why are some more expensive than others? what are the downfalls of getting a cheap 80$ intercooler on ebay?

 

From what Ive heard on here, there isnt much of an argueable difference between an $80 Ebay intercooler and a $300+ PWR unit (or any other top end name).

 

Yup heard the same.

 

bump. bout to buy one, lookin for more opinions

 

i suppose u could argue on the integrity of the welds, but, theres no heat on them and no forces pulling on it constintly, so it really wouldnt matter

 

Yonaka

 

some argue about pressure drop, but personally, unless you have $,$$$'s to blow, no need to spend high amounts of money on an intercooler... they dont experience any kind of "beating"

 

I cant believe nobody has said anything about this idea that ebay intercoolers are no different then the PWR units. If you think that you can pay $80 for an ebay unit and get the same quality, performance and customer service as PWR unit, your all very ignorant. I dont know if the ebay units are tube and fin or bar and plate and honnestly I dont know if the PWR units are or not but that will definetly change the price of the unit. Generally bar and plate are more efficient and tend to cost a bit more then tube and fin which are not quite as efficient. I do think that for the budget racer, the $80 will prolly work just fine all things considered but putting the PWR and ebay intercoolers on the same level? Not a chance. BTW I ran a JRC intercooler so its not like Im some rep for PWR.

 

most of the ebay ones are bar and plate. There really isnt a reason for the $200+ difference between the 2. PWR or any other brand name you are paying for just that the name. It will have better welds, may look prettier, and may have a 1% performance gain. It wont be anything significant.

And customer service on an intercooler? I doubt PWR would do much for your intercooler either if you sucked something into it, or it broke. And I have yet to hear of any intercooler being broken on arrival. So maybe its not everyone else thats ignorant, maybe its just you.

 

I purchased one of those eBay intercoolers [56.99 + 34.99 s/h I think] and so far it's been a nice unit. I originally recieved the incorrect sized one, the eBay seller had me send it back, exchanged it, and reimbursed me the entire total of the shipping I paid for. The welds look good, the fins looks fine, the measurments are very desirable for my setup and I had no problem making some brackets to fit her behind my bumper.

My theory was, I spend ~110 on this intercooler, if it fails in 6 months I'll get another one and STILL have saved money. My next project car will definetly be more baller, but like people have always said, you're paying for the name most of the time to look better in the eyes of H-T or beyond.

 

Bar/plate have less pressure drop, however tube/fin are more efficent.

Now, more importantly, we should look at the design of the end tanks and the physical dimensions of the core itself. I see very few PWR intercoolers that have appropriately designed end tanks on this site. Most are very similar to the Ebay end tanks I've seen, none of them in the least bit desirable.

I say run the Ebay cooler. If it works out for you, good job, you spent about 300 dollars less than the other guy who wanted the name brand recognition and a better quality cooler. Not saying any two coolers from either company can be compared apples to apples, but if they achieve the same goal, it gets a from me