I've got the tsw upper engine mount, and a mixture of power flex and super pro poly inserts in the upper, tranny, lower, steering rack, sway bar, fcab, Rtab.

Basically any place that could wear out I replaced it.

Car shifts great and my friends who get a chance to drive love how connected the car feels.

 

I'm replacing the passenger side mounts with OEM replacements for now, poly inserts for the gear box mount, and OEM replacement for the lower engine. I'll go back and add poly inserts for the rest later

 

Do it all at once. This car is a ***** to wrench on and you won't look forward to doing the work twice. Once everything settles in the vibration isn't terrible

 

I could care less about vibration really lol. It's a budget thing. And I'll be installing a 17% pulley when I go through and add the inserts to the easy to reach mounts the second go around. But the top mount towards the firewall on my 02 is completely seperated

 

Can someone explain how stiffer motor/transmission mounts improve performance? I can see how there might be some slight increase in cornering stability by holding the engine tighter, but not much. I don't see how shifting feel could be improved at all, however. Just trying to understand why you'd buy aftermarket mounts. Is it mostly a longevity thing?

 

Stiffer mounts hold the engine in place tighter. They prevent wheel hop during hard launches which equals faster off the line, as well as better 0-60 time, and during shifting the engine can shake back and forth and make gear changes slightly longer, bad for the track. It's a lot easier to shift and not get any jitters, so smoother shifting. On front wheel drive vehicles they can also help prevent or eliminate torque steer.

The stock rubber mounts absorb some of the power coming from the motor to the wheels as well. You won't gain any power but you will lose less power from the motor to the wheels through being absorbed by softer mounts and bushings. I'm sure I'm missing something.

The trade off is more engine and road noise transfered into the passenger cabin. If you don't do any hard driving then stock replacement mounts are just fine to replace worn mounts. I like to get on it a bit more than I should on the street, not gonna lie. I'm also considering autocrossing my Mini. So the pros out weight the cons for me, of course there are varying degrees of stiffness you can purchase. Powerflex has street versus race bushings, i would not recommend race for anything street driven as far as comfort goes.

Poly mounts and bushings also last a lot longer than rubber. So longer intervals between replacing.

 

What he said! (Nice job man)

Also, 05-06's passenger side mount is fluid filled, and tends to fail after as little as 30-60,000 kms.
The engine rocks quite a lot on an OEM lower mount, and even more on an old mount... This has a tendency to lead to a failure of the precat joint on the down pipe of the exhaust ($1200 but not always)

 

I think its mostly hype as far as giving your car any "performance" increase. They do make things feel tighter, and more "connected" if that makes sense. Anything you can do to keep the motor from rocking around in the engine bay probably isn't a bad idea

 

Factory rubber bushings are more prone to wear, which results in poor tracking and handling. All bushings on your car are one of the most stressed components as they undergo very high and straining conditions. Upgraded items such as Powerflex eliminates these rubber compounds that deteriorate with age and replaces them with polyurethane bushings that last much longer. They'll improve your MINI's handling/performance and are ultimately more cost effective than OEM bushing replacements. Describing things as much "tighter" is a good way to describe the feeling. You feel better contact to the road and your MINI. Depending on how much you upgrade/replace you'll feel it's much more responsive.

 

Depends on your definition of performance. You won't be gaining any horsepower no, but stiffer mounts and bushings equals less drivetrain loss and much better handling when driving harder. Ask anyone who is serious about autocross, in any car, what the best mods are, they will tell you, tires, brakes, stiffer bushings/mounts. Those three things will make a huge difference in lap times. I'd call that a pretty big increase in performance.

 

I agree....but I bet that when all of the autocrossers are talking about upgrading bushings....they are talking mainly about suspension bushings, not motor mount bushings.

 

I hang out with the hard core autocrossers, they are talking about everything. The faster and more responsive you can get the power to the tires the better. Rubber bushings are for comfort that's it. That's why they don't last so long when there are much better materials to make them from. The rubber ones cause less in car vibrations which make soccer mom happy.

They literally make a car feel softer.