Vibra Engine Mounts - Replace Bolts etc??

G

gwatson

Senior member
 Aberdeenshire
Evening all.

Next mod\maintenance is to replace the engine mounts now I've just passed 60k miles. I've read on one of the US forums that people replace the bolts too. Is this essential? Anything else I should replace whilst in there? OEM gearbox mounts for example?

Just gathering costs for this at the moment, won't order until next month (just moved house). Anyone got part numbers for the required bolts etc, just trying to gauge costs of all the extra bits just now. Also been advised approx 4 hours to fit, does that sound right?

Thanks in advance.

G
 
Recently had mine done along with the transmission mounts and they only charged for 3 hours so I reckon it should be less than you've been quoted. Didn't replace any of the engine mount bolts but asked him to make sure they were all good and snug.

FWIW the difference I noticed was very minimal, perhaps slightly tighter but not massively noticeable. I guess my old mounts were probably good for a little while longer but they're done now! Theres absolutely no additional NVH either, which i suppose is good but I did wonder if perhaps the competition mounts would have been a better choice/offered more of a difference as I can live with a little NVH.

As for other things to do, when was your gearbox fluid changed? If never then I'd probably get that done whilst they're in the vicinity. Not sure I'd bother with fancy aftermarket stuff either, just the recommended BMW juice will be more than good enough.
 
Oh man, don't say that, was all set for them. Not sure I want to go as hardcore as the competition mounts given it's a road car. How many miles has your car done in comparison to my 60k?
 
I'm interested in doing these also however I had my engine out recently for overhaul and new cams at simpsons and I asked them to check on the engine mounts to which they said were absolutely fine. Car was at 60k and they do know their stuff when it comes to these cars. If you're going to do them it would make sense to do gearbox mounts as well at the same time in their opinion also.
 
honestly, the road mounts will be absolutely fine, it was just the idiot in me hoping for a racier, tighter feel! :lol: I had a solid front mount on my old golf and it was night and day different, so i guess i expected a half way house with this one.

I've read before that vibratechnics don't generally recommend the race mounts unless you are aware of the potential buzzes etc. Beedub has them so perhaps he'll chime in as to how much harsher they are. I don't regret my decision having bought these but i may have done if i'd plumped for the race ones.

My car has about 43k on it now so a reasonable percentage less than yours-theres a good chance you will notice more of a difference that i did but as Tom points out, the originals may still be perfectly usable.

I'd still do it anyway, wheres the fun in leaving things alone?! Fix it 'til it breaks :D
 
Thanks for the input guys. For what I've read on the M3 forums and ZPost the feedback seems very positive.

That said, I think I'll refresh\upgrade my bushes before it's alignment at the end of March, then I guess I can do this anytime.

By the way, for others looking, there is a guy on M3cutters that sells them a lot cheaper than anywhere else, here's a link. That price includes VAT plus £6 delivery.

http://www.awesomegti.com/vibra-technics-engine-mount-e46-m3
 
Agreed with "beenie". There was definitely an improvement over stock, but it's not a "wow" improvement (my stock mounts only saw 25k miles of usage). I did the RE transmission mount first, so may be that swayed my experience on the VT mount slightly.

The only bad experience I've heard on the VT mounts is that people are having trouble getting parts to rebuild them and VT doesn't really seem to be in support of the rebuild either for some reason. Somewhat of a false advertisement if you asked me since being rebuildable was one of the advertised feature :x
 
Despite the other comments it is one of my favorite mods.
Got them to improve gear change (less engine/box movement) but also got nice and solid handling as a free bonus without mayor downsides :)
 
massive difference on my car but i was seeing excessive engine movement due to power increase.
 
Apologies for possibly taking this back a notch, but are the engine mounts something that should be changed as 'routine' at a certain mileage, or do you just change them as and when you feel they need to be changed? I know it's difficult to articulate it over text, but any indication as to what to look out for?
I received the itemised invoice details for my cars inspection 2 @ 48k miles, there was no engine mount replacement and it's now on 64k. Just wondering if this is something I should be considering.
 
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