SONIC1.4
New member
Here's my review of DDMWork's Short Shifter Lever for the 2012 Chevy Sonic. Ill start off by saying the quality of this piece is fantastic and you can tell it is a piece that you will be able to trust for the life of the vehicle. Now I also installed the DDM shifter bushings the day before which that alone I HIGHLY reccomend. It makes the shifts so much better! Really, for $20, don't hesitate to get them. Even the noobest of noobs could install the bushings. Anyways, on to the shifter lever.
INSTALL: Well, the install seems easy enough. You simply take out the battery, and the ecm as well if you please. It makes the lever more accessable. Now comes the fun part! You take a 1/4inch drill bit and drill a hole in the metal cap that sits in the stock shifter lever. Okay, that was simple. Next, you choose your weapon of choice to pry the cap out of the stock shifter arm. At first, I thought a nice flathead screw driver would do the trick. Nope! My cheap screwdriver cracked all the way down the middle. Okay no big deal, ill use some needle nose pliers! Still nothing! So I went back to a stronger and longer flathead and tried prying away again! Still the cap will not come out. At this point I was very frustrated, I got my drill back out and started drilling into the side of the cap to try and split it in half. Well, here's what it all looked like when I was done with it! STILL THE CAP HAD NOT COME OUT!
At this point, i was done, I thought it was not accessable any more. I closed my hood and a cloud of doom flew over me. I was so close, but so damn far!
Alright so I wake up early the next day, day number 2! Today was the day! I went to my buddies shop where I take my Sonic for any job I don't feel I can handle, or am just too lazy. Plus I like too support the shop since they're like family. I pulled up in the garage and opened the hood and showed Clay (the owner) my problem. He said "no problem!" Got out his air gun and blasted all the metal shavings I had created out, and the he picked up this 3 foot long chizzle like tool, stuck it right into the cap, pried down, and POP! The damn thing came right out. I drove away happy and continued the install. It ended up taking me 2 hours from that point due to lack of know what I was doing. I called DDM and they solved any problem I was facing instantly. So after 2 hours, and a sunburnt back and arm (left arm only...) it was done! And damn was I proud! Don't let my expirence scare you, it comes to show that having the correct tools and most importantly, patience is the key in most any install.
DRIVEABLITY: Well, this simple lever is nothing but amazing! You won't believe how dramatic of a change this makes in the driving expierence! Obviously the throw is a lot shorter. I always hated the long throws from 2nd to 3rd and 4th to 5th. This lever eliminates that! Not only does it shorten the throw, but you can feel everything going on when you're smashing through gears! And you can smash through them a lot quicker as well. Just a flick of a finger and you're in the next gear! I've had no problems with "not finding" certain gears such as 2nd and 3rd when shifting hard and fast. As before it would sometimes seem to go off track and lock me out of a gear and then I sound like a douche grinding my gears
The DDM Short Shifter Lever will help you feel like you're in your dream sports car while dramtically reducing the throw, and assists in getting into gears more directly and efficiently. For the price and the quality of this piece, I would look nowhere else. Combine this with the shifter bushings, and you have one nice shifting mechanism! Highly satisfied with the product, and customer service DDM gave me.
If you have any questions on anything, you can PM me here, or Email me at alexwhiteofficial(at)yahoo.com
INSTALL: Well, the install seems easy enough. You simply take out the battery, and the ecm as well if you please. It makes the lever more accessable. Now comes the fun part! You take a 1/4inch drill bit and drill a hole in the metal cap that sits in the stock shifter lever. Okay, that was simple. Next, you choose your weapon of choice to pry the cap out of the stock shifter arm. At first, I thought a nice flathead screw driver would do the trick. Nope! My cheap screwdriver cracked all the way down the middle. Okay no big deal, ill use some needle nose pliers! Still nothing! So I went back to a stronger and longer flathead and tried prying away again! Still the cap will not come out. At this point I was very frustrated, I got my drill back out and started drilling into the side of the cap to try and split it in half. Well, here's what it all looked like when I was done with it! STILL THE CAP HAD NOT COME OUT!
At this point, i was done, I thought it was not accessable any more. I closed my hood and a cloud of doom flew over me. I was so close, but so damn far!
Alright so I wake up early the next day, day number 2! Today was the day! I went to my buddies shop where I take my Sonic for any job I don't feel I can handle, or am just too lazy. Plus I like too support the shop since they're like family. I pulled up in the garage and opened the hood and showed Clay (the owner) my problem. He said "no problem!" Got out his air gun and blasted all the metal shavings I had created out, and the he picked up this 3 foot long chizzle like tool, stuck it right into the cap, pried down, and POP! The damn thing came right out. I drove away happy and continued the install. It ended up taking me 2 hours from that point due to lack of know what I was doing. I called DDM and they solved any problem I was facing instantly. So after 2 hours, and a sunburnt back and arm (left arm only...) it was done! And damn was I proud! Don't let my expirence scare you, it comes to show that having the correct tools and most importantly, patience is the key in most any install.
DRIVEABLITY: Well, this simple lever is nothing but amazing! You won't believe how dramatic of a change this makes in the driving expierence! Obviously the throw is a lot shorter. I always hated the long throws from 2nd to 3rd and 4th to 5th. This lever eliminates that! Not only does it shorten the throw, but you can feel everything going on when you're smashing through gears! And you can smash through them a lot quicker as well. Just a flick of a finger and you're in the next gear! I've had no problems with "not finding" certain gears such as 2nd and 3rd when shifting hard and fast. As before it would sometimes seem to go off track and lock me out of a gear and then I sound like a douche grinding my gears
The DDM Short Shifter Lever will help you feel like you're in your dream sports car while dramtically reducing the throw, and assists in getting into gears more directly and efficiently. For the price and the quality of this piece, I would look nowhere else. Combine this with the shifter bushings, and you have one nice shifting mechanism! Highly satisfied with the product, and customer service DDM gave me. If you have any questions on anything, you can PM me here, or Email me at alexwhiteofficial(at)yahoo.com
