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I've had these in for a week and thought I'd do a review. I know other people have them and I hope I'm not repeating what's already been said. Vibratechnics aren't aware I'm writing this, I'm not getting any commission and I'm not biased, I'm just Jo Public sharing my experiences.
Let's start with the boring need to know stuff:
'Fast Road' part nos for MK4 (see link below for competition spec if you're brave):
VAG606M - LH mount (Gearbox)
VAG404M - RH mount (Engine)
VAG405M - Pendulum mount subframe end (aka 'Dogbone')
Optional 4th mount:
VAG455B - Pendulum mount (gearbox end)
Best price / most reliable seller I could find at time of writing, for the 3 main mounts:
C&R Enterprises (ebay shop) - £453 inc VAT & Delivery
Tools required:
Ratchet, extensions, 10mm, 13mm, 16mm, 17mm & 18mm sockets.
Philips screwdriver, trolley jacks, axle stands.
Procedure:
I didn't take pics as it was cold and I wanted to get it done, but there are plenty of pics online for changing the mounts. It's very straight forward.
Time to fit all 3:
Approx 2 hours.
Manufacturers link:
http://www.vibra-tec...tta_bora_mk_iv_
Why do I need these and why on earth are they so expensive?
I've owned and modified VWs since 1990. MK1s, MK2s, MK3s, Corrados and now a MK4, and have driven most other marks. One thing I noticed on all of them is how rubbish the standard engine mounts are.
Car makers have to make them very soft to meet NVH criteria (Noise, Vibration & Harshness). Who wants to buy a car that shakes your teeth out? The downside of soft mounts is excessive movement, and that's a lot of weight to be moving around under there. At best this causes wheel hop under hard acceleration and accelerates exhaust flex-joint wear, and at worst you have 220Kg (V6 engined Golfs) of pig iron swaying about in the corners, upsetting the car's balance. I'm not sure how many people realise how bad that is for handling and understeer! This is precisely why Engines are now stressed members in Supercars and why Porsche developed active engine mounts for the 991.
By pinning the motor down firmly, everything that matters improves. Handling, traction off the line and exhaust joints live a longer, happier life. The engine just gets on with accelerating the car instead of jumping about like a randy Walrus.
As I'm not a fan of poly on road cars, Vibratechnics were the natural choice as they've resolutely stuck with rubber over the years. They don't make stiffer versions of standard mounts, they completely re-engineer them and that's why they're expensive. They're also unique and do the job they're intended to do very well indeed. All this costs money.
And not only that, I like to support small British companies. Too much cheap tat is imported before giving the Brits a chance to mature their products. When you see them in the flesh, it's easy to see where the money has gone.
OK, sounds good, but what are the downsides, Newton's law of opposing forces and all that?
There is only one downside. That NVH I mentioned earlier. VT mounts have less than half the effective absorption area of the standard mounts. A smaller, stiffer piece of rubber is where the reduction in movement comes from. The forces not absorbed by the large, squishy standard mounts has to go somewhere, and it goes through the unibody and into the cabin as increased vibration and noise. The LH mount is the one most responsible for the vibration and noise because it's gearbox one, and Mr Gearbox is the noisiest and roughest part of the entire drivetrain.
You will often read on the internet of people fitting poly or solid mounts (and even mounts consisting of a spring and some wire wool in the middle) and their owners claiming there is absolutely no increase in NVH. In my experience that is completely false. You may not get increased NVH at idle, or say, 4000rpm, but you WILL get increased NVH somewhere in the rpm range. You can't cheat physics.
In extreme cases, very hard mounts can cause secondary harmonics severe enough to shake engine mount bolts loose! That happened to me on my Corrado.
Go on then, hit me with it, when will I feel this extra NVH?
With the Fast Road mounts and when they're cold, the increased NVH is strongest at 2500rpm. Everywhere else feels only a little harsher than stock, well, the idle on mine is actually smoother than stock.
But as the engine bay heats up and therefore the rubber in the mounts softens a little, the vibration and noise reduce quite significantly and at the end of a long journey you're not even aware of their presence.
From previous experience, the Competition spec mounts are not suitable for daily road use, but on a track, they really are the mutt's nuts.
I'm making them sound quite bad, but it's all relative and subjective. Compared to VF Engineering's poly mounts all round (which shake the dashboard!), these Vibratechnics are like Jelly and silent by comparison! I believe in accurate reviews and it would be wrong of me to claim the Vibratechnics don't increase NVH, because they do. Just nowhere near as much as poly mounts (in my experience).
£450 and increased vibration and noise, remind me again why I should get these???
OK, from the first turn of the key you are immediately aware there is no engine rock at idle. The engine now feels like an integral part of the car and not an overweight passenger who can't keep still.
Secondly, when you enter a corner, the engine just doesn't move at all. This means you can get on the power earlier with more traction and less power understeer. Stability into and out of the corner (especially bumpy ones) is much improved. You immediately forget there is a wayward lump of pig iron under the bonnet, trying to escape. There's a couple of sharp, bumpy corners on my daily commute and giving it the big un round those had me understeering into the other lane. Not any more.
Thirdly, zero wheel hop under brutal acceleration off the line.
Fourthly, that horrible shunt through the drivetrain in the lower gears as the throttle snaps shut / open - completely gone. Crawling along in traffic is no longer an irritating chore. Regular commuters will know where I'm coming from with that.
Fifthly, epic gearshift. I can't begin to describe how much better this is, even under full bore acceleration.
For me, the handling improvements are the main selling point. A standard MK4 that feels significantly more planted and less understeery - just from engine mounts? I'd buy that for a dollar!
It's all about doing more with what you've got
![]()
With increased power they become even more important.
Hmmmm, I'm warming to them but I'm still not sure. What other options do I have?
You can put poly inserts in the dogbone, which is nice and cheap, but that doesn't stop the engine shunting about during cornering. You've still got the standard LH and RH mounts.
Then there are poly mounts and DLI technik mounts (the aforementioned spring with wire wool inside) but these are even more money than VT and you really need to hang up your concerns about NVH if you choose those.
You could try brand new standard mounts, but these will be blancmangey and useless again within 3 months.
You could try filling all the voids in the standard mounts with poly urethane. The way the standard mounts work is all the little holes and voids provide a nice cushion when you're cruising, but when you nail the gas, the mounts compress and effectively become solid rubber, albeit soft rubber.
You can buy liquid poly kits to fill all these voids and holes, but the results can be hit and miss and it's only worth doing on brand new or VGC mounts.
So in short, if you don't want any increase in NVH at all, stick to the standard mounts and live with the horrible gear shift, horrible shunting, engine rocking at idle, wheel hop and flopping about in corners.
And if you're a keen driver who can live with a slight loss of refinement, get the Vibras
![]()
Hope that helps!
Let's start with the boring need to know stuff:
'Fast Road' part nos for MK4 (see link below for competition spec if you're brave):
VAG606M - LH mount (Gearbox)
VAG404M - RH mount (Engine)
VAG405M - Pendulum mount subframe end (aka 'Dogbone')
Optional 4th mount:
VAG455B - Pendulum mount (gearbox end)
Best price / most reliable seller I could find at time of writing, for the 3 main mounts:
C&R Enterprises (ebay shop) - £453 inc VAT & Delivery
Tools required:
Ratchet, extensions, 10mm, 13mm, 16mm, 17mm & 18mm sockets.
Philips screwdriver, trolley jacks, axle stands.
Procedure:
I didn't take pics as it was cold and I wanted to get it done, but there are plenty of pics online for changing the mounts. It's very straight forward.
Time to fit all 3:
Approx 2 hours.
Manufacturers link:
http://www.vibra-tec...tta_bora_mk_iv_
Why do I need these and why on earth are they so expensive?
I've owned and modified VWs since 1990. MK1s, MK2s, MK3s, Corrados and now a MK4, and have driven most other marks. One thing I noticed on all of them is how rubbish the standard engine mounts are.
Car makers have to make them very soft to meet NVH criteria (Noise, Vibration & Harshness). Who wants to buy a car that shakes your teeth out? The downside of soft mounts is excessive movement, and that's a lot of weight to be moving around under there. At best this causes wheel hop under hard acceleration and accelerates exhaust flex-joint wear, and at worst you have 220Kg (V6 engined Golfs) of pig iron swaying about in the corners, upsetting the car's balance. I'm not sure how many people realise how bad that is for handling and understeer! This is precisely why Engines are now stressed members in Supercars and why Porsche developed active engine mounts for the 991.
By pinning the motor down firmly, everything that matters improves. Handling, traction off the line and exhaust joints live a longer, happier life. The engine just gets on with accelerating the car instead of jumping about like a randy Walrus.
As I'm not a fan of poly on road cars, Vibratechnics were the natural choice as they've resolutely stuck with rubber over the years. They don't make stiffer versions of standard mounts, they completely re-engineer them and that's why they're expensive. They're also unique and do the job they're intended to do very well indeed. All this costs money.
And not only that, I like to support small British companies. Too much cheap tat is imported before giving the Brits a chance to mature their products. When you see them in the flesh, it's easy to see where the money has gone.
OK, sounds good, but what are the downsides, Newton's law of opposing forces and all that?
There is only one downside. That NVH I mentioned earlier. VT mounts have less than half the effective absorption area of the standard mounts. A smaller, stiffer piece of rubber is where the reduction in movement comes from. The forces not absorbed by the large, squishy standard mounts has to go somewhere, and it goes through the unibody and into the cabin as increased vibration and noise. The LH mount is the one most responsible for the vibration and noise because it's gearbox one, and Mr Gearbox is the noisiest and roughest part of the entire drivetrain.
You will often read on the internet of people fitting poly or solid mounts (and even mounts consisting of a spring and some wire wool in the middle) and their owners claiming there is absolutely no increase in NVH. In my experience that is completely false. You may not get increased NVH at idle, or say, 4000rpm, but you WILL get increased NVH somewhere in the rpm range. You can't cheat physics.
In extreme cases, very hard mounts can cause secondary harmonics severe enough to shake engine mount bolts loose! That happened to me on my Corrado.
Go on then, hit me with it, when will I feel this extra NVH?
With the Fast Road mounts and when they're cold, the increased NVH is strongest at 2500rpm. Everywhere else feels only a little harsher than stock, well, the idle on mine is actually smoother than stock.
But as the engine bay heats up and therefore the rubber in the mounts softens a little, the vibration and noise reduce quite significantly and at the end of a long journey you're not even aware of their presence.
From previous experience, the Competition spec mounts are not suitable for daily road use, but on a track, they really are the mutt's nuts.
I'm making them sound quite bad, but it's all relative and subjective. Compared to VF Engineering's poly mounts all round (which shake the dashboard!), these Vibratechnics are like Jelly and silent by comparison! I believe in accurate reviews and it would be wrong of me to claim the Vibratechnics don't increase NVH, because they do. Just nowhere near as much as poly mounts (in my experience).
£450 and increased vibration and noise, remind me again why I should get these???
OK, from the first turn of the key you are immediately aware there is no engine rock at idle. The engine now feels like an integral part of the car and not an overweight passenger who can't keep still.
Secondly, when you enter a corner, the engine just doesn't move at all. This means you can get on the power earlier with more traction and less power understeer. Stability into and out of the corner (especially bumpy ones) is much improved. You immediately forget there is a wayward lump of pig iron under the bonnet, trying to escape. There's a couple of sharp, bumpy corners on my daily commute and giving it the big un round those had me understeering into the other lane. Not any more.
Thirdly, zero wheel hop under brutal acceleration off the line.
Fourthly, that horrible shunt through the drivetrain in the lower gears as the throttle snaps shut / open - completely gone. Crawling along in traffic is no longer an irritating chore. Regular commuters will know where I'm coming from with that.
Fifthly, epic gearshift. I can't begin to describe how much better this is, even under full bore acceleration.
For me, the handling improvements are the main selling point. A standard MK4 that feels significantly more planted and less understeery - just from engine mounts? I'd buy that for a dollar!
It's all about doing more with what you've got
Hmmmm, I'm warming to them but I'm still not sure. What other options do I have?
You can put poly inserts in the dogbone, which is nice and cheap, but that doesn't stop the engine shunting about during cornering. You've still got the standard LH and RH mounts.
Then there are poly mounts and DLI technik mounts (the aforementioned spring with wire wool inside) but these are even more money than VT and you really need to hang up your concerns about NVH if you choose those.
You could try brand new standard mounts, but these will be blancmangey and useless again within 3 months.
You could try filling all the voids in the standard mounts with poly urethane. The way the standard mounts work is all the little holes and voids provide a nice cushion when you're cruising, but when you nail the gas, the mounts compress and effectively become solid rubber, albeit soft rubber.
You can buy liquid poly kits to fill all these voids and holes, but the results can be hit and miss and it's only worth doing on brand new or VGC mounts.
So in short, if you don't want any increase in NVH at all, stick to the standard mounts and live with the horrible gear shift, horrible shunting, engine rocking at idle, wheel hop and flopping about in corners.
And if you're a keen driver who can live with a slight loss of refinement, get the Vibras
Hope that helps!
