My DAW 775RS Turbo Review

[SLOWESTN54]

I just want to state I'm not here to bash anyone or talk shit, just stating/sharing my experience with Shawn and his DAW Turbos. Back in December of 2019 I decided to pull the trigger on some DAW 775rs turbos, They were on Sale for Christmas, looked like good deal. From the little research i did back then it looked like some people had issues with the first sets but others were having a good experience with these so far. I installed these on my original 535i in March 2020. Unfortunately that car was totaled in a hydroplaning incident 2 weeks later. I Bought the car back from insurance. Turbos sat sealed attached to the engine until August 2020 which is when they ended up in my 335i. The car was driven about 4000km's at 18psi of boost. Until it was parked in January 2021. Reinsured it in May 2021 had a custom tune done by V8 bait in which we pushed upwards of 22psi. The car accumulated another 2000km's until catastrophe. After a 2nd gear pull i heard a noise almost as if a coupler had popped off. When i checked next morning nothing seemed out of the ordinary until i pulled my inlets off and the rear turbo compressor housing was badly marred. Looked like the wheel was contacting the housing. The turbo had tons of play, with any pressure on the wheel it wouldn't turn. The front also had decent play but spun fine. I contacted Shawn to see if he would warranty them, but was given nothing but excuses for why it was not the turbos fault. He diagnosed them from the pictures and without doubt told me the Thrust washers failed, Told me the turbos would have failed instantly if they were faulty from factory. He has asked for me to send them back in but i really don't want to waste money on shipping them back as I'm sure nothing will come of it. I did consider getting new cores from him and just selling the turbos off to salvage something, but ended up deciding against it. Also, about a day after my turbos failed my friends set of 775RS's decided they wanted to shit the bed as well. He "surprisingly" got the same response from. I'll let him talk more about his experience as that's not my place to talk. And Sorry for the long back story just needed to give a timeline of how these miles were accumulated. Hopefully this can help guide new comers to the N54 game. And do your research kids cause i sure wish i did.

 

[NoGuru]

I'll just give a quick short of my experience. I had a set installed by Shawn's recommended shop. The turbos failed in 100 miles.
He replaced them no problems.
Since then I have done two Shift Sector half mile races and many trips to the 1/4 mile track plus summer daily driving the car for the last two years. No issues.
Now, I do make sure my oil gets all the way up to temp before doing any pulls and let the turbos idle for a minute before shutoff.
Would I recomend this turbos, maybe IDK, depends on how you treat them and maybe the luck of the draw with Chinse Turbos.

 

[SLOWESTN54]

I'll just give a quick short of my experience. I had a set installed by Shawn's recommended shop. The turbos failed in 100 miles.
He replaced them no problems.
Since then I have done two Shift Sector half mile races and many trips to the 1/4 mile track plus summer daily driving the car for the last two years. No issues.
Now, I do make sure my oil gets all the way up to temp before doing any pulls and let the turbos idle for a minute before shutoff.
Would I recomend this turbos, maybe IDK, depends on how you treat them and maybe the luck of the draw with Chinse Turbos.

I should have added that I always do let my car warm up fully before pulls. Would let it idle or give it a good cool down before parking it after a good drive. And as you said its most definitely a luck of the draw. I wish he didn't market them as having a 3 year warranty if he wasn't going to honor it.

 

[9krpmrx8]

This is a tough once since the turbos sat for so long.

 

[SLOWESTN54]

This is a tough once since the turbos sat for so long.

They weren't sitting in the open, They were completely sealed off with the oil/ coolant lines still attached to the engine. They sat for a total of 5 months. Also primed every time after sitting for a long duration.

 

[fmorelli]

This is a tough once since the turbos sat for so long.

How so? What's tough about it in your opinion?

 

[langsbr]

Shawn is obviously just making stuff up to avoid warranty claims. He calls the exhaust "Honda civic" exhaust. What a joke. The oem exhaust is more than sufficient for anything these Chinese turbos can support. If backpressure is killing the thrust washer on the turbos it's due to the terrible Chinese castings themselves. The sad part is all the Facebook dopes believe his shit and then straight pipe their car making it sound like shit. He knows most people buying his turbos won't drop another 800+ for a new exhaust so this is an easy out for him.

 

[martymil]

Another wanker using excuses to get out of warranty just like rob.

Its everybody else's fault but his shitty turbos, just like his crap silicone outlets.

 

[SLOWESTN54]

Another wanker using excuses to get out of warranty just like rob.

Its everybody else's fault but his shitty turbos, just like his crap silicone outlets.

Hey Marty lets keep this Thread a little less Vulgar. Really don't want this thrown into the Octagon. Funny Enough I've spoken with rob quite a bit recently, seems like a genuine guy. Where as when I first spoke with Shawn I had my doubts. Obviously everyone's experiences with a vendor or a person aren't always the same. What truly bothers me about Shawn is before even looking at the issue or discussing all scenarios of why this would happen he chooses to blame the customer. A crappy product with crappy customer service, I'm shook he's still in business.

He knows most people buying his turbos won't drop another 800+ for a new exhaust so this is an easy out for him.

The stock exhaust is really nice in all honesty, get you a welder friend to replace secondary cats with resonators. Cut open one side of the muffler delete the resonator. close everything back up. Add a valve controller and your all set. I see why people won't get rid of it.

 

[martymil]

I had the same experience with Rob as you did with yours, the only person that done the right thing and always looked after me is Tony and he never made up excuses to me.

 

[martymil]

And there is nothing wrong with the stock exhaust who ever said there is grasping at straws

 

[seb.apprenti]

you should contact Omar (hydra) and go to the HP650 or HP800

 

[fmorelli]

The stock exhaust on BMWs has always been pretty good, actually. Like it or not, BMW is an engineering-driven company, and they tend to do balance well. That said I was not a big fan of my Z4 exhaust but for near stock power, it is more than plenty good.

I've had good experiences with Rob; not sure why he is brought up in this thread. Some times the issue comes down to how one approaches the vendor (note, I said "some times"). Even MMP warranteed their silicone outlet. I've always had good experiences with Mauricio; though honestly I would not buy most of the product line at this point.

On the DAW turbos, given what everyone knows about them (that has been documented), I've never understood why people paid such a premium for them. Seems to me, if one wants to roll the dice on chinesium turbos, the ones to buy for under $1k are well documented at this point.

Thanks for posting up the info, @SLOWESTN54 ... and attempting to keep the thread informative!

 

[fmorelli]

you should contact Omar (hydra) and go to the HP650 or HP800

Sorry I know it is a bit of a thread wander ... is there an outlet solution on the market for either of these turbos? @ShocknAwe ?

 

[ShocknAwe]

Sorry I know it is a bit of a thread wander ... is there an outlet solution on the market for either of these turbos? @ShocknAwe ?

I have high flow outlets from Hydra on my 800s. They have to be welded on, so best to spec them that way when you order.

 

[SLOWESTN54]

you should contact Omar (hydra) and go to the HP650 or HP800

I've spoken with Omar from hydra, i highly considered HP800's for my car but I'm a little concerned about going with twins for over 600whp. My issue now with the twins is I feel as if there running on the ragged edge the whole time. Although i never got a price from him for HP800's, would anyone know how much they are?

On the DAW turbos, given what everyone knows about them (that has been documented), I've never understood why people paid such a premium for them. Seems to me, if one wants to roll the dice on chinesium turbos, the ones to buy for under $1k are well documented at this point.

I think originally when everyone bought these, they were being presented as a budget reliable turbo setup. Reliable, budget friendly, and semi capable of making some decent steam, all that generally don't go together but these made it seem almost as if they were balancing the three. The warranty helped solidify that. Soon after everyone realized these aren't actually what they expected, but instead are just a china turbo with a fake balance sheet from England. Everyone gave them the benefit of the doubt and they did good for some but really screwed some over. Nothing against Vehicular DIY but these really blew up when he put them on his car.

I have high flow outlets from Hydra on my 800s. They have to be welded on, so best to spec them that way when you order.

How have they been holding up for you? Also how much boost are you running them at?

 

[ShocknAwe]

How have they been holding up for you? Also how much boost are you running them at?

The purpose of my build is stable reliable power on pump 93. Similar map to what Omar had on his car, haven't dynod mine but you can see his Dyno sheets in his thread.

Boost is around 18psi.

Whole setup is holding up great, have about 10k miles on it though so that's small change, as you know.

 

[Torgus]

Fast
Cheap
Reliable

Pick two.

 

[ShocknAwe]

Fast
Cheap
Reliable

Pick two.

Could have done a full ST conversion for substantially less than I'm in on my N53TT setup.

 

[SLOWESTN54]

Fast
Cheap
Reliable

Pick two.

We all learn this eventually. Hence I see a speedtech kit in my future. Maybe a ported head with upgraded valve train as I have a spare.