[shirtpants_]

I Installed AKG's Poly motor mounts about a month ago. I thought i'd give them a chance to break in a little before I put anything up about them.

First off, the quality of the parts is superb. AKG didn't just put a sticker on the mounts that says left and right, the metal is engraved withe left and right on the top of the mounts, and AKG Motorsports on the lower portion of the mount.

The install is kind of a PITA. You have to remove strut brace, intake, airbox, the front lower brace, and a couple of brackets, the intercooler piping(I just loosened mine), and I loosened the steering rack(don't know if this is needed). You will need to lower the Front subframe, and you have to use an engine support bar to lift the engine up some. Then I had to use a jack on the oil pan to raise the engine up even more. The support bar from harbor freight only lets you raise the engine an inch or so. I would pony up the 300 bucks for the ECS one if you plan on doing this yourself.

Review: I had the RE trans mounts installed before I did the AKG engine mounts, and my diff bushings are still stock. The only thing that changed was the addition of the AKG mounts. At first the car vibrated like crazy, anything under 1,000 rpm is pretty much unbearable for anyone other than a masochist. The vibrations went down after a couple weeks, and then I went back under the car, loosened the engine and trans mounts, then started the motor a coule times, and ran through the gears. Then I torqued everything back down. Vibrations are still there, but not nearly as bad. at idle with the AC off its completely fine, with ac its slightly more uncomfortable. The vibrations get worse between 600 and 900 rpm, then pretty much go away after 1,000 RPM. No increased vibrations that i can notice at driving speeds whatsoever. I asked PTF if they could revise my tune to raise the idle to 1,100, but they have not responded yet.

BTW, my definition of acceptable unwanted noise is that if I can drown it out with moderate radio volume, then it's not a problem.

Now onto the Positives.
I hear much more engine noise now. The good and the bad noises...
I had been looking to increase engine noise, and I tried the BMS intake, and the BMS cowl filters, and they didn't do much.
The mounts made the biggest difference.
Now I can't hear the whistling of the intake at all over the engine sound, unless my window is down.
Engine sounds fantastic!

Engine response is definitely improved, but I can't really say by how much, since i was driving a CRV around for a week until i finally got my car off of jack stands.
I don't think you will get the full effect of the stiffer engine mounts unless you go with fully solid drivetrain mounts, and a LWFW. Then I'm sure it would make a much more noticeable difference.
Gear changes do seem crisper and have more positive engagement than before.

Overall, if you want your car to remain a civilized daily driver and are very sensitive to noises and NVH, then these are probably not for you.

If you've changed out the RSFB's, trans mounts, diff mounts, and are looking for the extra edge, then this is definitely worth it.

Hope this helps some of you make a decision on these, as I had seen zero reviews when I bought them and was a little worried they would be too hardcore.

[turbo_chris]

I beta tested a set of mounts from Black Forest industries. Came to the same consclusion you did after a few months of tweaking. We tried a combo of a few different poly inserts and while we were making progress with NVH, we never got it perfect.

A tip for installing the mounts is instead of lowering the subframe you can jack up the motor a few inches to get clearance to remove the mounts. I still had to take the passenger motor mount arm off. But the entire job took me 45 min on a lift.

[shirtpants_]

Originally Posted by turbo_chris

I beta tested a set of mounts from Black Forest industries. Came to the same consclusion you did after a few months of tweaking. We tried a combo of a few different poly inserts and while we were making progress with NVH, we never got it perfect.

A tip for installing the mounts is instead of lowering the subframe you can jack up the motor a few inches to get clearance to remove the mounts. I still had to take the passenger motor mount arm off. But the entire job took me 45 min on a lift.

I jacked up the motor another couple inches from under the car, but still had to lower the subframe in order to get access to the passenger side mount. Didn't have to remove the mount arm.

45 minutes is awesome, took me well over 5 hours (on jackstands).

If anyone decides to do this and your shop only charges you a couple hours worth of labor, let them do it...

[trixdout]

What about the trans shifter and shit if its manual, after raising the engine a few inches. That won't cause any issues?

[shirtpants_]

Originally Posted by trixdout

What about the trans shifter and shit if its manual, after raising the engine a few inches. That won't cause any issues?

I have a manual, and I unbolted my transmission mount nuts on top and bottom before lifting the engine. No problems, shifting is even better now after the engine mounts.