Racingline Performance Engine Mount - MQB 2.0T
Racingline Performance - Subframe Torque Link Mount
To harness your power increases, and transfer that power to the road or track where you need it, Racingline Performance Engine Mounts will give a much more solid drive, and crucially give additional durability.
The Racingline Performance Engine Mounts are certainly not one of the most exciting or visual modifications that you can do to your car! But they are truly one of the most worthwhile for anyone who appreciates the driving dynamics of their car. Almost everyone who tries these mounts on a Golf or Scirocco wants them.
WHAT DO THE ENGINE MOUNTS DO?
The whole engine and gearbox is located in only three places. One at engine-side plus another at the end of the gearbox which support the weight of the whole drivetrain, plus a third torque arm underneath the engine to contain the fore-aft movement (often called the pendulum or dog-bone mount).
The standard car uses very compliant rubber in these mounts to give a soft take-up of power and isolate the cabin from drivetrain noise. For a daily driven standard car, these bushings do a good job of keeping cabin vibration to a minimum. But when you ask more of these mounts, with higher power or hard driving, the flex in the bushes becomes very noticeable. This gives a slightly loose feeling to the drivetrain and an increased chance of wheel-hop under hard acceleration as the whole engine and 'box assembly judders.
If your car produces high power, or has covered quite a few road miles, or is driven hard, the softness of these three standard rubber mounts allows more and more movement as you come on and off the power. With worn mounts, we have even seen failures of the exhaust manifold and driveshafts as the whole drivetrain shifts around under load.
WHAT DIFFERENCE DO THE Racingline Performance MOUNTS MAKE?
The Racingline Performance engine mounts stiffen the whole location of the drivetrain greatly to give a much crisper feeling to your car. This means no more jerky behaviour on and off the throttle or when you change gear, and all-but eliminates 'wheel hop' off the line. Of course, a bit more noise from the drivetrain comes into the cabin, but most keen drivers love the sense that they are more 'connected' to their car.
As opposed to some aftermarket 'push in' bushes which crudely fill the voids in the factory mounts, the Volkswagen units are completely redesigned replacement mount assemblies. We specify a stiff urethane of 75A durometer which allows some movement within the mounts, and filters much of the drivetrain's vibration but with a design that very significantly reduces the movement on each.
For most road cars, we'd recommend the lower engine mount on its own, leaving the two upper mounts standard. This makes a huge difference to how the car drives, and is a pretty minimal difference to the cabin refinement. The lower engine mount on its own is one of our most popular upgrades for Golfs and Sciroccos.
For more heavily modified, track and motorsport cars, all three mounts should be upgraded.
fitted the RacingLine dog bone mount on my car at the weekend and honestly it’s one of those mods you feel straight away. The first thing I noticed was how much tighter everything felt when pulling away and shifting—especially in lower gears. Before, I’d get a bit of wheel hop if I launched it hard, but now it just hooks up way better and feels a lot more planted.
It’s made a bigger difference than I expected for such a small part. The drivetrain just feels more connected, like the power is actually going where it should instead of being lost in movement.
That said, yeah—you definitely notice more vibration. At idle, especially when the engine’s cold, there’s a bit of a buzz through the cabin that wasn’t there before. It’s not horrible, but it’s there. Once you’re driving, I barely notice it anymore, so it’s really only a thing when you’re sitting still or crawling in traffic.
Install-wise, it’s not the quickest job if you want to do it properly. The best way to fit it (in my opinion) is by dropping the subframe to get proper access. If you go that route, just be aware you’ll need new subframe bolts since they’re stretch bolts and shouldn’t be reused. It’s also worth having alignment pins or subframe inserts on hand so you can line everything back up correctly—otherwise you risk throwing your alignment off, which is more hassle than it’s worth.
Overall, I’m really happy with it. It’s not a comfort mod, but if you enjoy driving your car properly, it makes it feel sharper and more responsive. For me, the trade-off in a bit of extra vibration is 100% worth it.