Smart Car Engine Mounts

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by DendoRacing on February 4, 2010 at 1:24am

If you are going to buy these, make sure you pay cash as the only way they will improve the performance of your car is by reducing the weight of your wallet!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SmartCar Performance on February 4, 2010 at 1:31am

Have you ever actually experienced a car with these upgraded engine mounts? On what basis are you making your claim?

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by DendoRacing on February 5, 2010 at 10:55am

I haven't experienced a car with them because I wouldn't waste my money on them.

As a physicist with experience in performance tuning cars, the basis of my claim is much sounder than yours.

But since you asked, lets examine just what these three bits of pipe welded together will do.

Your claim is that they will result in "a lot less lag and more torque" and as a result your "car will react much quicker, and gave a kick that you definitely can feel".

Lets look at the torque claim first. Torque is proportional to horsepower divided by RPM. That is, to increase torque you need to either increase horsepower or reduce RPM. As a static component, engine mounts have no influence on RPM nor do they make a contribution to the production of horsepower. The only way they could affect torque is by draining horsepower by somehow increasing friction or diverting horsepower away from the wheels by placing a load on the engine. If an engine mount was to do either of these it would have to do something with the energy it has stolen - like do some sort of work or generate a lot of heat - neither of which engine mounts do. Ah but you say 'What about the distortion of the mounts, that absorbs energy'. Well, yes it does but the amount of energy absorbed is limited and unless you engine mounts are made of PlayDough that energy is stored and returned to the system.

What about lag then? Torque acts on both the wheels and the engine - turning the wheels one way and the engine the other. If both the engine and the wheels were free to move, they would both rotate at the same speed but in opposite directions - effectively halving the torque to your wheels. By clamping the engine in place, all of the torque goes to the wheels. Say, however, the engine mounts were made of springs that compressed, allowing the engine to turn a bit. The torque to the wheels would initially be lower until the mounts compressed enough to resist the engine moving, after which the torque to the wheels would rise to the full amount - this would lead to a sensation of lag. But engine mounts aren't made of springs. Even though they have rubber bushes, the amount of compression, and hence the rotation of the engine, is minimal and the time that any torque is 'lost' is negligible - especially when compared to the lag from the engine being below its power band..

There is simply no way that engine mounts will deliver more torque or noticeably reduce lag, no matter how stiff you make them. You would be better off spending the money on buying a better grade of gas.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SmartCar Performance on February 5, 2010 at 12:14pm

Well, I am an Engineer and what we believe in is practice over theory. Theory is great but applying the theory seals the deal.

I am glad you are well informed about the theory of torque and cars but your fist sentence mooted everything you wrote afterwards.

What's backing me up here is my experience. My claims I wrote are absolutely true. We don't fabricate words to make the product look better. We are even offering test rides with my car in the next couple of weeks to let people at our club experience it. I have had a few people try it so far and they agreed with me. It has better pickup and less lag.

Well, you are welcome to try it and return it if it doesn't work for you. Our manufacturer backs up his product 100%.

Cisco
SmartCar Performance
951-532-7939

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Brabus007 on February 5, 2010 at 1:21pm

DendoRacing,... +1

Also

I'am a REAL drive train engineer... Can't fool me with that BS...

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SmartCar Performance on February 5, 2010 at 1:28pm

So, you have tried changing your engine mounts on your smart car? If you are calling it BS then you are claiming that you have made the upgrade to your smart car and that you are presenting your experience to the community that it did not work for you. Am I correct?

I would really like to hear your experience rather than theory with the Smart cars.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SmartCar Performance on February 5, 2010 at 8:09pm

For those local people in Southern California. We are offering a try before you buy program. Come by our shop and we will install an engine mount for you. If you don't like it, we will put your stock engine mount back for you at no charge.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SmartCar Performance 1 day ago

Here is our video:

▶ Reply to This