anyone ever tried non-garret turbos?

[yudkib]

im not asking about chinachargers on ebay, but kinetic motorsports and RP turbos make garrett replacements for about 20% less. does anyone have any experience with them either from a reliability or customer experience standpoint?

and lets not make this a garrett or die thread. i get that garrett has a reputation to protect, im just trying to find out if kinetic and the like care about thiers... does their stuff last and if not if they repair it.

 

[Ricktalife]

I know there have been several people that have used Mitsubishi and Nissan turbos. Not saying they are made by those car manufacturers, but whatever type of turbos you find on the cars. I remember reading on here that there is only 3 or so different manufacturers of turbos, and all the other brands are just copies of them. Not sure if that is true or not, but I think it deserves some research.

 

[BOOSTR]

Garrett and IHI. Can't think of the 3rd one. No specific experience with other turbos. Just plenty of trouble free boosting with each one listed.

 

[yudkib]

im almost positive nissan used genuine garrett stuff, i dont know who made the DSM turbos offhand but it may have been mitsu themselves. i actually just found the list - IHI, garrett, mitsu, borg warner, and holset. so i dont know if the ones that kinetic/turbonetics/etc sell are like tiny defects from garrett, if their customer service sucks, or what the scoop is. theres a reason theyre cheaper, (even if they just "manufacture to garrett specs") and i dont know why.

 

[BOOSTR]

Have you blown your GT25 or just researching and looking to go bigger? If the later, I'm sure you could offset the cost of a bigger one by selling yours and going with a name you can trust for longevity and reliable performance. Plus the big boys will still be around, unlike a tuner or small mfger.

 

[Bassmachine]

Garret turbos are no longer made by garret anymore they are "re badged" china chargers because honeywell(or w/e) bought them out and sourced all their production plants to china. So if its quality your looking for buy one off ebay for massive cheap if it blows in 2 months oh well another 200-400 and your back in the game. About the other company's that make turbos i dont really know much about them. But thats my 2 cents on the turbo situation round hur.

 

[yudkib]

im researching what i can... ive already come across some interesting stuff/people which might involve me buying a blown GT25, of all things. you make a good point about longevity, but hasnt turbonetics been around for a while too? mind you theyre not as cheap as some, but still less than direct from garrett.

 

[cpmazda]

Blouch makes awesome turbos too! They use garret parts. Just bought a dominator 3 for my sti and I love it! Full ball bearing turbo

 

[yudkib]

CXracing knockoffs cost a good 600 for a GT2860RS, and thats about as legit of a chinacharger as you can get. t3/t4's go for like 150 but those are by companies that have absolutely nothing to lose. in either case im talking more like kinetic motorsports and turbonetics, companies that have been around more than some guy selling melted down pewter and nickel stuff out of the back of a van.

 

[justanothermp5]

Garret turbos are no longer made by garret anymore they are "re badged" china chargers because honeywell(or w/e) bought them out and sourced all their production plants to china. So if its quality your looking for buy one off ebay for massive cheap if it blows in 2 months oh well another 200-400 and your back in the game. About the other company's that make turbos i dont really know much about them. But thats my 2 cents on the turbo situation round hur.

your source for this info? id like to read up on this more

 

[MAZDA_SPEED]

kinetic is a very good company and big in the VW/Audi sense.

 

[BOOSTR]

your source for this info? id like to read up on this more

I hope the source is something more credible than what appears to be a letter from a former Garrett employee circulating on the net. I'm not buying it.

 

[sephiroth]

Garrett and IHI. Can't think of the 3rd one. No specific experience with other turbos. Just plenty of trouble free boosting with each one listed.

Borg warner, they're by far the largest of the three, they're mostly OE suppliers to BMW,audi,merc, porsche,vw, and ford, which by extension is volvo and Lincoln.

your source for this info? id like to read up on this more

most of the info is from share-holder meetings about honey-well moving their manufacturing process overseas, that and an anonymous disgruntled employee's testimony on th3 internez. The fact that they've moved overseas/ had massive recalls/been sued is true, which in itself usually means quality loss.

 

[yudkib]

honeywell did buy out garrett and im not surprised at all they outsourced production. just because garretts stuff is now made in china doesnt make them "chinachargers" in the truest sense - they still have metallurgy specifications, production tolerances, etc. its not a factory pumping recycled aluminum into knock-off molds, which for what we know, could be going on with the ebay knockoffs.

mazda speed - you mentioned kinetic is big for VW/Audi? do you have any personal experience with them, or know anyone whos used them with any success?

 

[HondaEat-R]

Garret turbos are no longer made by garret anymore they are "re badged" china chargers because honeywell(or w/e) bought them out and sourced all their production plants to china. So if its quality your looking for buy one off ebay for massive cheap if it blows in 2 months oh well another 200-400 and your back in the game. About the other company's that make turbos i dont really know much about them. But thats my 2 cents on the turbo situation round hur.

Things are not as simple as "Oh well, another $200 gets you back in the game". It depends what type of failure you have. A seal, OK, now you have oil all over everything. If a piece of metal comes off and gets ingested into the motor....not so much an easy fix anymore. There will always be a few hours of labor and some $ for parts and a new unit when you blow one. Isn't it easier to just NOT be cheap, and buy a real well known unit ? I'd say most of those turbos on Ebay are junk. However, I'm sure someone somewhere had one last. Nobody wants to change a turbo every year...

 

[HondaEat-R]

honeywell did buy out garrett and im not surprised at all they outsourced production. just because garretts stuff is now made in china doesnt make them "chinachargers" in the truest sense - they still have metallurgy specifications, production tolerances, etc. its not a factory pumping recycled aluminum into knock-off molds, which for what we know, could be going on with the ebay knockoffs.

mazda speed - you mentioned kinetic is big for VW/Audi? do you have any personal experience with them, or know anyone whos used them with any success?

Bingo !

 

[ogsp5]

There is also Master Power and Holsett. Master power has good prices

 

[Ricktalife]

Things are not as simple as "Oh well, another $200 gets you back in the game". It depends what type of failure you have. A seal, OK, now you have oil all over everything. If a piece of metal comes off and gets ingested into the motor....not so much an easy fix anymore. There will always be a few hours of labor and some $ for parts and a new unit when you blow one. Isn't it easier to just NOT be cheap, and buy a real well known unit ? I'd say most of those turbos on Ebay are junk. However, I'm sure someone somewhere had one last. Nobody wants to change a turbo every year...

Seriously I don't know why the hell somebody would but a major component like that fully knowing what the outcome will be. When I got my Steedspeed put on, my friend removed the manifold / turbo / s-pipe combo since that is basically the easiest way to do it and it took him a few hours. He is a professional technician and he gives me cheap labor but he charged me $100 in labor. Good deal IMO but still a decent chunk of change.

 

[yudkib]

There is also Master Power and Holsett. Master power has good prices

i know holsett makes their own stuff but i dont know about master power. still looking for anyone whos used one from anyone but garrett (or ebay) on these cars, hell, even a non MSP.

 

[justanothermp5]

Seriously I don't know why the hell somebody would but a major component like that fully knowing what the outcome will be. When I got my Steedspeed put on, my friend removed the manifold / turbo / s-pipe combo since that is basically the easiest way to do it and it took him a few hours. He is a professional technician and he gives me cheap labor but he charged me $100 in labor. Good deal IMO but still a decent chunk of change.

word, it takes me a good 2.5 hours to take the turbo out and put it back in
ive done it a few times but i still hate doing it lol

buy a quality turbo and make sure everything is tight before you put that thing in, trust me,
it sucks to have to pull the turbo cuz u forgot to tighten the coolant line