In theory, you could remove all of the existing rubber with a Dremel or fire and replace with urethane, but it would be a real pain. Would likely be easier to just replace the piece itself.
Yup, I was reading a little more about this on a different forum and I quickly came to the conclusion that it is much easier to replace the whole thing.
Yes, just remove the shift lever from the car, remove the spring clip at the bottom inside of the chrome piece, and pull the 2 sections apart. If stuck you may need to put one end in a vice to hold while you yank the other. There are 2 pieces of rubber inside, one that caps the lower piece (25111205441) and fits up into the upper piece, and one that looks like a donut (23411666133). May as well grease and replace the upper and lower ball joint cups while you're in there (2 x 23411466110).
Under the car you have to remove the clip that connects the bottom of the shift lever to the shift rod that goes into the transmission. Up in the cabin at the base of the shift lever on the tunnel is a circlip that holds the entire assembly in.
Very helpful.
