I need a new radiator for my 92 gsr. Whats the cons of a plastic radiator? How long does it last? I'm leaning towards a plastic replacement cause the OEM is just too expensive unless someone can talk me out of it.

Thx

 

I'm having trouble right now with an aftermarket plastic one.. the second replacement is in the mail right now. Lifetime warranty doesn't mean anything if it won't even last a month

Maybe I'm just a bit biased right now

 

Oh, forgot to answer your original question

Plastic radiators have a tendency to either crack at the tank, or seperate/leak where the plastic tank meets the metal center portion of the radiator. All-metal radiators are welded together so leaking/cracking is less of an issue.

I don't think you should have any issue with the plastic-tanked radiators as long as its a well-built one, but I don't have any suggestions for those at the moment...

 

I bought a new plastic radiator off of radiators.com a couple years ago. So far so good. They even delivered the thing in less than 24 hours from the time I placed the order.

 

I bought a cheap all-metal radiator off ebay for like $85 shipped. Been 4 years and 90K miles and all is good. Even when my fans stopped working, it never overheated due to the efficient heat transfer until I got stuck in a traffic jam for 20 minutes at idle. Probably wouldn't have happened if I would have just shut the engine off. Glad it did happened or I might never have known the fans weren't working. And if it ever does spring a leak, I can just weld it up, not like the plastic OEM crap.