TLDR at bottom.

Hey guys, I have had one hell of a time with motor mounts on my car. I have an 06 - V6 - automatic 6 speed

I bought all 3 mounts as a bundle off Amazon for like $80.00. I replaced all 3 mounts.

however, the original OEM torque mount looked like this


But the new part was missing those two cylinder guides for the extra two bolts, It was just flat instead, and those two bolt holes wouldn’t match up to the ones on the engine. So I installed it with the two main bolts in anyway as I needed it to be fixed immediately, and I drove it around and it drove fine.

I then ordered a new part that looked like the part in that photo, and installed it. This new one was SO AWFUL that it would cause my entire car to MAJORLY “Thunk” when putting it in drive. The whole engine would shift like 6 inches down. I felt like the entire engine was going to fall out. So I took that mount out, and realized I could twist and move the rubber around with my own hand. What an absolute piece of ****. It wouldn’t have been able to support a 5HP scooter. So I put the old mount that didn’t match back in.

So now I’ve put almost 8K miles on the car, and I can hear a slight thud sometimes. Verrrrry hard to notice, but it’s there. Not sure if it’s from the torque mount or the top mounts, I’m thinking the top mounts. I just don’t think these aftermarket mounts are any good to begin with as the engine has always moved around a bit when I put it in drive since the beginning, and the shifts aren’t as smooth as they should be.

SO, here’s my questions:
1) Does anyone know any good aftermarket parts, and how do I make sure they will fit my car and not be misaligned like I’ve encountered before. Or should I just go with OEM?
2) When looking at OEM parts, none of them have the cylinder guides like in the photo I provided...??? What gives?? Are they not really needed? Does Mazda just not make those anymore?
3) I noticed on the OEM Mazda parts they have two different torque mounts, one says it will fit a manual and an automatic, and the other one just says automatic. What’s up with this?? (Maybe the one I have in my car now is for a manual? Hmm) - Obviously I would just buy the automatic only one. Below are the two OEM parts I’m referring to.

example 1 - https://tinyurl.com/Torque-mount1
example 2 - https://tinyurl.com/Torque-mount2

if anyone could give me some guidance here that would be great! Is OEM the way to go?

also, my engine was swapped. It might not be an 06 engine. Is this why the extra support bolt holes aren’t lining up? But all the parts say they will fit all model years... I don’t know...

TLDR: Are OEM mounts the only way to go on these cars? And why are the OEM parts missing the cylinder guides for the torque mounts (OEM links right above)

 

Good quality aftermarket mounts from a reputable aftermarket company are more than adequate. If you can save a whole lot of money by going that route I would go that route, if you only save like ten bucks or something then you would go OEM just to play Nox Vidmate VLC it safe.