Well, I have finally managed to fit a pair of Pro mounts (thanks Corey 
) to the front of my ABY Coupe (was running mount savers and OEM mounts on the front prior to this), so as promised, it is time to review them, so here goes........
PROS
- The Pro mounts come with a lifetime guarantee (for your ownership of the car at least I think). Whilst I cannot comment on the actual life expectancy of a Pro mount or the willingness of the manufacturer to honour this, I must say that lifetime guarantees in the suspension department are VERY rare indeed. I cannot name another, can you?
- The mount savers on the front felt better I suspect only because they were fitted to new OEM mounts (my old ones were shot), but the Pro mounts feel better again. They do improve the turn in of the car without transferring any harshess through to the steering wheel. I know this is as advertised, but when did something you bought ever perform ‘as advertised’?
- All of the nasty release agent is cleaned from the original mount and the Pro mounts look (to my untrained eye) very well engineered.
CONS
- Due to the use of a spherical bearing, the normal castle nut cannot be used with the Pro mount. Instead, a single top nut (supplied with the mounts) is used, above the top cup in the engine bay. Initially you may not consider this a con, but think about this for a moment. Normally the spring and damper are held together by the castle nut, allowing the compressed spring to be held safely OFF THE CAR. This method means that if you sell you car or take it to an unsuspecting garage, they will not realise that the castle nut is missing! The 4 mechanics working on my car were horrified by this. I therefore suggest that anyone running Pro mounts is careful to explain this fact when selling the car on, to the point of documenting the fact.
- Cost is a consideration for us all and even though I am well paid and willing to spend silly money on silly things Audi related, I still think the Pro mounts are a tad expensive. However, I suspect I would buy them again, if I do ever buy my wife that V6 Audi cabby I promised her, so I suspect that makes them worth it.
- Both the mount savers and the Pro mounts raise the car by around 5mm. This is a very minor -ve, but worth mentioning for completeness.
CONCLUSION
So, whilst I have raised an equal number of pros and cons (some more or less minor than others) above all I have tried to be honest, if not a tad critical, in order to cover all the bases and give a fair appraisal.
If you plan to keep your car for a long time and don’t do regular suspension stripdowns, then fit Pro mounts on the front every time. Even though it will take 5-10 years to pay for themselves against the direct cost of OEM mounts on paper, in truth you have to factor in the cost of paying a garage to change them every 12-24 months. In that respect they will have paid for themselves in just 24 plus months.
Pro mounts on the front offer a noticeable improvement in turn in over OEM mounts without any harshness normally felt with solid mounts and therefore I would say are definately worth fitting. Conversely, I can see little point fitting Pro mounts to the rear. If you own a track car you will run alloy mounts all round, but if you use it as a road car, then run mount savers on the rear. I first ran my mount savers on the front for 6 months, then when the Pro mounts arrived, the savers were moved to the rear.
BTW, anyone who has seen me drive will know that I drive my car like I stole it and the Cambridgeshire roads are the worst in the country, yet the mount savers and OEM mounts looked very good when I removed them after around 6 months of abuse on the front. If the supposed life of an OEM mount is 12-24 months, then these mount savers are working well as my mounts looked like new.
HTH
Cheers n
Si
) to the front of my ABY Coupe (was running mount savers and OEM mounts on the front prior to this), so as promised, it is time to review them, so here goes........PROS
- The Pro mounts come with a lifetime guarantee (for your ownership of the car at least I think). Whilst I cannot comment on the actual life expectancy of a Pro mount or the willingness of the manufacturer to honour this, I must say that lifetime guarantees in the suspension department are VERY rare indeed. I cannot name another, can you?
- The mount savers on the front felt better I suspect only because they were fitted to new OEM mounts (my old ones were shot), but the Pro mounts feel better again. They do improve the turn in of the car without transferring any harshess through to the steering wheel. I know this is as advertised, but when did something you bought ever perform ‘as advertised’?
- All of the nasty release agent is cleaned from the original mount and the Pro mounts look (to my untrained eye) very well engineered.
CONS
- Due to the use of a spherical bearing, the normal castle nut cannot be used with the Pro mount. Instead, a single top nut (supplied with the mounts) is used, above the top cup in the engine bay. Initially you may not consider this a con, but think about this for a moment. Normally the spring and damper are held together by the castle nut, allowing the compressed spring to be held safely OFF THE CAR. This method means that if you sell you car or take it to an unsuspecting garage, they will not realise that the castle nut is missing! The 4 mechanics working on my car were horrified by this. I therefore suggest that anyone running Pro mounts is careful to explain this fact when selling the car on, to the point of documenting the fact.
- Cost is a consideration for us all and even though I am well paid and willing to spend silly money on silly things Audi related, I still think the Pro mounts are a tad expensive. However, I suspect I would buy them again, if I do ever buy my wife that V6 Audi cabby I promised her, so I suspect that makes them worth it.
- Both the mount savers and the Pro mounts raise the car by around 5mm. This is a very minor -ve, but worth mentioning for completeness.
CONCLUSION
So, whilst I have raised an equal number of pros and cons (some more or less minor than others) above all I have tried to be honest, if not a tad critical, in order to cover all the bases and give a fair appraisal.
If you plan to keep your car for a long time and don’t do regular suspension stripdowns, then fit Pro mounts on the front every time. Even though it will take 5-10 years to pay for themselves against the direct cost of OEM mounts on paper, in truth you have to factor in the cost of paying a garage to change them every 12-24 months. In that respect they will have paid for themselves in just 24 plus months.
Pro mounts on the front offer a noticeable improvement in turn in over OEM mounts without any harshness normally felt with solid mounts and therefore I would say are definately worth fitting. Conversely, I can see little point fitting Pro mounts to the rear. If you own a track car you will run alloy mounts all round, but if you use it as a road car, then run mount savers on the rear. I first ran my mount savers on the front for 6 months, then when the Pro mounts arrived, the savers were moved to the rear.
BTW, anyone who has seen me drive will know that I drive my car like I stole it and the Cambridgeshire roads are the worst in the country, yet the mount savers and OEM mounts looked very good when I removed them after around 6 months of abuse on the front. If the supposed life of an OEM mount is 12-24 months, then these mount savers are working well as my mounts looked like new.
HTH
Cheers n
Si
(except a towball)
and the car feels so much better on turn in so I would certainly not go back to OEM mounts and that is the acid test.
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