Stiffen your Mazda 3 rear engine mount - for $4


Yeah. This is only my opinion based on what I know, but for reference I'd have to guess that the stock mount, w/it's large rubber bushing and it's air gaps, would rate somewhere between 50-55 durometers. That's my impression after doing the mount.
The 70 is quite a bit stiffer than stock, and I can only imagine what the 88 must feel like. I wouldn't do that one unless I were drag racing the car.

 
noob question... where is the rear engine mount exactly located?

On the 3 series, it's nearly directly under the drivers right foot. The rear of front subframe. If you raise the car up enough to do an oil change, you will see it if you look.

 
Can you do this mount w/o removing the motor mount?

I just saw the "$4 - tighten the shifter" thread and figured I'd do both of them together since the car won't move for several hrs
 
no you cant. The mount is easy to remove. 4 bolts and its out without shoving the engine out of the way. You also do not need to support the engine
 

Yeah. This is only my opinion based on what I know, but for reference I'd have to guess that the stock mount, w/it's large rubber bushing and it's air gaps, would rate somewhere between 50-55 durometers. That's my impression after doing the mount.
The 70 is quite a bit stiffer than stock, and I can only imagine what the 88 must feel like. I wouldn't do that one unless I were drag racing the car.

It's all a matter of opinion. I did this mod for all of the engine mounts on my Sentra SE-R, and I used 90 shore urethane. It made the car sound meaner and better. Some went even stiffer than that.

Given that this car is a little more "civilized," it might be better to go with 80, but don't be afraid of 90. There is enough rubber in the mounts to give plenty of cushion.
 
i personally went with solid myself...

DSCN0190.jpg
 
Wow. How harsh is it while driving? How about at idle?

hard to explain but i will try:
actually not bad at all. the problem with tough poly is that the force of the engine moving makes longer waves in the car and are more spread out/noticeable. the aluminum makes these waves a little more distinct and really really fast. so, its actually smoother.

hope that makes sense...lol...
 
hard to explain but i will try:
actually not bad at all. the problem with tough poly is that the force of the engine moving makes longer waves in the car and are more spread out/noticeable. the aluminum makes these waves a little more distinct and really really fast. so, its actually smoother.

The only negative I experienced with the harder urethane was the buzzing of interior plastic parts, especially in the cold at idle. Does the aluminum bushing cause that kind of buzzing?
 
nope, no weird buzzing or sounds...however, on WOT, you can almost go def !!!!!

CRAZY LOUD !!!!!!! LOVE IT !!!!
 
^^^ (rlaugh) ^^^

Whoo-whoo!! Post #888!!

Are we bringing this thread back from the dead or what? That post I made was over three months ago.


 
Last edited:
Just got it done on my 05 M3.
Couldn't be happier.

The M3 does have more space to fill in than the MS3 mounts, I had to go back to Lowes to buy a second epoxy, but much much better. Not as much vibration as my friends MSP with the AWR mount and still does the job.

Thanks for the help and info guys.
 
Wow! Now I can rotate (ie/ slide) the car by off-throttle oversteer! The car is sooooo much more responsive now that I've stiffened the mount. This mod is so easy, I don't see why anyone wouldn't do it. Why pay $100 when you can pay $4? (naughty)

Daniel
 
actually.... the equivalent of filling the mount is the corksport inserts which run about 30

not tight enough with epoxy

off throttle oversteer..... the idea of this epoxy mount is that it helps stiffen the mount under load. Off throttle you're not under load so there should be no difference. Unless modding the mount happened to coincide with you learning the car a little better
 
Last edited:
Possibly, but the engine's recoil was faster, thus being more responsive and causing off-throttle oversteer faster. I have tried for a while to do it, but the engine is (was) too similar to my wife's Focus ZX3, which takes a year or two to recoil...(protest) It did stop the majority of wheel-hop and is not too harsh. At any rate, it does snap my head back now!(shocked)

I thought about the inserts, but shipping was $10 from the place that had 'em (can't remember where I saw it, but it threw me off...)

Daniel
 
Back