UUC Black Trans Mounts..

I just installed these today. After reading many write-ups, both on quality and on installation, I was determined to get these. After installing today however, I am incredibly upset.. they pass an intense amount of vibrations and noise for me.. I just recently replaced my motor mounts with M3 mounts and felt no different, but this is insane. I did everything correctly (or so it seems), preventing preload on the mounts by driving before tightening the top nuts, and keeping the cross brace bolts snugged up but not overly tight.

Is there something I did wrong? Anyone else have this problem? I made it better by redoing the "settle-in" of the mounts, but I really can't see anything else I can do..

Thanks for any help.

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I have the same ones. I'm not all that impressed by them. One of mine has already torn all the way through and I have maybe put 8K mi on the car. Needles to say I will be reverting back to OEM some time soon. They vibrate like crazy!

Okay so I'm not the only one! Thanks for the input! Apparently UUC gets this complaint a lot. Here's what they had to say in another thread:
"we see people not follow the torque specs and, more importantly, the advice about not pre-loading the cross brace.

Keep in mind that mushy OE parts have great tolerance for these things; performance parts are supposed to be making changes and making things work better... which means extra care has to be taken during installation.

Having sold thousands of these over 15 years, we don't mean to come across as brusque... but believe me on this, in 100% of the cases of vibration with the Black mounts, I've been able to trace to it to either over-torquing or pre-loading the transmission brace. These are very simple parts, there's no "bad software" making them work differently for you.

Always make sure the transmission support brace is straight, not out of place (the mounting holes are slots, so it can be shifted), and that the transmission is fully resting on the bushings before the nuts are tightened. That's the simple way to avoid vibration."

So if you have any other driveline issues they'll be pronounced by these.. I was actually trying to address some vibrations in my driveline with these recent mounts, this might be my situation. Also, I never found any information on the 'lower' mount bolts until now. Apparently you're supposed to leave all 4 loose while settling the transmission.. I'll try this soon, if it doesn't help then I'll go back to OE until I can figure out this annoying driveline issue..

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Stiff engine mounts = ok. Stiff trans mounts = not so ok. They may get better, but honestly, what'd you expect?

Well, if you've read some of the reviews, most others actually say they added almost no extra vibrations. I didn't mind getting some background vibration or at certain RPM, but this feels worse than any car I've ever been in, and I've been in some seriously ratty, broken-down, vibrating vehicles.

Its like sitting in a massage chair on high while playing the lowest note my subs could play on full blast. Constantly.

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Btw, anyone doing this installation following this guide: http://www.bmw330ci.net/projects/transmounts.php
He has the mounts up-side-down. I believe he just put the enforcer cups on the wrong side.. but they should have the rubber facing into the transmission, not the cross brace, like this: http://blog.bavauto.com/wp-content/u...-12.17.39a.jpg

Line up the notches in the rubber and in the enforcer kit, and use those to align the mounts with the cross brace alignment pin..

UPDATE: THIS INFORMATION IS WRONG. DIY IS CORRECT. Read post #17.

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did you use the Enforcer Cups with them?

i installed them on my M3 and have nothing like the results you have. i would expect a review like that on the firmer Red ones + Enforcer Cups but not by themselves.
mine are fine on my M3.

I did use the enforcer cups, exactly how they are mounted in the post above.

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Originally Posted by Weste46

I did use the enforcer cups, exactly how they are mounted in the post above.

don't use those then
they make the more compliant Black-Street mounts less pliable/forgiving

If you have some other source of vibration in the driveline, then stiffer mounts are just going to make it worse, as you now know. You seem to suspect that there is some issue causing vibrations, right? If so, then stiffer mounts will not improve that situation. If your original mounts were shot, and you suspected that was the cause of the vibrations, then what you did makes sense. But if you thought that stiffer mounts and limiters would cure a vibration issue not related to worn out mounts, then your thinking was off (not to be insulting, honestly).
The other problem is that reviews can be misleading. What is tolerable for one person is a pain for someone else. Some people will drive a car with solid engine, trans, and FCAB's on the street, and think it is a blast. Most people would absolutely hate it. In my younger days, I drove a race prepped Miata as a daily driver, including a 3 hour drive home each weekend. To me, the car felt great. But I had coworkers who would ride to lunch with me one time, and swear they would never do it again. I had several girlfriends who absolutely refused to ride in that car.
My point is that reviews can come from a wide variety of people, and what you find harsh may not bother them at all. The same goes for urethane FCAB's. Some love them, and others will remove them a month later.
But it really sounds like there may be another vibration issue that is making the stiffer mounts feel even worse. Maybe you should put the factory mounts back in until you get the vibrations sorted out. Then the stiffer mounts may not feel as bad.

Yeah, I was replacing them to try and solve a problem, not hide it. I know squishy mounts hide problems pretty well. I'll have to solve my other issues first and then reinstall them and make a true review then. I could feel drive line hesitation after the new mounts so they did not fix my issue, and therefore I assume they are probably intensifying it.

Thanks for the good read, always like to learn a new thing or two!

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Such a constant hard vibration like that sounds like the u-joints in your driveshaft are shot. I'm not sure about the e46 driveshaft, but on older bmw's these were not replaceable, you had to get a new driveshaft. I'd drop the exhaust and check it out. Also check the carrier bearing while you're in there, although not likely to cause this kind of thing.

Checking both soon actually! However with stock mounts, it's barely noticeable.

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take the Enforcer Cups off and it'll be fine.
but if you do have other issues you still need to fix this.

Aww shieet bro UUC trans mounts failing?! Fo real?!

they worked in a little better over a day. Then got worse as I drove? Thinking unbalanced clutch kit maybe making vibrations. I don't think the mounts are the problem.

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Hmm... back to stock mounts, but found out the SECOND picture is actually wrong, the DIY is correct. I don't understand why the enforcer cups have a cutout for the alignment "nub" if they don't go there.. gonna get my other issues sorted then reinstall them this way.. if anyone could explain why there is a nub cutout on the enforcer cup, I would appreciate it.

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Again the result of people trying to "tweak" with "upgraded" parts. I would shy away from vastly different spec'd parts from aftermarket companies. Especially something like a mount.

I have OEM E46 M3 mounts and RTABs on my car and they're great. Only gripe with the M3 engine mounts is the slight amount of vibration at idle but thats to be expected when they're 30% stiffer. But at least I know the quality is there!

I swapped back to Genuine BMW mounts last night, and ta da! No more vibrations. But some times its the lessons in life that teach you.

well obviously I had M3 mounts in my car, I can tell you the "Black" mounts are better feeling performance wise. Again this is on an M3 which has more torque and heavier engine/transmission combo.

If you would have just removed the Enforcer Cups I'm sure you would have been fine. If you would have installed the Enforcer Cup correctly there's a good chance you might have been fine too