caffeine
Veteran Member
I've tried posting a couple other places with no luck, but basically I'm trying to resolve a dilemma around engine mounts.
For a bit of a backstory, I'm doing a BHW swap into an Audi Allroad, and the mounts from the donor car have evidence of being bad (red stains on the bottom of the mount indicating that the hydraulic fluid has been leaking). Everywhere I look, the advice is to always replace with OEM mounts only when looking for a mount up to the task of keeping the BHW engine feeling smooth in the vehicle (and I want my Allroad to be as smooth as possible after the conversion). I noticed that there are a handful of aftermarket brands offering diesel-specific mounts for the B5.5 platform, but basically ZERO objective reviews of them that I have been able to find. Because of this, I looked around and found what I THOUGHT was a decent deal on OEM mounts from Europa Parts. My mistake was that I saw the description of "OE Supplier" on their website and I assumed that what I would be getting is OEM mounts from the brand that supplies VW. What I received was an MTC-branded mount (which I could find for nearly US$100 cheaper than Europa charged) and a Hudson Products mount (which I can't find much info on other than that they are a parts re-boxer).
I immediately contacted Europa, and they agreed to send me a partial refund for the MTC mount (they gave me back US$80; I sent them pages for 3 much cheaper sources for the MTC mount and they price-matched the highest of the 3) and change the listing on the website (they changed it from "OE Supplier" to "OE Aftermarket". I STILL feel like "OE Aftermarket" is misleading, especially since they definitely know which brands they have available, but I suppose it's better than no change at all.
My dilemma: First, I have no idea what genuine VW BHW mounts actually feel like, since I haven't actually driven a diesel Passat, therefore I have nothing to compare the aftermarket mounts with. Second, I can find ZERO objective reviews of either of these aftermarket brands; it is slightly promising that they are sold specifically for the diesel engine, but there's still virtually no information available regarding quality and longevity.
Does anyone on here have any first-hand experience with aftermarket diesel-specific BHW mounts? Even after going through the trouble of getting a partial refund, I still find myself leaning towards sending these back and just ordering genuine VW mounts from a more reputable supplier, though I would probably prefer keeping them if I can find any quality information about them on here that would convince me they're reputable. The Hudson Products mount actually does have the correct VW part # on the side of the mount, but the MTC mount has a different part # molded into the rubber secion, and nothing on the side (the part # suffix is 'S' instead of 'AR'). The Hudson Products mount was listed for US$49.95 while the MTC mount was listed for US$129.95 on the Europaparts website.
For a bit of a backstory, I'm doing a BHW swap into an Audi Allroad, and the mounts from the donor car have evidence of being bad (red stains on the bottom of the mount indicating that the hydraulic fluid has been leaking). Everywhere I look, the advice is to always replace with OEM mounts only when looking for a mount up to the task of keeping the BHW engine feeling smooth in the vehicle (and I want my Allroad to be as smooth as possible after the conversion). I noticed that there are a handful of aftermarket brands offering diesel-specific mounts for the B5.5 platform, but basically ZERO objective reviews of them that I have been able to find. Because of this, I looked around and found what I THOUGHT was a decent deal on OEM mounts from Europa Parts. My mistake was that I saw the description of "OE Supplier" on their website and I assumed that what I would be getting is OEM mounts from the brand that supplies VW. What I received was an MTC-branded mount (which I could find for nearly US$100 cheaper than Europa charged) and a Hudson Products mount (which I can't find much info on other than that they are a parts re-boxer).
I immediately contacted Europa, and they agreed to send me a partial refund for the MTC mount (they gave me back US$80; I sent them pages for 3 much cheaper sources for the MTC mount and they price-matched the highest of the 3) and change the listing on the website (they changed it from "OE Supplier" to "OE Aftermarket". I STILL feel like "OE Aftermarket" is misleading, especially since they definitely know which brands they have available, but I suppose it's better than no change at all.
My dilemma: First, I have no idea what genuine VW BHW mounts actually feel like, since I haven't actually driven a diesel Passat, therefore I have nothing to compare the aftermarket mounts with. Second, I can find ZERO objective reviews of either of these aftermarket brands; it is slightly promising that they are sold specifically for the diesel engine, but there's still virtually no information available regarding quality and longevity.
Does anyone on here have any first-hand experience with aftermarket diesel-specific BHW mounts? Even after going through the trouble of getting a partial refund, I still find myself leaning towards sending these back and just ordering genuine VW mounts from a more reputable supplier, though I would probably prefer keeping them if I can find any quality information about them on here that would convince me they're reputable. The Hudson Products mount actually does have the correct VW part # on the side of the mount, but the MTC mount has a different part # molded into the rubber secion, and nothing on the side (the part # suffix is 'S' instead of 'AR'). The Hudson Products mount was listed for US$49.95 while the MTC mount was listed for US$129.95 on the Europaparts website.