So after a catastrophe with the 034 Motorsport subframe mounts, I was in a situation where my car was undriveable and in need of a full subframe mount replacement.
I purchased the 034 Motorsport mount set, with just the lower dogbone mount to replicate how the HPA mount works. I was told when buying this set up that their lower mount would simply slide in just as a torque mount insert would and they were very wrong. To remove the upper and lower subframe mount you need to drill a hole in the wall of the mount to get it to release as they are pressed in. The OEM mounts generally need to be destroyed for removal, being super excited for a real mount solution I drilled away and removed the lower subframe mount. When I went to install the 034 lower subframe mount, I got some serious resistance that I felt was unusual. No matter what I did the portion of it that is cut out for the pendulum would deform and not allow the mount to be pushed in. It was to the point where the car was lifting up rather than the mount being inserted. I did some searching, found out it was impossible to do so from underneath the car and that the subframe needed to be pulled so they can be inserted from the top. To be able to insert this mount from the top, you need to get the top subframe mount out and that means destroying it. All in all, I was out of a car from Friday til today (Wednesday) due to them not informing me that the subframe would have to be pulled and that both need to be replaced. If they would've told me the mounts needed to be pressed in from the top I would've bought both and planned on doing it differently, I have no idea why they allowed me to only buy the lower mount as I did call them to place my order to double check.
APR is generally very quick to ship their products out and they had exactly what I needed... a full subframe mount replacement. I've always been curious about this product and when I was at APR for the BBQ I was going to have it installed but the place was booked with people getting K04s installed and I didn't want to get in the way.
I got the product today, it was shipped quickly and the craftsmanship is awesome. Here is a photo of it compared to the 034 Motorsports subframe mount.
The subframe mount went right in, after spending a total of 5 hours fighting with the 034 Motorsport mounts I literally yelled in excitement once this mount slipped right in.
Here is a photo of the VWR subframe mount installed in the subframe
Driving impressions, I had to reuse my old subframe bolts as I hadn't planned on dropping the subframe and didn't have a chance to prepare and by all new bolts and because of this I have a knock that needs to be fixed.
The vibrations are noticeable, but totally livable. I expected much worse according to the reviews I heard, the car started and had a slight purr and a bit of NVH to get rolling in 1st gear. The shifter has no more movement, the transmission is bolted down. If I were to compare it to the Energy Suspension torque mount insert, the insert doesn't hold a candle to it. I had wheel hop so severe at the track with my insert that my front bumper came loose, with this VWR Subframe mount I've yet to be able to get the car to hop in any conditions. I would say that this is a much better alternative than buying all 3 mounts and likely performs just as well. If I had to rate the NVH I'd put it around 3-4 out of 10, I asked my brother who went on the first test drive with me and he gave it a grade of 3 out of 10. The performance of this mount I'd grade 8/9 out of 10.
I will update if I install the 034 Engine & Transmission mounts but thats not the plan. Due to the mishap I wanted a refund being as they haven't been used and I was willing to pay for return shipping. They told me their policy is just store credit, there isn't anything else they sell that I could use though so it basically amounts to no refund and me being out of a car for 5 days and an extra $200 to get a real subframe mount. They charged me for the transmission mount and told me afterwards it's on backorder, they haven't sent me the email they told me they would with regards to the refund so it looks like I'm boned.
I purchased the 034 Motorsport mount set, with just the lower dogbone mount to replicate how the HPA mount works. I was told when buying this set up that their lower mount would simply slide in just as a torque mount insert would and they were very wrong. To remove the upper and lower subframe mount you need to drill a hole in the wall of the mount to get it to release as they are pressed in. The OEM mounts generally need to be destroyed for removal, being super excited for a real mount solution I drilled away and removed the lower subframe mount. When I went to install the 034 lower subframe mount, I got some serious resistance that I felt was unusual. No matter what I did the portion of it that is cut out for the pendulum would deform and not allow the mount to be pushed in. It was to the point where the car was lifting up rather than the mount being inserted. I did some searching, found out it was impossible to do so from underneath the car and that the subframe needed to be pulled so they can be inserted from the top. To be able to insert this mount from the top, you need to get the top subframe mount out and that means destroying it. All in all, I was out of a car from Friday til today (Wednesday) due to them not informing me that the subframe would have to be pulled and that both need to be replaced. If they would've told me the mounts needed to be pressed in from the top I would've bought both and planned on doing it differently, I have no idea why they allowed me to only buy the lower mount as I did call them to place my order to double check.
APR is generally very quick to ship their products out and they had exactly what I needed... a full subframe mount replacement. I've always been curious about this product and when I was at APR for the BBQ I was going to have it installed but the place was booked with people getting K04s installed and I didn't want to get in the way.
I got the product today, it was shipped quickly and the craftsmanship is awesome. Here is a photo of it compared to the 034 Motorsports subframe mount.
The subframe mount went right in, after spending a total of 5 hours fighting with the 034 Motorsport mounts I literally yelled in excitement once this mount slipped right in.
Here is a photo of the VWR subframe mount installed in the subframe
Driving impressions, I had to reuse my old subframe bolts as I hadn't planned on dropping the subframe and didn't have a chance to prepare and by all new bolts and because of this I have a knock that needs to be fixed.
The vibrations are noticeable, but totally livable. I expected much worse according to the reviews I heard, the car started and had a slight purr and a bit of NVH to get rolling in 1st gear. The shifter has no more movement, the transmission is bolted down. If I were to compare it to the Energy Suspension torque mount insert, the insert doesn't hold a candle to it. I had wheel hop so severe at the track with my insert that my front bumper came loose, with this VWR Subframe mount I've yet to be able to get the car to hop in any conditions. I would say that this is a much better alternative than buying all 3 mounts and likely performs just as well. If I had to rate the NVH I'd put it around 3-4 out of 10, I asked my brother who went on the first test drive with me and he gave it a grade of 3 out of 10. The performance of this mount I'd grade 8/9 out of 10.
I will update if I install the 034 Engine & Transmission mounts but thats not the plan. Due to the mishap I wanted a refund being as they haven't been used and I was willing to pay for return shipping. They told me their policy is just store credit, there isn't anything else they sell that I could use though so it basically amounts to no refund and me being out of a car for 5 days and an extra $200 to get a real subframe mount. They charged me for the transmission mount and told me afterwards it's on backorder, they haven't sent me the email they told me they would with regards to the refund so it looks like I'm boned.
