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Author Topic: VWR / Vibratechnics 'Fast Road' Lower Engine Mount - Review....  (Read 77911 times)

Offline RedRobin

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....

In production cars, engine mounts have to be hard enough to restrict the drivetrain from too much movement but soft enough to be comfortable for Mr & Mrs Joe Average who usually seek a car which is as close as possible to being their living room armchair on wheels and complete with as many home comforts as possible. So inevitably there is a compromise.

Personally I don't feel safe driving any vehicle that feels like and handles like a marshmallow. I don't want a bone shaker but I do want a taut and tactile ride and I have the selfish luxury of not having to consider what anyone else wants from my chosen personal transport. So, ladies, if your arse is too fat to fit in my Recaros, tough titty! You ain't getting a ride!


CHOICES:

VWRacing offer 'Fast Road' hard bushed mounts or 'Race' solid mounts. The Race mounts will transfer more sound and vibration from the engine bay but will firm up the drivetrain to the maximum. I know friends who use VWR Race mounts in their road car and are happy with them but they also regularly do track days.

There is also the choice of whether to change all three engine mounts or just the dogbone one. Mark Farmer at VWR advised me that the dogbone one was the mount which would give the most advantage and to leave doing the other two at least to begin with. The 2.0T FSI engine is well known for having a fair amount of movement and twist under power in the GTI chassis. It's typical of Mark to advise what's best for the car and most appropriate for the driver rather than sell you the maximum.



^ Race mount on the left, Fast Road on the right ^ The VWR mounts have an additional three bolts fixing.



^ VWR Fast Road mount compared with stock mount ^ Note the difference in rubber bush extent.


WHY?

- To firm up the drivetrain and help power be more efficiently delivered. This is more desirable on a remapped car.

- To reduce engine movement and subsequent breakages - exhaust brackets being the most common. Milltek now include a free torque arm insert with their new exhausts.



^ Broken exhaust mount as a result of too much engine movement ^


SOURCING:

As I have a huge amount of trust and nothing but good experiences with VWRacing/RacingLine, I knew I would be expertly advised by Mark Farmer and so a VWR engine mount was a no-brainer. There are other engine mount manufacturers and VF have a good reputation.

Web: VWRacing / RacingLine

Phone: 01908 210088 Matt Walker

Please note that VWR's first priority is to their racing schedule but rest assured that when it's your turn you will be given 100% of their expert attention. Being flexible and patient is worth it!

Cost: £250.49 inc vat and labour for VWR's Fast Road dogbone engine mount.


INSTALLATION:

Straightforward for any experienced mechanic who has the right lift equipment and tools (not me!).


 

PLUS POINTS:

- Greatly reduces engine movement and delivers more of the available power in a way which also feels more direct when driving.

- Results in less breakages of other components stressed by engine movement and twist.

- Consequently extends the life of your car.


MINUS POINTS:

- Using the VWR Fast Road mount, there aren't any minus points I can think of. Race mounts, being solid without any rubber bushes, will transfer more sound and vibration from the engine bay.



^ Installed ^


SUMMARY:

I have found that the VWR Fast Road dogbone mount doesn't increase any vibration or noise in the cabin. In fact I'd prefer a little more 'noise'! I wondered at first if it was a placebo effect that I felt a slightly more direct take up of power when on the throttle, but it is in reality more direct and I now realise how much engine movement there must have been. There is no doubt that any high powered engine needs mounts which can handle the increased stresses. I read somewhere: "Put some spunk into your vehicle by adding an engine mount to it".

For anyone who wants to improve their GTI in a way which increases its taut and tactile feel and who seeks a more directly delivered power to the road, I can strongly recommend this modification. But the same goes for most of the other mods on my car!

:happy2:
« Last Edit: January 18, 2012, 06:44:04 pm by SteveP »


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Offline WhiteGTI

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Re: VWR Dogbone 'Fast Road' Engine Mount - Review....
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2009, 07:12:54 am »
Good review Robin. To clarify...is this just a much better version of the Powerflex / ECS Dogbone inserts that cost about £25??
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Offline Mark_GTIV

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Re: VWR Dogbone 'Fast Road' Engine Mount - Review....
« Reply #2 on: May 29, 2009, 08:16:09 am »
Thank RR... very informative.

Offline john_o

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Re: VWR Dogbone 'Fast Road' Engine Mount - Review....
« Reply #3 on: May 29, 2009, 08:20:24 am »
nice one RR  :happy2: , this sections becoming quite large now  :drinking:
Indeed this comes at a good time I 'need' to get rid of my engine slop.  (engine cover breakage!)

The bar that runs from the mount to engine also has a bush, for which the BSH replacement kit helps.
BSH Billet Pendelum Mount
do VWR feel this is not needed with an uprated bottom mount??

As per whiteGTI I cant see why its 10x the price (low volume manufacturing aside)

other option is to have the original mount 'filled' but the longevity concerns me

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Offline tony_danza

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Re: VWR Dogbone 'Fast Road' Engine Mount - Review....
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2009, 09:15:43 am »
Great review.

Completely different angle of approach compared to the VF/BSH kit. Looks amazing. You have to drop the subframe to fit it??

The OEM arm has a voided bush and I could easily bend the arm at this joint, such was the compliance.. but, it completely depends on how load is transferred down the arm, it may not make that much of a difference?

By comparison, the VF/BSH kit still retains the big rubber bush VWR replace, albiet filled with an insert which is far from ideal, so swings and round-a-bouts. I guess there has to be compliance somewhere, otherwise you may as well just have the race bush, I dare say you could combine the two???


« Last Edit: May 29, 2009, 09:19:39 am by tony_danza »
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Offline RedRobin

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Re: VWR Dogbone 'Fast Road' Engine Mount - Review....
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2009, 10:57:21 am »

Good review Robin. To clarify...is this just a much better version of the Powerflex / ECS Dogbone inserts that cost about £25??


....The difference between the £25 insert and the VWR one, is chalk and cheese!

You have only to look at the structure of each to appreciate the difference. The rather poor pic of my stock one has the £25 (free with a Milltek) insert installed if you look closely : -



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Offline RedRobin

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Re: VWR Dogbone 'Fast Road' Engine Mount - Review....
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2009, 11:20:47 am »

Completely different angle of approach compared to the VF/BSH kit. Looks amazing. You have to drop the subframe to fit it??

The OEM arm has a voided bush and I could easily bend the arm at this joint, such was the compliance.. but, it completely depends on how load is transferred down the arm, it may not make that much of a difference?

By comparison, the VF/BSH kit still retains the big rubber bush VWR replace, albiet filled with an insert which is far from ideal, so swings and round-a-bouts. I guess there has to be compliance somewhere, otherwise you may as well just have the race bush, I dare say you could combine the two???


....Sorry, but I don't even know what the subframe looks like!

The VWR Fast Road bottom mount has an ideal amount of compliance judging by the improved balance between less engine movement and direct power felt when driving. Also, there's no vibration in the cabin and (unfortunately!) no noise increase I have registered yet.




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Offline tony_danza

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Re: VWR Dogbone 'Fast Road' Engine Mount - Review....
« Reply #7 on: May 29, 2009, 11:36:09 am »
Subframe is the giant bit of metal it fits into, you've shown a pic of a subframe off the car above.

Sounds like its working well, has it passed the acid test for wheel hop??
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Offline RedRobin

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Re: VWR Dogbone 'Fast Road' Engine Mount - Review....
« Reply #8 on: May 29, 2009, 12:10:18 pm »
....

This is my subframe on the bench : -



Plus one Simon was working on for one of the race cars. You could be forgiven for thinking this shot is of the underside of an alien spaceship.

Wheel hop? Not so far but I tend to be a bit of an old smoothie in my driving style : -





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Offline RedRobin

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Re: VWR Dogbone 'Fast Road' Engine Mount - Review....
« Reply #9 on: May 29, 2009, 12:14:51 pm »

The bar that runs from the mount to engine also has a bush, for which the BSH replacement kit helps.

BSH Billet Pendelum Mount

do VWR feel this is not needed with an uprated bottom mount??


....Good question - I'll have to ask Mark about that if he doesn't post the answer himself (he's usually very busy).


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Offline RedRobin

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Re: VWR Dogbone 'Fast Road' Engine Mount - Review....
« Reply #10 on: June 04, 2009, 11:14:40 pm »

The bar that runs from the mount to engine also has a bush, for which the BSH replacement kit helps.

Do VWR feel this is not needed with an uprated bottom mount??


....Not needing replacement as it's solid.



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Offline john_o

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Re: VWR Dogbone 'Fast Road' Engine Mount - Review....
« Reply #11 on: June 05, 2009, 08:48:18 am »
not sure what you mean Robin?
are you saying your original was in good condition and wasnt changed?
the middle joint in your pic still has a rubber centre (which the BSH does away with)
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Offline RedRobin

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Re: VWR Dogbone 'Fast Road' Engine Mount - Review....
« Reply #12 on: June 05, 2009, 09:11:51 am »
^^^^

I didn't realise that the actual dogbone had a bush as well, but I guess that as VWR haven't changed it, they feel it's all good. I forgot to ask again! I was somewhat distracted! : -



The VWR 'Fast Road' bottom mount version I've got certainly works in a way you can feel as a benefit while driving - The drivetrain feels noticeably more direct. It's a bit like many of the other aftermarket mods in that the oem is often very good indeed but some aftermarket products go that extra mile and are even better.

Bear in mind that my GTI is primarily built and modded as a Fast Road car rather than track and neither is she highly tuned. VWR could of course easily sell me into having all the engine mounts but every time I ask them they (both Mark and Sam) say that I don't really need them on my particular car and that the bottom mount on DSG is the one that makes the difference.

Also, a full set of mounts are needed less on a DSG car as a Manual puts through stronger physical stresses/forces.

« Last Edit: June 05, 2009, 09:13:29 am by RedRobin »


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Offline bacillus

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Re: VWR Dogbone 'Fast Road' Engine Mount - Review....
« Reply #13 on: June 05, 2009, 07:18:37 pm »
Yup, the middle part of the dogbone is still a potential weak point at that bushing as some shear off completely.
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Offline RedRobin

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Re: VWR Dogbone 'Fast Road' Engine Mount - Review....
« Reply #14 on: July 02, 2009, 11:38:57 am »

Yup, the middle part of the dogbone is still a potential weak point at that bushing as some shear off completely.


....The thing is though that some 'compliance' is needed.

The VWR mounts have been thoroughly tested and the combination found to be satisfactory.

I'm now going for the other two mounts - I want a bit more noise!!



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