Well you should take into consideration that if you just ran your car fairly hard than you will probably need more than 30 seconds.For the most part, after driving on the freeway for about 30 miles at about 70-80 MPH and get off of the freeway and park you car within a few minutes your TT will probably have a min or so left.A decent TT will only cost you about $100 so in my opinion I think its worth it but everyone has their own preference.Plus you don't have to sit there staring at your watch or counting to yourself.Free is always good though.

 

It is not needed. Being water cooled, you'll probably have more heat in the turbo from sitting at idle longer than driving to a stop. Lots of ppl really showing there 'wisdom' here saying you HAVE TO HAVE IT. How many threads have I seen on 16g turbo failure from lack of a turbo timer. NONE.

 

In the real world...

How many water cooled bearing housings have I seen with bearing failure due to coked oil lines as well as calcium deposits from localized boiling while working in a turbo shop.

Hundreds

Mitsubishi, IHI, KKK, Garret... water cooled, oil cooled they all coke.

You don't NEED a turbo timer... just like you don't NEED seatbelts. If you take the right procautions, you don't need either. Of course I would use both.

 

Well said!