Kack

So does anyone know how well Turbonetic's Ceramic Ball bearing turbos match up against Garrette's Dual Ball Bearing turbos? Are they comparable?

My Turbonetics Ceramic BB turbo is about 6 months old and is now leaking oil on startup...should i just send it to turbonetics to have it serviced or should i leave my turbo in the car for a while and save up for a Garret GT BB turbo?

calib17a

Improved Rotor Dynamics and Durability - The ball bearing cartridge gives better damping and control over shaft motion, allowing enhanced reliability of both everyday and extreme conditions. In addition, the opposed angular contact bearing cartridge eliminates the need for the thrust bearing, commonly a weak link in the turbo bearing system.

Additional Ball Bearing Options - Another option one will find is a hybrid ball bearing. This consists of replacing only the compressor side journal bearing with a single angular contact ball bearing. Since the single ball bearing can only take the thrust in one direction, a thrust bearing is still necessary and drag in the turbine side journal bearing is unchanged. With the Garrett ball bearing cartridge the rotor-group is entirely supported by the ball bearings, maximizing efficiency, performance, and durability.
Information Provided By: Garrett Performance Products
Garrett uses steel ball bearings which are more durable than ceramic.

Nid Styles

In the ceramic ball bearings what part is ceramic?

Distorted

You kind of answered your own question there. The ball bearing themselves would be ceramic, as they has such low inertial weight and perform so well under heat. Hence why Porche offers a ceramic break disk upgrade on its Turbo models lately, less unsprung weight and an almost complete lack of break fade.
The steel ball bearings, though slightly heavier and not as good at resisting heat, will be mroe durable, i mean, go drop a brick of steel on the ground and then go drop a chunk of toilet on the ground. Ones gonna shatter or chip, guess which. I know that toilets arent the best example of ball bearing ceramics, but it illustrates a durability point.

99B16Si

drop a brick on a toilet...lol

i put a mini firecrakcer (about the size of a inch long piece of pencil) in a toilet on new years and instead of just making a loud noise it blew a 3 inch hole right thru the side. now put a firecracker in a steal urnal, aint **** gonna happen to the urnal beside make s aloud bang....true story