I got the place racing mounts installed today. Some people on the forum installed them already and I have a few questions since there aren't any manuals or FAQs of any sort.

First off, my old mounts had sensors, the place racing ones do not. The sensors cant be removed fromt he OEM as far as I know. Does this cause a check engine light? Can this be avoided?

Second, the idle vibrates like crazy. I got scared the first time I idlled. Is this normal, will this go away after some time? Any ways of making this go away?

I love the way that the car drives ultra smooth when you hit the gas, but it sucks at idle.

 

The idle will stay rough because the mounts are way stiffer than before....

You have to sacrifice something to gain something.

 

Yeah but this is as rough as if I had a diesel engine. Im going to have my entire interior get loose from all the vibration.

Still need questions answered.

 

Is the idle really THAT bad?
I want to get them too, but the way you're making it sound makes me a little scared!

 

Yeah it is, my steering wheel is vibrating like it would if my engine was a diesel one.

 

Automatic or manual?

 

Are you an auto? I think that some autos had some kind of electronically controlled motor mount.

I have the exact opposite problem at the moment. My mounts are blown. It idles fine but I can make my car shake violently if I mess with the throttle enough in first or second.

Well if you keep the PR motor mounts your car will shake like hell at idle. There is nothing that I know of that you can do about it. You could make your own polyurethane filled motor mounts (look in the how tos or maybe a FAQ) and have stiffer motor mounts than stock but not the crazy rough idle.

 

I read that Energy Suspension's motor mounts have some rib pattern in them to reduce idle vibration...
unfortunately development on the sales of their Maxima products is somewhat at a standstill if I read PoLo's posts right

 

If you want to do the polly mounts, I'll do them with you. I have EXTREMELY BAD wheel hop.
The Energy Suspension ones are supposed to be designed to minimize wheel hop.

 

I am on an automatic tranny and my mounts are electrical, you are right. Well the old ones were, they had, what I thought was a sensor.

Anyways, I do want the polly mounts. I blew my stock mounts so bad my motor was playing hop scotch every time i gased and braked.

Paid 300 bucks for these mounts. Dunno what to do. Paid another 100 bucks to get them installed too.

Gene

 

How much are set of stock mounts? Does anyone know?

You can always do the stock mounts, get them installed and take the PR's and sell them. You're gonna loose something - Either $$ or comfort.

 

Parts.com has the front motor mount at 150 and the rear at 75.

 

where can i learn more about doing the stock ones? How much does this sort of endeavor typically cost?

 

Does anyone on the forum have an auto on the p[lace racing mounts other than me?

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....26#post1462226

 

I have PR mounts in my Maxima, I got them simply cause I love how soild engine mounts feel vs OE ones. My stock mounts are in perfect shape and I am willing to sell them if someone wants them- 100 shipped- they are heavy, and you can't tell them from new ones. The electornic mounts are designed to be soft at idle and stiffen up as the car accelerates- they are filled with this special liquid that basically stiffens up and softens with electricity applied to it. You will not get any kind of a check engine light or anything by switching over to the 5spd mounts or PR ones. My car doesn't vibrate at all, what is your idle speed set at ? - meaning where does the car idle at ? Mine idles at 800RPM and it feels just as smooth as my 3rd gen did at idle with stock mounts. At around 1200-1300RPM it does get a little bit harsh if I blimp the throttle. But I don't spend any time at that low of a RPM ever. PR mounts are awesome on my car, I highly recomend them. My wheel hop is sometimes still there but not as bad as before.

 

lemme know if you're gonna sell the PR Mounts...

 

Has anyone on here done the poly stock mounts and what was their opinion on the wheel hop/viration issues?

 

You may want to raise your idle to smooth out some of the vibration at idle. Things will smooth out one the engine speed goes up. Yes, more solid mounts can shake the living sh*t out of the entire car. Keep a screwdriver handy for tightening all of the things that will shake loose

On the plus side they do eliminate quite a bit of wheel hop and give you better throttle response.

 

You can't raise the idle speed on a A33A that simple, you need a Consult to raise it. Brake torque your engine just a slight bit to get the revs to like 750 or 800 to see if the vibration is gone. If it is then bring it into the dealer and ask one of the techs to bump the idle speed and advance the timing for ya for some $$$ on the side I would bump it 3 deg on a VQ30DE-K, you could do up to 4 deg but in the summer time you might ping. I would leave the timing stock on a 3.5L as they like to detonate with timing advanced.

 

Thanks for your help guys.
HNDA ETR, I got them from cattman 4 days ago, I can still return it.

I need to increase RPM to 1500 to smoothen it.
Basically its very rough only when I put it into the driving speeds, Drive, Reverse, etc.

It's shaking a bit until I hit the gas. The vibration remains if I gas a little.
I would love to show it to another org member for them to see what I am saying.

I installed them with my mechanic who was clueless. When we installed the mounts, the rear sat really well but the front one was very tight and it was hard getting the bolt through the other whole.

The car even jumps a lil when I use the starter. Scared the living shyt out of me when I first did it.

 

Could the problem be in my tranny? My dad says it could be my tranny but I dont think so.

My check engine light is on, I'm gonna go to autozone today and read the codes.

 

yeah, that's weird. As for the tranny... I don't know, I'd doubt it though. Maybe the side mounts are also blown? Or optionally, perhaps the engine has a mechanical issue (faulty coil, injector, compression leak inside, etc.) that's making the engine run less-than-perfectly smooth. Doesn't sound good, but those are avenues to consider (or not be surprised if it ends up being one of those)

Or maybe the mount's bolt isn't tightened far enough (so it's wiggling around on the mount)?

 

I was just going to suggest the same thing spirilis just said, coils ? how many miles do you have on your spark plugs ? another thing that should help is a can of BG44K fuel injector cleaner. The start up issue, where you said it almost felt like it jumped ?? ehh that is the coolest thing bout the mounts, the start up ! Everytime I hit the ignition on my Max the whole car just rumbles up to life, the cat-less exhaust system from cylinder heads back with my Greddy EVO sounds thunderous in the morning. At around 1200RPM the car is a litte less smooth due to the mounts and once it starts to idle down to 800 its almost like stock. With my stock mounts I could place a glass of water on the intake manifold and the water wouldn't even shake-thats how smooth my engine runs (I do maintenace on it way before its even due ). It took me about 20 min to change my stock mounts to PR ones, and they are marked with which one goes to the front of the car and which one is the rear. I think you car might have a drivability issue, where its not runing up to its Max.

 

If you want my personal opinion, get rid of the mounts IMMEDIATELY!

I had Place mounts in my SE-R a few years ago and it rattled EVERYTHING loose. Screws backed themselves out of all kinds of parts in the front of my car ranging from splash shields to alternator bolts to O2 sensors! My front bumper is loose now and so is my passenger side headlight because of them damned motor mounts! The idle you describe is "normal" for Place mounts. I have my car on the track enough where I THOUGHT I'd be willing to sacrifice and get the stiff mounts but it turned out to just be TOO much! The front end vibrated so bad and there was nothing that could be done to dampen it. I'd pull into garages or under overpasses and people would turn their heads it was vibrating to loudly. My tachometer became erratic as well. As I was accelerating, the tach wouldn't go up smooth but it'd jump around as it went up. Under constant throttle (at around 3k RPMs) the tach would jump between 3300 and 2800!

Not worth it IMO

I now have ES mounts and am very pleased with them. If they're not developing them for the Maxima, call them up and harass them - that's the only way it's going to be done. Get a group of guys ready to put money on the table to prove to ES that there IS a market for these!

 

I agree with ya Kieran, I too had PR mounts in my 93 SE-R, and they where reallllly bad. I was soo pissed that I called up Luis Anaya at Apex Motorsports in AZ ( remember him ?) and traded the mounts back for other parts- which I remember was a Apexi Multichecker. I got the ES mount inserts for my SE-R and idle was stiffer than stock, but it wasn't as bad as the PR mounts. Now I can assure ya that my Maxima idles smoother than my SE-R did even with the ES mounts, and I have PR mounts in it. As a matter a fact I'm going to a Maxima meet in like 5 min so I will let people be the judge of how bad my mounts are compared to my friend Steve's ES equipped 91 NX2000 with a SR20VE in it.

 

The coils, sensors and spark plugs are brand new. Coils and sensors are OEM new and spark plugs are NGK Irodium heads.

Side mounts might be bad, I thought of that too.

I am thinking of getting rid of them. When the car is in Park or in Neutral, there is no vibration. When the car is in drive of reverse and im slowly moving without touching the gas or break pedal, I feel like im on a CAT, one of those big constuction thingies.

I am thinking of returning them. I want the friggin energy suspension mounts.
BTW,
Who here wants to try and do the mounts from the FAQ. I am ready to do them asap.

 

If I had spare OEM mounts to do it, I'd try the DIY polyurethane mounts. But I don't, and I can't have my car out of commission, so I can't do it right now. If the ES bushings come out before I have a chance to, I'll buy those instead.

 

The electrical wire for the motor mounts only exists on an automatic Maxima (at least for 2002-2003). The 6MT do not have them.

As for the vibration, it is strong for about a month, then it subsides. Really and truely, it's because they soften slightly, but more because you get used to them.

The first time that you hit a track or a nice stretch of road and punch it and have no wheel hop, you'll thank yourself for installing them. And if any girl ever asks about it, tell her that you were thinking of her and you set your car up to give her a free massage.

 

Yeah I noticed that, I mistakenly pealed out in a puddle. Hit the gas a lil too hard and decided I was gonna try and see how the car reacts with the new mounts. Didn't feel it shift or whop at all.

I tightened every loose screw yesturday so that the sound of metal tapping wouldent make me to go mad as I work on my car. I put it in Neutral when I hold the break just to stop the vib.

I am still thinking wheather or not I should keep them.

Thanks for the help guys.

Any updates on the energy bushings?
Are there any people around NYC that want to make the mounts?
I have my old mounts to start with and I plan to do it anyway on my side mounts as I believe one of them is loose.

Gene

 

i guess i'll update this thread, which is nto much more than a repeat.
they did call me back and said that it is a bit harder now since there are 4 people working in R&D and ever since my rep got into his motorcycle accident, the work is now amongst 3 R&D people. on TOP of that, SEMA was on their priority listing, so a lot of stuff got put aside. he assured me that when they could, they would finish. as his update, he said all the parts for the maxima ARE done, just the final stages of adding product numbers and then having the Sales, dept. price it out. i know some of you that have messed up mounts are gettin impatient (with all due reason) but i really can't help. those that don't have bad mounts, just calm the **** down

now, onto the design part of it. yes, the ES moutns were designed with the intention of being a daily driven vehicle mount. as i explained in another thread, we only want the "stiffness" to kick in when we're really moving aka WOT or any aggressive driving. at idle what's th need for stiffness. that is why they put grooves in th eir mounts. the idea is that the vibrations would escape via these grooves and when the engine was pushed, applied pressure onto the mounts would cause those grooves to flatten out, and we now have a solid mount. some pics below will explain this.
i haven't tried PR moutns, although i've heard stories. BUT THEN AGAIN, i've also heard some people backup PR mounts, and i also know PR has a long tiem background in the import industry, so i won't badmouth them. what i do know in general is that a whole solid mount will give you more vibrations.
now, ES did not just make mounts.they literally made a maxima PACKAGE, which replaces every suspension bushing, so when you buy the whole package, you're gonna get strong sway bar bushings, shifter bushings (6speed only for now), control arm bushing, tie bar bushings, etc... you name, they did. i believer there was a total of ~30 bushings. i have the shifter and mounts on. Chinkzilla, our test monkey (due to location, he's 20 minutes from ES, i'm in NY) has all the bushings on and will swear by them. the car takes the twisties like crazy.
that is all i can say for now. hope this was enough. pictures below.

 

I had Fernando from the .org in the car with me yesterday at the Maxima picnic we had and I told him to get in the car to feel my motor mounts that you are all complaining about. He couldn't tell I had them in my car, maybe my engine is just too smooth ? Its probably gonna idle pretty bad once I get them Tomei cams.

 

My check engine light is on, that might be a reason.
Plus I only feel it in gear, not in park or neutral.

You have a stick, you can feel it for like a sec when u just move a little.

 

hey marco... would it help if we had a "write in" to ES asking about the status of the bushing kit? (like i'm doing with the 6 speed STS) We could all just email the hell out of them....

 

Anyone using the PR mounts on a 5th gen automatic?

does it keep vibrating when you slowly gas too?

 

E55AMG2 has them in his 2003 automatic. And I have them in my 2002 6-speed.

The vibration issue is bad at first, but then it dies off after around a month. For most people who are impatient, that is too long. But for those who are patient, I would wait a month before you make a decision to keep or replace them.