which of them should i use as intercooler piping?
I know that aluminum is lighter.

 

either will work. i use aluminized steel. cheaper than both. i don't care what it looks like. stainless will look nice, but expensive. aluminum will be lighter, but expensive.

 

You have to look at the piping in terms of welding in my opinion. If you can weld either DC or AC current, you'll be set. Welding thin gauge aluminum is tricky, and paying someone to do it is going to be expensive.

The main benefit i would see with aluminum piping is that the thermal conductivity of aluminum is higher than stainless steel, therefore allowing it to dissapate heat far greater than stainless steel.

I have mild steel piping that I did for my car right now. Between sanding and painting it so it wont rust, I wish I would have fabricated it out of stainless. This spring on my list of things to do is re-fab the piping in aluminum since I have some AC welding experience at this point. The cost of stainless and aluminum are very close btw, its the welding expense that should be your deciding factor.

 

I have AL charge pipes, which I had to fit and have a friend TIG weld. Sure they are light and not the usual material but it took heck of a lot longer than using aluminized steel. I could have welded those myself and had all the pipes done in a fraction of the time.
It is all in how different you want to be, how much money you want to spend, and what your resources are.
Stainless, steel, and aluminum all make good charge pipe material. Heck even CF makes good charge pipe material....but are you willing to go to all that work or pay someone else to do it?

 

Yeha i mean i can get SS for a decent price and i have a uncle that can weld so i fig i would do that.
As for Aluminum its light but i would have to pay someone to Tig weld it and its mad cash.

 

How much welding is really needed? Anyone have any examples of what the costs were for an Al setup vs. stainless vs. aluminized?

Thanks
Ben