Vibra Technics then Rogue Engineering Any Improvement?

[inTgr8r]

Originally Posted by StickMon

Ever since I had the rod bearings replaced, I've had a wicked vibration at cold idle.
Once it warms up, it's fine.
Thought it was the exhaust, but couldn't find anything.
Gave it a good going over again today while changing the oil.
Maybe now I've found it.

I emailed VT. Told them I'm not pleased and the others in the large group buy are nervous.
I think they sold about 60 sets in that GB.
Told them I would like ordering info for the replacement rubbers even though it would probably be to repair them and sell them on.
Partly BMW's fault, though. Insufficient heat shielding.

What was your vibration like?
Was in constant, kick in at certain RPM, just noise or something you could feel in your seat....etc.
It might help others what to look for.

Thanks

[StickMon]

After a cold start, as it comes down off fast idle to about 940-950 rpm the whole car becomes a massage chair.
Smooth constant vibration, not like a misfire.
Everything inside the cockpit rattles. Vents, cup holders, astray, navi.
Once it's warmed up, it's fine.
Thought maybe it was just a magic resonance at 950 rpm, but I can't reproduce it once warm.
Still not entirely sure it's from the motor mount, but it's a prime suspect.

[inTgr8r]

Had a look at mine, they seem fine.

I wonder with the OE manifolds with CATs wether there is more heat in that location?
(I have headers)

[Varinn]

Sucks to see that, these VT mounts look like an interesting piece of kit. I was planning to put them in sometime in the near future to hopefully reduce the huge amounts of drivetrain movement and crappy shifting in the Z4M.

Did a quick search to see if anyone else had more long term reviews and found this thread on another board. It's long and I didn't really care to read much but the last 10-15 pages are pretty sour looking. http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=427164

Guess I'll keep watching and see if it's a few failures causing a bad rep or if they do tend to fall to pieces after the 2 year/30k mile mark.

How difficult is the install on the z4m? With a hoist and the proper tools is it reasonably simple? When I was replacing the motor mount bolts this year the intake side was a bit finicky to access so I'm assuming the mount itself would be a bit of a whore.

[StickMon]

It's not rocket surgery, but a pretty major faff.
I removed the air filter box, duct, and intake manifold box.
I would also recommend having a spare gasket for the air injector on the right side so you can remove it to get the heat shield out.
I think most of us that have done it jacked the engine up by the oil pan.
That's what I did, with lots of lumber to spread the load over as much of the oil pan as possible.
It's tricky to get under the center of gravity and lift the engine level.
Only jack the engine enough to get a little daylight between the mounts and brackets, then take the brackets off and change the mounts.

Before you hoist or jack the engine, take the bottom nuts off the trans mounts so the trans can come up, as well.

[StickMon]

Originally Posted by Varinn

... Did a quick search to see if anyone else had more long term reviews and found this thread on another board. It's long and I didn't really care to read much but the last 10-15 pages are pretty sour looking. http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=427164 ...

I'm still reading this thread and will probably post.
It's not sounding good for rebuilding the VT mounts, and it sounds like I'll be lucky to even get a response from them.

Started looking at other options and found this.
Did they misplace a decimal point in the price?

Edit: Both RE and BimmerWorld boast that their mounts are "Similar to the $800 Group N BMW engine mounts", so I guess the decimal points is in the intended place.

[GuidoK]

That may well be the correct price... racing parts....

There are also special polyurethane drift mounts with a different design (more like round suspension bushings in a carrier) to the usual muffin style desing the normal mounts (and VT, and most poly mounts) have.
Polyurethane is strong and fatigue resistent (on pressure) but it doesnt bond as strongly to metal as vulcanized rubber, so splitting is a possibility, like seen massively on all those poly transmission mounts.


But I think VT will sell rubber inserts? (at least I hope....)

[bignosejim]

I inspected my mounts last week and they all look fine. The exhaust side is just slightly more compressed than the intake side mount.

[WickedNy]

I think I might bite the bullet and try rogues engine mounts

[inTgr8r]

If I was going to anything other than VT, they would likely be my choice as well.

[bignosejim]

Stickmon, sounds like whatever mount you decide to reinstall your going to need to buy some alunimum plate and make your own custom heat shield. I guess you find yourself in more stop and go traffic than the rest of us, which is contributing. All of the BMW heat shields for our cars are insufficient in that area. I can see some discoloration on my mount in that area, but no damage to the rubber. When I rebuild my VT mounts (hopefully not anytime soon), I'll probably go to Home Depot and get some Al plate and make a bigger heat shield.

Hopefully VT responds soon for you. Most of the reason I went with them is because they were able to be rebuilt affordably. At M3Forum, they sure didn't seem like they wanted to sell inserts to those guys though.

[David70]

Also interested in information on what comes of the failure as I am planning on replacing my mounts soon. Not sure what one failure means, could be soon to be more or there was some issue in this one. I also only drive my car about 3k miles per year so Stickmon's 44k miles will probably never happen.

[inTgr8r]

Originally Posted by StickMon

After a cold start, as it comes down off fast idle to about 940-950 rpm the whole car becomes a massage chair.
Smooth constant vibration, not like a misfire.
Everything inside the cockpit rattles. Vents, cup holders, astray, navi.
Once it's warmed up, it's fine.
Thought maybe it was just a magic resonance at 950 rpm, but I can't reproduce it once warm.
Still not entirely sure it's from the motor mount, but it's a prime suspect.

Thanks

Can you clarify whether you are running headers or OE manifold?
I'm wondering if heat from the CATs adds to the issue.

[StickMon]

Originally Posted by inTgr8r

Thanks

Can you clarify whether you are running headers or OE manifold?
I'm wondering if heat from the CATs adds to the issue.

OE manifold, RE section 1, OE X-pipe, RE cans.
The failure is definitely heat related.
Same failure as the OE mounts, but the OE mounts lasted twice as long.
The failure probably happened when the rod bearings were replaced.
The rubber has probably hardened and it couldn't take the stress of being unloaded and the reloaded.

[Varinn]

I pulled up a picture of the motor mounts/heat shielding on the exhaust side and it does look a bit inadequate but has plenty of space around it for something better. Hardest part about building something with a bit more coverage would probably be getting those folds in it to add rigidity and reduce vibrations.

Last thing you want is to put it all in and have the thing sing you the song of it's people any time it hits the right frequency or split at the corners because of it.

[SaltyNC]

Originally Posted by Varinn

Last thing you want is to put it all in and have the thing sing you the song of it's people any time it hits the right frequency or split at the corners because of it.

That made me smile. :-)

Salty

[Varinn]

These look like they might work better than the existing ones.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...e/11811138228/

[StickMon]

Wow, great find. What model is it for?
I'll definitely be buying it.
I had thought about what shape to make a better heat shield and the risk that it would shriek as I went through a certain rev.
My ashtray goes BrzzzUPP as I pass through 3500.

The remaining question is which mounts.
RE or BimmerWorld?

I don't want to go back to stock ... Because Racecar

[Varinn]

Looks like it's from the e36 generation, I just googled everything e30 or newer until I found a shield that looked decent. It looks like it saw some time as the heat shield for the S54 powered Z3M, so I'd assume it phyiscally fits the mount itself. You may want to do a little research to make sure it's clocked correctly, or could be modified with a new alignment hole to set it with the right clocking. Would seem strange that BMW would install a worse heat shield on the newer gen cars, but they do make some pretty dumb choices so...

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/part...228&series=E36
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/part...8228&series=Z3

[StickMon]

One of the M3 peeps also suggested this:
http://www.jegs.com/i/Thermo-Tec/893/16850/10002/-1

I think I'll get that seemingly better heat shield, poke some holes around the edge, and rivet a swath of the Kevlar to it to extend it down and farther around.

The more I think about it, I could probably make a fashionable pleated skirt to better scatter the heat.

[Bossdog]

Has anyone tried these Bimmerworld Group N OE engine mount replications? Not surprising they claim to be as good as the $800 BMW version.

[StickMon]

3002 tii says in post #10 that he has them and likes them.

I'm trying to decide between those and these from RE.

Both claim to be as good as the $800 ones.
The pictures only show the bottoms of the BimmerWorld an the tops of the RE.
I wish I at least knew what the other ends look like.