Turbo Options for Street/Track Duty - JB4tech.com

av.auto · 03:17 PM

My car is a N54 135i with about 60k miles on it. Prior to my ownership, this car was heavily tracked (think 10-12 track days/races a year), and the wear and tear showed up on the turbos as the seals started to leak. I replaced the cores and rebuilt the wastegates with VTT's OEM replacement CHRA's and their upgraded wastegate kit. Upon the first track day with the new turbos at Buttonwillow (and around 3k street miles), the new cores started smoking heavily, and my front turbo wastegate is stuck... looks like I'm back at square one.

The car is still a street car, with about 5-10k miles a year on average, plus anywhere between 3-4 track days a year. I'm considering options ~$2000, and currently have OEM replacements, Pure600/Stage 1's, RB Ones/Twos, and DAW turbos on my radar. Aftermarket turbos seem interesting as a way to tone down the mid-range torque and pull to redline on track, as well as keeping turbine speeds lower with a conservative boost target. However, my biggest concern is reliability (I plan to have the car tuned fairly conservatively to favor seat time) as I really don't want to be swapping turbos on a regular basis. Wondering if I could get some anecdotes for longevity with aftermarket turbos or advice on what direction I should go. Thanks!

ac_schnitzel · 12-31-2021, 08:10 PM

For those requirements I think most people would say Pure or RB

Ripper61 · 01-10-2022, 08:31 AM

I've got roughly 15K running RB1's with zero issue. No track days though.

av.auto · 01-10-2022, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ripper61

I've got roughly 15K running RB1's with zero issue. No track days though.

Glad to hear it! I'm definitely leaning RB. Been chatting with Rob for the past week to figure out which turbo makes the most sense for me.

Rule77 · 01-24-2022, 09:57 PM

RB Turbo

Riceball777 · 01-28-2022, 06:46 PM

i dont track my car but i have over 40,000 miles on my pure stage 2 DD turbos without any issues.

Navykiller · 02-11-2022, 10:15 AM

Rbs and Pures would be the only ones id touch. Since you will be asking a lot of the car at a high pace, definitely better ponying up the extra for a premium one. Stay far far away from ebay, and other ebay rebrand distributers that stamp their name on the housing.

ProblematicBMW · 02-13-2022, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navykiller

Rbs and Pures would be the only ones id touch. Since you will be asking a lot of the car at a high pace, definitely better ponying up the extra for a premium one. Stay far far away from ebay, and other ebay rebrand distributers that stamp their name on the housing.

I put in 17T ebays last month, went perfectly fine for me and I drive this thing as hard as I can just about daily.

ruskiracer · 02-14-2022, 03:37 AM

Single turbo 6262

Navykiller · 02-14-2022, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProblematicBMW

I put in 17T ebays last month, went perfectly fine for me and I drive this thing as hard as I can just about daily.

And Im glad its working for you, but we both know their rate of failure to success, especially long term, is almost a 50/50. If they work, you got a steal for performance, if they dont, you lost a chunk of change.

Torgus · 02-26-2022, 01:17 PM

VTT strikes again! Better off gambling on China cast turbos.

WayneRT · 03-02-2022, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ripper61

I've got roughly 15K running RB1's with zero issue. No track days though.

Great to hear RB1 is a reliable turbo. A friend is looking to get this for his N54 135i project. Got to finish installing the bumper and jeep tops on the Wrangler before we can clear the garage.