Motor mounts-oem vs aftermarket

[986bsdriver]

I’ve owned my boxster for almost 3 years, put maybe 10,000km on it over that span, and that’s being generous. I finally got around to checking out why it’s been making a clunking sound whenever I shift and it turned out to be the motor mount. I actually found it particularly easy to take the mount out as it took longer to jack up the car. Having said that, I’d like to know what people’s opinions are when it comes to motor mounts. My car has about 150,000km on it so it’s safe to say it’s due for lots of loving which I finally got around to and the motor mount is the first.

I usually get all my parts from the usual rock auto, mainly because of selection and the shipping price includes the taxes and duties. I got a new URO motor mount for around $30CAD shipped to my door. Based on how shredded my original one is, and how much the URO one cost, along with how much the oem or lemforder one costs, is any one superior to the other? The oem solutions is about triple the cost to order, and given how many kms I’ve driven, doing it once every few years isn’t an issue. I’d like to know what everyone’s thoughts are cause I can still order another one in before installation.

[Gilles]

86BSDriver,

I would buy the OEM or the Lemfolder mount and simply avoid the URO... do some searching here and you will know why.

Good luck!

[dghii]

I've only used OEM as I did not want to take a chance on any excessive engine vibration.

[rick3000]

OEM for street use, aftermarket for track cars.

[geekdaddy]

I've been researching the same topic. My 99 Box had the original mount and the rubber was cracked and clearly on its way out. Reviews on the URO mount were ok but URO parts in-general had poor reviews so I went with Lemforder. Not sure if this is accurate, but read somewhere that Lemforder builds for OEMs as well...

Remember you will likely need to replace the side stops as well if (a) your new mount is 987 style and your old was 986 style and/or (b) the original side stops are in poor condition. Pelican sells them.

I had the old mount pressed out and the new one pressed in by my local machine shop. I ordered a Powerflex street insert and will reinstall everything this weekend. I'm using the insert because it should extend the life of the original mount and includes robust side stops.

[rick3000]

Lemforder is an OEM supplier to Porsche. If you buy the Porsche branded one you are just paying more to get a Lemforder in a Porsche box. Good reminder on the side stops.

[geekdaddy]

Here are a few pics of my old mount, the new lemforder mount, and the powerflex inserts. I noticed that the powerflex inserts seem to extend the outer layer in the opposite direction vs the OEM side stops. Not sure if they had a reason for doing this or it was a mistake in the design. In either case, I bolted-up the mount yesterday and everything seemed to fit well with no issues.

[10/10ths]

.....any motor mount that is a higher durometer than stock triggers the engine knock sensor and you will lose horsepower.