I ordered my mount from TSW yesterday and today got an email that simply said "Sorry, we ran out of these and refunded the full amount of your order today."

!?

Does this mean I have to go buy the stock mount? I emailed them back and asked when they'd expect to get more in, but I haven't received a response. I'm not very happy with their customer service.

 

Just call them. If they're making a new batch, that'll get you on the short list. Jeff is incredibly to cool to talk with/work with; on the phone, he's helped me too many times to count...

 

I'll be at the track on Saturday and Sunday and another track day in two weeks and I really wanted to fix the mount before these events. I'm going to get the OEM one and replace it with the urethane one when it blows again. I figure the loss of $80 on the OEM mount is worth it for piece of mind.

 

I had the EXACT same thing happen last year. The TSW prototype had passed the track test, but wasn't available before my next track date (last fall), and my OEM mount had just blown on the track. I had to replace it with another OEM one. I'll probably replace it next year with the TSW one.

The hydraulic mount makes a disastrous mess if it's leaking on the track, so I'd definitely replace it, even if it's with another OEM one. Ask me how I know....

 

You might try one of the vendors that sell TSW parts such as Way Motor Works or AutoXCooper to see if they happen to have any in stock.

 

Since I already have the OEM mount I'm just going to replace it with that until it blows again. I question the long-term good of the urethane mount. I know that the hydraulic fluid is there to absorb shock and I don't see how a urethane mount can do that much better than the metal and rubber shell left behind after the hydraulic part of the pump fails in the ORM mount. I don't think it's been out long enough for there to be any long term tests on the stresses a solid mount causes, but I do worry a little.

When I aksed if it was OK to track the car was a dead mount (which isn't leaking fluid) the answer I was was, yeah, but you won't be absorbing the shock so be smooth to prevent any micro damage to other parts.

 

Actually, the first mount on the earlier Mini Cooper S models was a solid mount. Mini got rid of it mainly due to complaints of NVH and replaced it with the hydraulic one on later models.

A few of them did crack, but they weren't nearly as problematic as the hydraulic mount--most early models still have their original solid mount with no problems. The TSW mount uses a different compound than the original solid mount that theoretically should hold up even better.

 

Actually the early mount is also a hydraulic mount. Most people don't realize it has oil in it too, cause they weren't prone to pooring it out like the newer ones. Alot of times these early ones get short when they wear out and when you jack up the motor to replace it the cracks in the mount have the mount just fall apart, then you'll see the fluid in it.

 

It is likely a rubber mount though, correct, not a urethane one? I brought it up to a friend who used to work at MINI Corsa, he said he wouldn't do it because of the amount of vibration from the MINI motors.

 

Its poly-urethane. The vibrations are not bad at all to me and I have the TSW and powerflex in the other two. Probably get the BSH lower soon.

 

It's funny you mention that. The mount in my old '02 MCS did leak a bit. It definitely had me wondering with all the different posts/talk I've seen/heard about early mounts.

 

Anyone out there who bought this already had the TSW dampener, and installed both at the same time? Similar to what Doc Phil did with the VIP "stabilizer"??

 

For what it's worth, Jeff at TSW told me you really don't need the damper after you switch to the hydraulic mount, it doesn't do much once you get the hydraulic one out of there.

 

It boggles my mind that no one else has made a mount yet! BSH maybe?

Did TSW mention when they'd get more in stock?

- Andrew

 

I am at 63K miles and my 3rd mount just gave out today .