on this to follow

As you can see, the buttons are just like OEM and they will illuminate at night as designed. I just used a mini flashlight to backlight these. Ignore the tiny white particles on the AUTO button, I didn't blow it off prior to taking these cell phone photos.

So, who wants a rubber button that will fail when these hard plastic buttons with a hard touch coating that will never fail are going to be released very soon?


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Custom springs arrived today


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Hi Robin,

Please allow me to explain:

- The 430 has 3 generations of switches, the 599 has 2. The 1st gen 430 is hard plastic and we can and do refinish those.

Gen 2 of the 430 is the same as Gen 1 of the 599. Gen 3 of the 430 is the same as Gen 2 of the 599.

The gen 2 430 and gen 1 599 are silicone rubber buttons. When you press the button, it deforms and makes contact with the micro switch below it.

First, coatings don't stick to silicone rubber so the first failure is the coating peels or in some cases cracks from constant flexing of the button. The next failure is the button tears. The final failure is the button disintegrates (see attached image).

So, the manufacture of these buttons realized this at some point and they changed the design of the entire assembly and the 430 gen 3 and 599 gen 2 came about, those versions are hard plastic switches with very different components. We can and do refinish this type.

The major problem is, for anyone with the rubber button version, the new version can only be purchased as a full trim assembly at a cost over $2000.

Therefore, we have reverse engineering the hard plastic version with some improvements for manufacturing and we are close to offering these to the market.

We considered re-manufacturing the rubber buttons (and we most certainly could do so) but decided against it because it's a band aid and the wrong thing to do as they will fail again.


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Here is a brief video illustrating the differences between the rubber and hard plastic buttons. Please pardon the crappy cell phone video - it's hard to get it to focus and to see what is in focus or not in the preview. We will follow this up with a better version down the road. Thanks.

 

So, here is a video of the completed, retrofitted Afla 8C switch assemblies These came to us with the coating cracking on the rubber buttons. We have retrofitted the rubber buttons with our new hard plastic button switch assemblies and our hard touch coating which will never get sticky and of course are laser etched graphics

 

Our electronics vendor has been selected and we are awarding the purchase order within the next day or two. They are telling us 4 weeks for the first batch of production.

Note, our production injected molded buttons will be here prior to that so if anyone is in a hurry, we can retrofit yours but that requires sending us your switches.

Contact me if you wish to discuss in more detail.

Thanks.

 

So today we retrofitted a 430 SCUD set of switches for a car that we just refinished all the interior parts. Take a look at this photo and how good these look when done properly. Best of all, they won't fail like the rubber buttons and the coating will never get sticky. I'd say "win-win"

We also created a video demonstrating how to remove and install our new switch assemblies and harness. That will be posted soon


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Here is a video demonstrating the installation. Please pardon the resolution - we did not have the camera set to hi-def when creating the video.

 

Here is a night time illuminated photo


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1st batch of housing has arrived and 2nd batch due tomorrow

We are able to retrofit your rubber button switches to our new hard button switches right now. Our electronics will be available in a few weeks for the turn key solution. For those that need a fix "now", contact me an we can retrofit yours within a day or two and they will never fail or get sticky again

Here is a 430 we just did this past week


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Absolutely. They are exactly the same as 430. We can retrofit right now but in a few weeks our turnkey solution will be ready.

 

Test Rig almost complete Each assembly will be tested for switch function and illumination


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Yesterday we received a set of 430 R and AUTO switches to retrofit to our new, hard plastic button switches which will never fail or get sticky.

Here are the before and after photos And, this solution is backed by a 2-Year Warranty


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Today we received our first article harness assemblies from our electronics supplier along with our custom test fixture. Each and every harness will be tested.

We expect to have production units for sale within a couple weeks.

Enjoy