As most of you know, the stock mounts on the DC5R and DC5S suck. Their soft by nature which contributes to the pleasant and grandma-friendly ride quality with minimal transfer of vibrations and energy to the cabin and as a result, produce a mass of wheel hop/axel tramp when the car is launched or even when a slight bit too much power is tried to be put to ground. Most of you will recognise this as a ‘thuk-thuk-thuk’ noise and jolting inside the cabin as your car struggles to go somewhere.
To solve this problem, you can either buy a torque damper which attempts to hold the engine still by bracing the chassis and engine together or you can buy upgraded (stiffer) engine mounts, such as Mugen, Innovative or even Energy Suspension Motor Mount (ESMM) inserts. These products aim to minimise engine flex and increase the amount of energy that is being transferred to the driveline components which help to eliminate wheel hop.
Hearing a lot of people say the ESMM gave a crapload of vibrations that made the car uncomfortable and hard to live with on a daily basis, I decided why the heck not and to give them a try as they were the cheapest mod that a DC5 owner could purchase.
The ESMM inserts come as 4 inserts – 2 for each front and rear mount of the car which bolt one onto each side. The inserts are oversized and as a result, provide a bit of resistance when fitting them into the tight mount position. They push against the side of where the stock mounts sit which is probably the contributing factor as to why they cause the car to vibrate even on idle. Fearing the notorious vibrations, I decided to install only the front insert and see how much of a difference that made.
Initial start up:
Upon starting up the car, the instant transfer of vibrations is apparent with each crank as the cabin will shake. It then dawns on you why the mass of people complain about how harsh and how much vibration these mounts give out…
Vibrations:
On idle, the mounts give out a bit more vibration than stock – more than enough to rattle any loose objects inside the glove box (which became the determining factor for me to take them out). The steering wheel also shakes a fair bit more than stock and massages the palms of your hands.
Whilst driving, the vibrations become more apparent as the cabin shakes a bit more and the steering wheel vibrates even more so. At full throttle, the vibrations become part and parcel of the car and give it that racing feel. However when you think you’re done and you’ve seen the worse of the mounts’ vibrations, turn on the air-conditioning and receive your free full body massage as the whole cabin interior massages you. For the easily ticklish, these are not the mounts for you.
Performance:
With the bonnet up, tugging on the throttle cable in sharp bursts reveals the engine to give minimal flex... TICK
wlee2 and I then went out to test for wheel hop. We found an open road to launch the car and with nobody else in sight, I slipped the clutch from about 4500rpm quickly – enough to cause the car to wheel hop on normal mounts – however the wheels kept spinning freely and I gained traction and drove away quickly. TICK
Verdict: the front ESMM alone is strong enough to stop normal wheel hop.
Although the mounts give good performance as their designed to, I've since taken the mounts out because their too hardcore for me. My car is a daily driver and I don't appreciate rattling glove boxes
Some random quotes:
Wlee2: your car tickles me when you turn on the air-con.
RDC5: whats wrong with your car? The whole car is shaking! I think you need to get it checked out.
Girlfriend: Really? I can’t feel any extra vibrations… (no, I’m not joking)
Edit: link to what I replaced the ESMM with: http://forum.clubitr.com.au/showthread.php?t=2537
To solve this problem, you can either buy a torque damper which attempts to hold the engine still by bracing the chassis and engine together or you can buy upgraded (stiffer) engine mounts, such as Mugen, Innovative or even Energy Suspension Motor Mount (ESMM) inserts. These products aim to minimise engine flex and increase the amount of energy that is being transferred to the driveline components which help to eliminate wheel hop.
Hearing a lot of people say the ESMM gave a crapload of vibrations that made the car uncomfortable and hard to live with on a daily basis, I decided why the heck not and to give them a try as they were the cheapest mod that a DC5 owner could purchase.
The ESMM inserts come as 4 inserts – 2 for each front and rear mount of the car which bolt one onto each side. The inserts are oversized and as a result, provide a bit of resistance when fitting them into the tight mount position. They push against the side of where the stock mounts sit which is probably the contributing factor as to why they cause the car to vibrate even on idle. Fearing the notorious vibrations, I decided to install only the front insert and see how much of a difference that made.
Initial start up:
Upon starting up the car, the instant transfer of vibrations is apparent with each crank as the cabin will shake. It then dawns on you why the mass of people complain about how harsh and how much vibration these mounts give out…
Vibrations:
On idle, the mounts give out a bit more vibration than stock – more than enough to rattle any loose objects inside the glove box (which became the determining factor for me to take them out). The steering wheel also shakes a fair bit more than stock and massages the palms of your hands.
Whilst driving, the vibrations become more apparent as the cabin shakes a bit more and the steering wheel vibrates even more so. At full throttle, the vibrations become part and parcel of the car and give it that racing feel. However when you think you’re done and you’ve seen the worse of the mounts’ vibrations, turn on the air-conditioning and receive your free full body massage as the whole cabin interior massages you. For the easily ticklish, these are not the mounts for you.
Performance:
With the bonnet up, tugging on the throttle cable in sharp bursts reveals the engine to give minimal flex... TICK
wlee2 and I then went out to test for wheel hop. We found an open road to launch the car and with nobody else in sight, I slipped the clutch from about 4500rpm quickly – enough to cause the car to wheel hop on normal mounts – however the wheels kept spinning freely and I gained traction and drove away quickly. TICK Verdict: the front ESMM alone is strong enough to stop normal wheel hop.
Although the mounts give good performance as their designed to, I've since taken the mounts out because their too hardcore for me. My car is a daily driver and I don't appreciate rattling glove boxes
Some random quotes:
Wlee2: your car tickles me when you turn on the air-con.
RDC5: whats wrong with your car? The whole car is shaking! I think you need to get it checked out.
Girlfriend: Really? I can’t feel any extra vibrations… (no, I’m not joking)
Edit: link to what I replaced the ESMM with: http://forum.clubitr.com.au/showthread.php?t=2537
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