Dogbone inserts: Will they work just as well as solid bushings?

Our GTI has seen some track time. Lots of it, in fact, as evidenced by its podium finish in our class at the Tire Rack One Lap of America.

Each day on One Lap, we’d launch the car repeatedly from a standing start. And each time, we’d cringe as the car’s front wheels hopped like crazy, gaining then breaking traction in rapid succession for a few seconds until the car was in motion.

Wheel hop doesn’t just cost time–it costs money, as each time the tires regain traction is like a miniature neutral drop that reverberates through the chassis looking for the weakest link.

So as soon as we got home, we went to work fixing the problem. And it didn’t take years of effort or billions of dollars: It took less than $100 and about 20 minutes. Yeah, maybe we should have addressed the problem before a week of hard launches.

How did we solve it so simply? With two parts from 034Motorsport, both aimed at stiffening the car’s lower drivetrain mount, called a dogbone mount in VW circles.

This mount restricts the engine from twisting away from the wheels when power is applied, and its bushing is pretty flimsy in stock form. Volkswagen literally filled the rubber bushing with holes, introducing lots of voids in order to isolate the passengers from NVH caused by the drivetrain.

Replacing the bushing is a pretty difficult process, so to stiffen it up, we just jammed some aluminum in there to turn a metal-rubber-air-rubber-metal sandwich into a metal-rubber-metal-rubber-metal sandwich.

034Motorsport’s billet aluminum upper and lower dogbone mount inserts are CNC-machined to perfectly fill the OEM voids, and installation only took a few minutes. Basically, just unbolt the mount, pit the inserts, then bolt everything back together.

There’s no bushing press, torch, or agony required. And at $89 for the pair of inserts, this is one of the least expensive modifications we’ve made to the GTI.

But did they work? To find out, we took the car to a local autocross where we could launch to our heart’s content without fear of police or pedestrians.

[What can our GTI daily also do? Win at autocross.]

And instead of wheel-hop, we were treated to a clean, progressive breakaway no matter how much we played with the throttle or the launch control. In short, the modification was a success, and should make the rest of the car last far longer.

Of course, there is a downside: NVH has increased. On the highway, it’s a barely perceptible change, but at red lights you’ll be wondering when you installed solid engine mounts.

For the performance increase it’s a small price to pay, and it’s also easily reversible if we ever change our mind. We doubt we will, though, as there’s something magical about being able to cleanly shred the front tires on a whim. Have we mentioned lately that we love this car

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