Well how about if the specs ARE exactly the same. I mean same EVERYTHING with both the compressor and the turbine. Why not go with Garrett for half the price then?


-Sayajin

 

Many people do . You will at times find that HKS's housings make a noticable difference and fitting them to a Garrett marketed cartridge can save dough and achieve the same result - provided the turbine and compressor are the same spec . Getting some of the HKS spec cartridges can be difficult because big G won't always sell them . This is why some US businesses are getting compressors and machining them to suit a BB cartridge application . A case in point is the TO4B BB upgrade cartridge (P trim + 60-1) . With a bit of machine work the TO4R compressor goes in and gets you a generic BB T04Z . It won't work exactly the same as the HKS version because the turbine and compressor housings are different particularly the comp housing and how they changed the diffuser section . The turbine housing you can bet would have been made of some better spec material than a Garrett T04B truck housing intended for lower diesel EGT's . Everyone down here thats used one said very responsive for the power output .

I'm not merely suggesting that people throw big money at a fancy turbo but if those have the spec you need and are impossible to emulate what then ? Turbos will always be a compromise and only you can set the goal post of cost vs result . You should think yourselves lucky that in the US the customer base is HUGE compared to Australia and more businesses are prepared to fiddle with GT BB cartridges than here . However some do and get good results if they get it right . Paying for custom work with turbos can be rather expensive and if you add the cost of all the fiddlies to bolt it up maybe the price of the name brand "bolt on" turbo particularly if discounted can be similar .

I wouldn't say a HKS marketed turbo is necessarily better than a Garrett marketed one but they can be better suited to some applications .

Cheers .

 

I have always just used Garrett with good success.

 

I suppose that when someone demonstrates something an HKS turbo does twice as well as a Garrett, it will justify paying twice the price. So far, I haven't seen much aside from an unrealistic price tag.

While I definitely credit HKS, Greddy, and other high-profile parts houses with contributing heavily to the popularity of the present day sport/import market, I am frequently unimpressed with their parts offerings, especially when it comes to the pricetag.

Fortunately, there are independent vendors here who routinely offer better, more rigorously designed/tested parts, and for less.

 

Agreed!
It may be that HKS turbos perform better for some applications or....
HKS differentiated themselves by offering other combinations so they could position themselves as a "Jet Set" product. HKS is a business so this concept is easy to understand and it works.

 

I might add that there are quite a few here that automatically assume that if something costs that much more, than it must be that much better.

Not!

 

One thing to point out is that HKS was doing certain wheel combinations when they did not exist over here. I've been running a T04Z for 3 years now. Back then, there was no vendor in the US doing a T67/P trim in a Garrett BBCHRA. True, they're a dime a dozen now but they didn't exist back then.

 

true. you can now get the garrett T04Z for alot cheaper than the HKS unit. atp also sells it with a ton of different turbine housings

http://www.atpturbo.com/Merchant2/me...egory_Code=GTB

 

wasn't Sound Performance out of Chicago doing that about 8 yrs ago?

 

Anyone have a T-04Z plot they can post. How about a HKS one to compare with ?