typhoon4ever
New member
other than faster spool, any other advantages?
whats the advantage of having a ball bearing turbo
- Thread starter typhoon4ever
- Start date
No, not really.
I've talked to some Borg Warner reps (Borg Warner owns Garrett/KKK, and some other major turbo company as well), and basically they told me the OEM people don't like ball bearing turbos for several reasons.
1- The performance gain is marginal, yes they can offer slightly better response, but overall performance isn't better, and that is what OEM (companies looking to buy turbos by the tens of thousands of units) is looking for.
2- lifespan isn't lengthened, if anything it's shortened, as a ball bearing turbo is very sensitive to oiling. This is one reason why Diesel trucks out there aren't using ball bearing setups, Diesels have very dirty oil systems.
The guys I talked to had nothing to gain or lose by giving me this information, nothing to sell me, and they have done (as a company) more research and development than *anyone*. He referred to the ball bearing turbos as having 10,000 mile lifespans, and regular bearing turbos as having 100,000 mile lifespans.
So if you feel you are dead set on having faster spooling, at a cost of possibly some lifespan of the turbo, several extra hundred dollars, more expensive rebuilds... then it's for you. I'm not dead set on it yet, as I'd rather see other parts optimized that help spool up - stall converters, fueling, camshaft selection, head work etc.
I've talked to some Borg Warner reps (Borg Warner owns Garrett/KKK, and some other major turbo company as well), and basically they told me the OEM people don't like ball bearing turbos for several reasons.
1- The performance gain is marginal, yes they can offer slightly better response, but overall performance isn't better, and that is what OEM (companies looking to buy turbos by the tens of thousands of units) is looking for.
2- lifespan isn't lengthened, if anything it's shortened, as a ball bearing turbo is very sensitive to oiling. This is one reason why Diesel trucks out there aren't using ball bearing setups, Diesels have very dirty oil systems.
The guys I talked to had nothing to gain or lose by giving me this information, nothing to sell me, and they have done (as a company) more research and development than *anyone*. He referred to the ball bearing turbos as having 10,000 mile lifespans, and regular bearing turbos as having 100,000 mile lifespans.
So if you feel you are dead set on having faster spooling, at a cost of possibly some lifespan of the turbo, several extra hundred dollars, more expensive rebuilds... then it's for you. I'm not dead set on it yet, as I'd rather see other parts optimized that help spool up - stall converters, fueling, camshaft selection, head work etc.
I second that...
Had a long conversation with John Craig about the advantages of a ball bearing turbo vs. conventional turbos. From what I can remember, the ball bearing turbos were initially designed to help eliminate turbo "chattering" from the center section moving back and forth laterally. A side-effect was the faster spool-up, but it wasn't the primary goal. The only other difference between the two is, of course, price. Nowadays, turbos are designed well enought that they don't need the ball bearing feature for any reason whatsoever.
Brandon
ASM Sy #1151
Had a long conversation with John Craig about the advantages of a ball bearing turbo vs. conventional turbos. From what I can remember, the ball bearing turbos were initially designed to help eliminate turbo "chattering" from the center section moving back and forth laterally. A side-effect was the faster spool-up, but it wasn't the primary goal. The only other difference between the two is, of course, price. Nowadays, turbos are designed well enought that they don't need the ball bearing feature for any reason whatsoever.
Brandon
ASM Sy #1151
ghettosled
SYTY SUPERSTORE
I dont want to sound like I am promoting anything here, but honestly the new Innovative Turbo dual ball bearing turbos, make a pretty substantial difference. Until you have been in a vehicle with b4 and after tests, i would be skeptical on your statements. You may want to talk to Rick over at ITS. I know on some of the larger 70,72,76,80mm turbos it helped out ALOT.