Should I go back to stock mounts?

panteramatt

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2015
Location
South Jersey
TDI
2003 golf
I have poly motor and tranny mounts. It vibrates pretty bad at idle but ive got used to it. Well with all the mileage the shaking is making squeeking and vibrations worse. Yesterday as Im driving home, my temp go up to 241 before I pulled into my driveway. Come to find out, my lower rad hose came off and th eonly way I can think that the clip worked its way up is from all the vibrations so would the car fell less peppy with stock mounts and can they hold up to the power?
 

eddieleephd

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2012
Location
Battle Ground, Wa
TDI
2002 jetta Wagon
I think that the dogbone mount should be normal rather than poly.
You could try loosening it a bit to see if that helps.
Dogbone resists the turning of the engine the most.
 

jokila

Vendor
Joined
Dec 3, 2004
Location
Houston, Texas
TDI
2003 Jetta GLS, Manual
I have poly motor and tranny mounts. It vibrates pretty bad at idle but ive got used to it. Well with all the mileage the shaking is making squeeking and vibrations worse. Yesterday as Im driving home, my temp go up to 241 before I pulled into my driveway. Come to find out, my lower rad hose came off and th eonly way I can think that the clip worked its way up is from all the vibrations so would the car fell less peppy with stock mounts and can they hold up to the power?
Why did you go with poly in the first place? I would think it is for low flexing with a modified engine producing power for drag racing.

Totally uncomfortable for other uses as you are going to feel the vibrations. That's got to be a wreck on the dash and other parts that aren't meant to handle it. I have poly only in the sway bar bushings because they seem to last longer and give less flexing which is great for that purpose.
 

panteramatt

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2015
Location
South Jersey
TDI
2003 golf
So should I try just replacing either the dogbone or the motor mounts at a time or change them all? Wheres the best place to get them?
 

jokila

Vendor
Joined
Dec 3, 2004
Location
Houston, Texas
TDI
2003 Jetta GLS, Manual
So should I try just replacing either the dogbone or the motor mounts at a time or change them all? Wheres the best place to get them?
I would do them all. You can probably get it from someone parting out a car. Check out here as well.

Check out craigslist too. I see stuff often in my city.
 

eddieleephd

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2012
Location
Battle Ground, Wa
TDI
2002 jetta Wagon
Depends on how much you want to throw at it.

I would replace the dogbone first, "just the rubber bushing," and see what happens if you don't want to do it all at once.

Due to the rotation of the engine the dogbone takes more abuse.
Its stiffness can also be adjusted with tension on the bushings.
 

panteramatt

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2015
Location
South Jersey
TDI
2003 golf
So I dont need to buy mounts I can just replace these poly bushings with rubber right? Any rubber better than others?
 

Ol'Rattler

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 3, 2007
Location
PNA
TDI
2006 BRM Jetta
Go back to stock. Do not replace only one upper at a time. If you do that the remaining poly mount being stiffer may be destroyed because of it's difference in stiffness compared to the OEM mount.

Dogbone mount? Sort out the upper mounts first and if there is still a lot of vibration, replace it with OEM. I stiffened up my dogbone mount with a poly insert and it has worked great for the way I drive.

I don't understand these "boy racer" type folks. Quite often they do mods that degrade the performance of their cars. I think with zero understanding of how something works, they figure that If I do something I heard about, I will increase the performance of my car.

The best example of this is tards that slam their cars.
 
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panteramatt

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2015
Location
South Jersey
TDI
2003 golf
So one says to just replace the dogbone, one says just the mounts, which one is it? Also, are there any aftermarket ones that are worth trying? How bout the Febi brand?
 

jokila

Vendor
Joined
Dec 3, 2004
Location
Houston, Texas
TDI
2003 Jetta GLS, Manual
So one says to just replace the dogbone, one says just the mounts, which one is it? Also, are there any aftermarket ones that are worth trying? How bout the Febi brand?
Ol Rattler tells you to go stock and you seem to ignore his advice. And I said to replace them all, ignoring that. You are overthinking it. To your question, Febi is good. So are other brands.

Stock mounts just don't usually go bad. What does go bad more often is this bracket. If the threads disintegrate, you have lots more work to do. OEM mounts are the fine mounts for an engine producing stock horsepower. Get some mounts, doesn't really matter what brand if they are new. They will all dampen the vibrations.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to replace the dogbone with a new one, but you won't feel the difference unless it's worn.

Just be sure to get a new bolt kit for the mounts. That's the important thing to do.

Dogbone bolt kit.

Transmission mount bolt kit. You may only need the engine mount kit if you are not removing the bracket though.

Engine mount bolt kit.
 

panteramatt

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2015
Location
South Jersey
TDI
2003 golf
Who's advice did I ignore? I had conflicting advice and want to know what to do. I see full kits on eBay for $80 with a 5 year warranty. Would they be ok to use ?
 

\/\/0J0

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2010
Location
Knoxville, TN
TDI
Sadly, none anymore
I really liked the bfi stage 1 mounts but I was turning out a few more ponies than stock. While they increased vibes in the cabin, it wasn't anything noticeable. The dog bone that I ran was a stocker with some shims in the bushing to stiffen it up some.
For stock, the oem style will be great. You could also start with the dog bone. IDParts has an aftermarket for a very reasonable price, ~35usd, iirc.
If it still vibrates too much for your liking, then change both the upper mounts. This is the route I would take.
I'm not sure, though, that the engine being more rigidly mounted was the contributing factor to the hose coming loose.

Sent from my mobile look-at device
 

shadows

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 2, 2009
Location
Canton, Ohio
TDI
1999 A4 Jetta
I've got used stock motor/trans mounts if you're looking to save money. I went with upgraded ones from KermaTDI. I also replaced the main bushings in the dogbone with poly, but I'm currently considering going back to something softer after years of vibration and noise.
 

panteramatt

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2015
Location
South Jersey
TDI
2003 golf
Yea I replaced mine already and it's scary how quiet it is now. Everytime I push in the clutch I think the car stalled out
 
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