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Thread: Are turbo beanies worth the price asked?

  1. #1
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    Default Are turbo beanies worth the price asked?

    Im looking at/considering buying a turbo beanie when I get the TBE upgrade but dont know if they are worth it....$150+ for the beanies.
    I do hear mixed opinions on them...and know the theory on how they work.
    Is there anyone using them here & what are your thoughts on them?

    Ta
    Andy

  2. #2
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    $150! for a beanie!

    THIS
    one is MUCH cheaper!


  3. #3
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    Yes it is but alas it will not suffice.

  4. #4
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    From what I understand, yes they do work. But I wouldn't pin your hopes on them making a mega difference, and I think you'd have to go above and beyond just the beanie for the full effects.

    The first idea is to reduce under bonnet temps. If you're serious about this goal, you'll be looking at ceramic coating your exhaust mani, turbo, intercooler piping

    The second idea is to increase power, or more accurately, prevent the power from being lost through heat waste. Heat is energy, wherever heat is escaping, energy is lost.

    That's a gross over simplification, but hopefully it helps to answer your question

    If you're running a TMIC, ideas 1 and 2 will have some overlap in terms of heatsoak.

    I couldn't find any beanies for the K04 after a quick google search. Have you found one already?

  5. #5
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    So tempted to get my DP Turbo and Mani all Ceramicoted

  6. #6
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    im looking at it for my XT forester.... but since it was a relevant question for all turbos I asked it here too.

    I am running a larger HF TMIC and was concerned about heatsoak due to the turbo being almost under the TMIC.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ranton View Post
    So tempted to get my DP Turbo and Mani all Ceramicoted
    +1.

    Big $$$ though.

    Want to do it when I get my DP and if I get a FMIC i'd do the piping too. Maxiumum efficiency!

  8. #8

    Default

    Yes there are worth them. . . But only buy good quality ones, like the ones from Horse Power In a Box, GCG turbos etc. Dont buy a nasty cheap one of ebay ! Just fitted one to a mates soara, it runs a 7m motor with a TD04, and we noticed a difference in the top end Worth every cent. . Now he almost keeps up with my GTiR

  9. #9

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    Can't see it myself. It'd make more sense to refrigerate your turbo and intercooler lines, or vent your bonnet and blow cold air on them, with the added benefit of reducing underboonet temps, else why would you bother sticking all the output air through an intercooler, far less upgrading the stock TMIC with a better TMIC or FMIC?

    And why lag all your intercooler lines to keep them nice and warm when you expect the cooler itself to drop the temperature of the red hot air from the moment it transitions from the turbo outlet line into the cooler core, just before you feed it into the engine? Why not start to cool it as soon as it leaves the turbo? Even consider putting cooling fins on your turbo outlet lines, maybe, as long as they lost more heat than they gained.

    Heat might indeed be energy, but in this case it is largely a product of the proximity of the compressor to red hot exhaust gases rather than just compression of the inducted air. The sooner and the more you cool that air, the better your volumetric efficiency and that starts in the plumbing, not just at the cylinders. The less space that air takes up, the more you can get into the plumbing.

    If you use this logic of keeping turbo discharge air hot, you might as well say that cars run better on hot days than cold nights, which of course they don't, for reasons of lower air density and thus lower volumetric efficiency.
    Last edited by Doug_MPS6; 19-08-2010 at 10:10 PM.
    CP_e Standback & PNP; CP_e 3" SS Downpipe; Corksport FMIC with Top-mount K&N filter & OEM Ram CAI; Turbosmart BOV; Dashhawk; Prosport Boost Guage; JBR solid shift bushes; DBA 4000 Wiper-Slot front rotors; Hawk Ferro-Carbon HPS Street front brake pads (@ 69,000km); Sumitomo HTRZIII's in 225/45 x 18

  10. #10

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    You do know the beenie is for the exhaust side of the turbo yeah ? So it is nowhere near the cool intake side of the turbo

  11. #11

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    Sure, but my argument stands; the faster you cool that exhaust side the less heat transmissivity you will get to the inlet side (as well as reducing underbonnet temps). There is much more power gain in chilling induction air asap than almost vainly trying to hold the temps up on a glowing red exhaust manifold and turbine housing to maintain a questionable amount of "energy gain by preserving heat" for the few milliseconds that the exhaust gas requires to exert its effort on the impellor before it is finally expelled, when the object of the rest of the exercise thereafter is to reduce its temperature as soon as possible, with the proviso of maintaining sensible cat temps and hence efficiency.
    CP_e Standback & PNP; CP_e 3" SS Downpipe; Corksport FMIC with Top-mount K&N filter & OEM Ram CAI; Turbosmart BOV; Dashhawk; Prosport Boost Guage; JBR solid shift bushes; DBA 4000 Wiper-Slot front rotors; Hawk Ferro-Carbon HPS Street front brake pads (@ 69,000km); Sumitomo HTRZIII's in 225/45 x 18

  12. #12
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    Yeah Doug, i'm a bit unconvinced myself. And don't forget the "explanation" I put up with a BIG simplification. If anyone wants to understand it better they can google. it...

    For me the advantage would lay in keeping the heat out of the engine bay which means keeping it in the exhast. There are reportedly flow benefits in doing this. Obviously this is not the only way of dispersing heat / colling the engine bay. But it is one.

    Surely preventing heatsoak on the exhaust side of the turbo itself is going to *lower* BAT? I don't think anyone is trying to heat their intake air...

  13. #13

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    Hi SC, I must admit I did wonder about that when I read your line "If you're serious about this goal, you'll be looking at ceramic coating your exhaust mani, turbo, intercooler piping"

    I do see plenty of lagged turbo exhaust sections, as well as exhaust output plumbing, including boat dry exhausts, but most are in boats and trucks and largely to keep heat away from other components or crew sections and also to keep engine rooms from getting stifling, sometimes so hot that plastic sheeting and insulation comes unstuck and synthetic components fail or crack, and thus improving intake air density. Many boats have blowers to the engine room for this purpose.

    I'd view such effort in a sedan (as opposed to say, a race car, maybe) to be rather a waste of time and further cluttering up the engine bay and making stuff a bitch to work on, even if it looks the goods. I'd rather louvre my bonnet to get rid of heat and I don't think the heat losses in the plumbing by doing so would be such as to make a material difference to the efficency of driving the turbo.
    CP_e Standback & PNP; CP_e 3" SS Downpipe; Corksport FMIC with Top-mount K&N filter & OEM Ram CAI; Turbosmart BOV; Dashhawk; Prosport Boost Guage; JBR solid shift bushes; DBA 4000 Wiper-Slot front rotors; Hawk Ferro-Carbon HPS Street front brake pads (@ 69,000km); Sumitomo HTRZIII's in 225/45 x 18

  14. #14
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    So I guess in responce to the OP: Bang for buck its probably not worth it. That said $150 is not a horrendous amount of cash to lose should it do nothing. And it would be good to have someone on the forum with actual experience of the product to share

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