How is your Vibra Technics motor mounts holding up?

[XMetal]

I noticed that one of my Vibra Technics motor mount (passenger side) looked super squished - see attached picture. No cracks yet...just really squished. The driver's side still looked fairly good. I got these back in 2013 on the original group buy on M3Forum and it has been on the car since (for about 30K miles). I haven't heard of anyone having issues, other than "StickMon" - See this post => https://www.zpost.com/forums/showthr...=vibra+technic

How is your VT motor mounts been holding up?

[Z4M_Coupe]

Mine looked like that after less then 10k miles... it's from the exhaust heat...driver side is okay.. removed them and went back to AKG (Not rec for street use).

[bosstones]

Perfect timing. I've had VT mounts sitting on my shelf for a few years and was finally going to install them. Curious to see how this thread goes.

[JimBob0047]

I went with the Bimmerworld mounts, way too much vibration at idle so I swapped them out for the new kid on the block for our platform, 034 Motorsport solid rubber mounts through ECS. NVH gone.

[XMetal]

Originally Posted by JimBob0047

I went with the Bimmerworld mounts, way too much vibration at idle so I swapped them out for the new kid on the block for our platform, 034 Motorsport solid rubber mounts through ECS. NVH gone.

034 is well known in the Audi/VW community...so their stuffs are usually pretty high quality. Didn't know they made things for BMW. Do you have a link to those 034 mounts? You're happy with them? Thanks.

[JimBob0047]

Originally Posted by XMetal

034 is well known in the Audi/VW community...so their stuffs are usually pretty high quality. Didn't know they made things for BMW. Do you have a link to those 034 mounts? You're happy with them? Thanks.

They feel like factory mounts with less slop and no increase in NVH.


https://www.ecstuning.com/b-034motor...34-509-0064kt/

[David70]

I just bought a set of Vibra Technics and hope to install them soon so also interested. I am also soon to get rid of 1st set of cats and just have 2nd set and would expect this will also remove a lot of heat from this area. I think getting rid of two cats near these mounts will reduce the temps. Thoughts?

[PLCZ4MC]

I have Vibra Technics in my Coupe, Done like 4 tracks days + few weekend drives. Don't see anything bad. Car doesn't vibrate much... Of course I drive around 3000-4000 per year. idk about daily driven with Vibra Technics.

[bosstones]

Well, I went ahead and installed mine yesterday along w/ RE trans mounts. I've both sitting around for several years. :| I'll resurrect an old thread so I don't pollute this thread w/ my thoughts.

[StickMon]

I was the first to fry them because I sit in stop/go traffic in 100° weather.
Not enough air flow through the engine bay. Burned the clear coat off my hood.
Bimmerworld have some serious NHV when cold. After things heat up it's not so bad IMHO.

[polar]

No issues since the install in 2013 and some 9000 miles of driving
(Euro spec headers).

[unluky]

What signs do you look for these are on the way out? Just engine vibration or is there a sign of leakage? Mine seems to hum like a top and never noticed any vibration at 90K, but it is not tracked or driven hard at all really.

The SEEM like they would be easy to swap out unless I am missing something. When I am under the car they seem to be right there and easy to get to.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by XMetal

How is your VT motor mounts been holding up?

Here are mine after 6 years/30k miles.
They are mildly squished but I dont think one is more squished than the other (or at least not by much):

exhaust side (yes they're dusty after all these years, the underside needs a new technical cleaning session):


Intake side:


When they were new:




So I think they're holding up fine til now.
Mind you, I dont have an s54 engine but m54, which is considerably lighter at the exhaust side (slant aluminium vs. iron block)

[dre99gsx]

After 6 years of heavy track abuse, mine still look decent, although squished. I do have one issue - my engine is definitely swaying left/right during hard cornering as my exhaust manifold squishes the passenger heat shield on the frame rail, and the steering rod on the driver side has been getting ground down (the plastic cover) from the oil pan. Picture the engine shifting to the driver frame rail about 1/2" and rotating the steering rod.

I think these mounts allow too much movement. Any recommendations on stiffer mounts without going full solid? (Remember, 2JZ engine ~ 100lb heavier than S54).

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by dre99gsx

I think these mounts allow too much movement. Any recommendations on stiffer mounts without going full solid? (Remember, 2JZ engine ~ 100lb heavier than S54).

I'm sure you already found the powerflex black series engine mounts (seem to be very extensively engineered with tuneable hardness, but expensive)
https://www.powerflex.co.uk/product-...unt/12876.html

And the strongflex shore80A engine mounts (I haven't measured my vibra technics mounts' hardness, but my guesstimation is that they're quite a bit softer than shore80A); over 3 times as cheap as the powerflex ones
https://www.strongflex.eu/pl/tuleje-...553504118.html

(no experience with both of them though, I have the VT ones, that still hold up)

[dre99gsx]

Ah yes, those. I'll order the tuneable powerflex, although I'm going to opt for the "street" or red-top series and just pop in all the rods for full stiffness.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[GuidoK]

I think the powerflex street versions would also be my choice (except for the price...)
But I have a street car.

The only internal display of components I could find is this one:


If this is correct, you can see that the stifness is, to my opinion at least, controlled by 2 components; the red upper part, and the purple lower part that can be regulated by filling up the holes.

So normally at powerflex, red is shore65A, which is quite soft. Purple is shore80A and black is shore95A.
I wonder if the street ones might be too soft for you, but that said, the black series, shore95A is extremely hard for a motormount (I have no idea if the black series also have the purple insert).
The difference between shore65A and shore95A is huge imho.


Sadly there is no information on how the strongflex motormounts are made internally. I think it's just a big piece of PU.
The VT ones, I've always found a bit 'meh' inside. Quite a simple, small piece of rubber, where quite a flat piece is sandwitched between the aluminium. Maybe that's a reason why some people had them failed.
For the price I thought it was a cheap construction. But back then they were pretty much the only ones that made more complient aftermarket model.

Strongflex used to have a different design under the same model number, but they completely overhauled the design:


This old design was available in both shore80A and shore90A, and was a more generic design which is still sold by other brands in different stiffnesses:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172983634423
https://www.scp-shop.fr/bmw-e36/4626...e46-z3-z4.html
https://bpracing.hu/id/02927-BMW-E36...Silver-Project
This design was popular in the drift scene.

[dre99gsx]

Very good point. Ugh.. Makes you wonder, would the street + all holes filled be stiffer than the Vibra Technics? Would I be better off with the Black version and not have any holes filled.

Too many options

[GuidoK]

you are your own gunnea pig

You can also order the strongflex ones. Just to see how they hold up and see how you like them.
They are much cheaper than the powerflex ones.
If you think they are by no means too hard, you can always order the powerflex black series.
If you think they are quite stiff, the black series might be too hard.

But even then, the black series probably have the purple (shore80a) core, which is adjustable. And that will for the most part determine the stiffness, the black top part can be considered solid by that point.
Of course you can verify at powerflex if the black series in fact do have that purple core.

I wonder if you could order the black series insert seperately at powerflex at a reduced price?

[Steeler]

For what its worth and this on a strictly street driven car.
I went from poly mounts to nylon mounts on both engine and gearbox.

I don't mind a stiff ride but I honestly could not feel a measurable difference in NVH.

Edit: I do hear gearbox whine, which for me just adds to the experience.

Coupled with a chassis mounted shifter and 100% poly on all suspension and chassis points, the car feels planted.

[GuidoK]

Yeah but with that heavy engine and insane track use (dre99gsx destroys the strangest things on his car), I can imagine that if the mounts have no flex (and thus no damping) at all anymore, big jolts on the subframe and engine support brackets might result in metal fatique and cracks in the long run.
The engine sits in there like a huge pendulum as there are no upper engine mounts.
The gearbox is fine imho, the amount of weight on those mounts is negleable, that's maybe 10-20kg, so the impact force during jolts there is pretty much nil. The stock mounts are soft as chewing gum.

[Beedub]

Mine are fine ( i have the competition version) it seems that the road versions have been failing... so disappointed really as i think for the z4 community i may have been a driving forcing in these people popular. It was my car VT tested the road / competition mounts on.
if i was to do it again, id still pick the VT comp mounts based on my experience.