034 Motorsport Street Density Motor & Transmission Mounts + Snub Mount Installed
I recently had a motor mount go bad, so I took the opportunity to do a complete overhaul of my drivetrain mounts and bushings. To accomplish this, I ordered an Apikol snub mount as well as the 034 Motorsport Street Density Motor Mounts and Transmission Mount. All in, it was about $300 of parts and about 8 hours of labor to install. I’m blown away at the difference, as shifting (and driving in general!) is so much smoother now. Based on my research, I noticed many Audizine users were raving about how much an aftermarket snub mount helps smooth out shifts, but in my case I think replacing the busted motor mount (which caused a lot of play when shifting) also contributed a lot to this. Regardless, the difference is truly night and day, and these upgrades have been some of the most worthwhile mods I’ve completed to date in terms of improving the driveability of the car…
Apikol Snub Mount
I bought this mount several months ago, thinking I could just install it myself…the DIY was a bit more involved than I realized and requires taking the radiator into service mode, and I never got around to trying it. So while I had my car in to have the motor mounts replaced, I went ahead and had this put in as well. For a $35 piece of rubber, it is a much better product than the OEM snub mount, as the picture above demonstrates. This improved snub mount helps smooth out the shifts a bit and also keeps everything firmer. There is an optional “zero gap” bracket that 034 Motorsport makes but I didn’t get it as I felt the OEM bracket was sufficient for my needs and I didn’t want to risk any additional vibrations the revised bracket may cause. Overall, I’m very happy with this! Expect ~2 hours for install between removing the front bumper, putting the radiator in service mode, install and then reassembly.
034 Motor & Trans Mounts – Street Density
Pictured above you can see the 034 Motorsport motor mount to the left and the OEM motor mount to the right for comparison purposes. I chose the 034 motor mounts as they were about the same price as an OEM ones but were a 10% stiffer material and estimated to improve overall drivetrain stiffness by up to 25% over factory. Stern also makes a revised motor mount for this engine/car, but they were backordered by several months so I went with 034 which had these in stock and ready to ship. 034 offers two options – street density or race density – for the motor mounts. Both add some additional vibration over the OEM mounts since they are stiffer, but street density is only 10% stiffer than OEM, making the resulting increase in vibration is barely noticeable at best.
The car definitely feels very solid after installing these, and I really don’t notice any vibrations or harshness compared to before. While my perspective may be slightly biased since one motor mount was completely blown before, the car is so much smoother, tighter and firmer when shifting. I really like how these feel, and don’t feel there were any negative consequences to upgrading.
In Summary
My initial research indicated that some folks may not like the added vibrations of the stiffer motor mounts and transmission mount, but in real life usage I found these vibration increases to be so minimal I can’t even feel them; however, the improvement in drivetrain feel is extremely noticeable, making this mod well worth it in my book. The snub mount is another “must do” for this car, and super cheap to buy – the only downside is that the install is a little more elaborate as it requires putting the radiator in service mode. Either way, I’d highly recommend all three of these parts for any B6/B7 Audi S4 owner looking to tighten up their car for performance or daily driving purposes.
Hey Nick, reading some other places that it’s just a case of removing undertray and 3 bolts on the snub and the 3 nuts on the chassis mount and the whole lot drops out?
Rad in service position etc is this for the b6 ? Had a quick look at mine and can’t see why wouldn’t drop out also have you any experience doing the rear diff mount ? Reading a tutorial think it’s the same for a4/s4/rs4
Thanks -David
Not sure TBH David, I had a shop install for me – my understanding for the B7 anyway was that it did require service position, but that might not be the case for B6.
Hi Nick,
greetings from a proud and happy owner of a wonderful silver Audi B7 S4 that is our immaculately looked after pride and joy down here is New Zealand! She gets polished by hand:)) And only 49000 miles on her.
Oh and also congratulations on a great website which I find myself frequenting often.
I had a question regarding the Motor mounts you had chosen. (I am already sure about getting a snub mount though.)
On the JHM website it looks like there are other even stiffer motor mounts for the S4, such as the ones listed below the one you have – Stern/motorsport line ect.
I do not plan on tracking my car but desire to get the best from her with minimal mods such as these. I am limited to modifications as I have full mechanical insurance on her and they have a tight policy.
(She is our daily driver)
What made you choose these mounts over the others?
Best
Jade
Hey Jade – awesome to hear from someone in New Zealand, kinda crazy as I would have never guessed that 5 years ago when I started blogging just so I could post my car pictures somewhere other than Facebook and stop annoying all of my FB friends, haha.
JHM carries the 034 Motorsport line, so I think they’re the same thing. Stern also makes motor mounts that are more street friendly, but when I went to order them they were backordered by a few months so it made the decision easy. Stern does make a good product, but I run a lot of 034 Motorosport components throughout my car and have been happy with them, and I try to run parts from the same brand where possible since they usually work well together and are R&D tested together by the manufacturers – for instance JHM’s shop cars run all JHM parts, so they’re able to find any weaknesses or find parts that don’t work well together and revise them.
Thanks Nick!
Really appreciate your feedback. I will look into this upgrade in the near future.
Keep up the awesome website and best wishes from NZ:)
Hi Nick
Just to add to the above, there is no need to remove anything other than the snub bracket nuts (3 x 13mm) and the three (5mm) hex head bolts holding the snub. Nothing more is required.
Cheers
Hey nick. Do you have a rough estimate of what I should be prepared to pay to have all three of these things installed at once? Thanks.
I was charged 8 hours for the job, which is a lot – typically a shop charges around $100 per hour. I think they were charging on the high side, but they had a lower hourly rate, so it worked out…the snub mount is easy and should be <1 hour, it's the motor mounts that are particularly tricky since you have to raise the engine to remove the old ones and insert the new ones. I don't recall the difficulty on the tranny mount though...
Hey Nick. Did you also need to buy the 034 resistor bypass that 034 motorsports advertises? It says it’s for active motor mounts and i’m not sure if it’s something I need to buy or something you had installed when you installed your motor mounts. Thanks.
I don’t remember 100%, but I believe I did? I would call them to confirm.