Some interesting reading about Ball bearing turbos

[funkyman]

I came across some interesting artifacts and real life test results on a comparison between the latest ball bearing Turbo by Garret and a classic Journal bearing Turbo and the results are suprising,so therefore you might want to think twice before you go out and trash a couple of grand on a Garret Turbo upgrade for your Mazdaspeed3.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=588344

 

[StealthWyvern]

well a link to that artical might be a little helpful...

 

[Oxymoron]

So youre suggesting that a Garrett GT28 or GT30 is going to perform worse than our stock K04? Is there a kit out there with the first gen journal bearing turbo? I still think a new Garrett is a huge increase over our stock unit and worth the money.

 

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

First off, while interesting and good to know, the article doesn't really apply. They are comparing identical size turbos. The upgrade MS3 owners are looking at is for a larger than stock turbo, which should increase power. The other thing you should notice is that the turbos were not in fact identical, they had diffferent vane counts, and who knows what else may be different about the rotating assemblies. They were unable to conduct a test of turbos that were perfectly identical except for the bearing assemblies. The journal type may in fact produce more horsepower than the ball bearing type (although they did not conclusively establish that because of the other differences) but real world results show that ball bearing types hold up better. All they really established conclusively was that for their application the new turbo was not an improvement power-wise.

 

[funkyman]

Ofcourse same size turbos should be compared,i don`t know what Garret ball bearing equates to our K04 but the fact that it spools 100rpm or 200 rpm quicker is not much benefit to me,a pg manifold upgrade does that better anyway.Since the K04 is good for 20psi a combination of drop in mods and correct tuning should achieve more effecient results don`t you think.?

 

[Oxymoron]

Since the K04 is good for 20psi a combination of drop in mods and correct tuning should achieve more effecient results don`t you think.?

No. Given that the Garrett turbo has a bigger compresser wheel and housing means that at the same psi the Garrett should still produce more power. Its an apples to oranges comparison, plain and simple.

 

[dkswim]

sub

 

[truredspeed3]

Thats great...but has nothing to do with Mazda.