Upgraded T04 turbos for less $ than stock! Wtf? Link inside

Mightbaal

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Apr 22, 2018
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First off I understand fully these are made in China but with all the claims of these much more expensive *upgrades* from companies such as Vargas MMP... people saying they are using Chinese turbos anyways and obviously marketing up the price I was wondering on shit who cares giving these sounding promising upgrades. Please look at the item description forged billet 16T TD04L turbos balanced. I am no expert but for the price these seem like a freaking good shot at nothing....


https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32856...00_0101&spm=a2g0n.search-amp.list.32856448488
 

Mightbaal

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Apr 22, 2018
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True but with all the bad talk about these reputable upgrades out there that don't last long might be something to look at? Idk I don't daily my car...
The price is nice as hell but I might be afraid to do all that work to have them grenade on me
 

boostE92d

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Jan 9, 2018
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I thought the $1800 ones on ebay were cheap. Those said 3yr warranty, lol. The expensive version from vtt doesn't seem to be holding up that great though, so I'm not too sure about any of these others.
 

Mightbaal

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Apr 22, 2018
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Sorry I'm kind of noobish on turbos but what would these turbos be capable of? Horsepower wise...
 

N54QC

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Aug 17, 2017
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Lol I wouldn't be looking at these if I didn't do all of my own work lol.
I do all my own work too but swapping the turbos are pretty time consuming. Turbos straight from china make me nervous. If for some reason mine do happen to go, I'll probably just go bottom mount single.
 

Mightbaal

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Apr 22, 2018
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I do all my own work too but swapping the turbos are pretty time consuming. Turbos straight from china make me nervous. If for some reason mine do happen to go, I'll probably just go bottom mount single.

Yea I hear you I've actually never done turbos yet and I am XI awd so I bet it's a bit harder to do. Biggest project was the stock location silicone inlets.
 

Rob@RBTurbo

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As there are no pictures of the turbine wheel we are suspect that they maybe the OEM TD03L, this would be a horrific mismatch for the 16T compressor wheel. Provide some pictures and we can help you out here but understand that with the language barriers many of times it is very hard to to determine what they are trying to sell you (ie. they mention TD04L16T but they are talking only about the compressor wheel).

For giggles we had purchased a set of the China turbos last year, and what you will find with them is fairly shoddy balancing. More information on our findings here:
http://www.n54tech.com/forums/showpost.php?p=578237&postcount=8

Also it is doubtful you'll get internal bearings to withstand the test of time, then add in the poor/inconsistent aftermarket VSR balancing, and then add all of this to a mismatched wheel combination you could end up with surging to even a quicker death. Eventually they will get it all ironed out, probably will be around 2019-2020 or so at best; as of now this is the infantile guinea pig days and they will always be built with mass produced junk Chinesium housings and sloppy new wastegates.

All in all you are correct about giving them a whirl though with all of the "other" failures with vendors, considering some of these vendors who have "Gone Chinese" are simply relabeling and reselling for large profits are having an absolute ton of problems. High stakes game here with the amount of labor involved in these swaps, and the alternative is to buy from vendors who are hand building to perfection with the correct wheel combinations/balancing strategies/internal hardware and NOT having problems.

Rob
 
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DennisKing

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Nov 5, 2016
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Agreed

There are vendors who are having hard parts cast and then assembled in China which you see all over Ali and Ebay as well as other suppliers.

There are other companies that source the Chinese manufactured hard parts, send the CHRA's to the States for balancing and assembly, and then retail them with a warranty.

I've watched one certain turbo company buy some of these and rush them to market so that they can beat out the competition, only to have this all implode with failures.

I'm watching another company who is just now starting to send out products to testers for final testing because they are making sure all the I's are dotted and T's are crossed.

Similar products. Same country of origin. Different paths to market.
 
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N54QC

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Aug 17, 2017
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Agreed

There are vendors who are having hard parts cast and then assembled in China which you see all over Ali and Ebay as well as other suppliers.

There are other companies that source the Chinese manufactured hard parts, send the CHRA's to the States for balancing and assembly, and then retail them with a warranty.

I've watched one certain turbo company buy some of these and rush them to market so that they can beat out the competition, only to have this all implode with failures.

I'm watching another company who is just now starting to send out products to testers for final testing because they are making sure all the I's are dotted and T's are crossed.

Similar products. Same country of origin. Different paths to market.
Hmm, maybe referring to VTT and Frankenturbo, just a wild guess lol
 
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Bmac

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Nov 8, 2016
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All in all you are correct about giving them a whirl though with all of the "other" failures with vendors, considering some of these vendors who have "Gone Chinese" are simply relabeling and reselling for large profits are having an absolute ton of problems. High stakes game here with the amount of labor involved in these swaps, and the alternative is to buy from vendors who are hand building to perfection with the correct wheel combinations/balancing strategies/internal hardware and NOT having problems.
Rob, you said last year you were getting metallurgy tests done on the Chinese turbo's to see what the quality of the steel was. Did that ever come to fruition?
 

Rob@RBTurbo

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Rob, you said last year you were getting metallurgy tests done on the Chinese turbo's to see what the quality of the steel was. Did that ever come to fruition?

The China turbofold is still at the machine shop and no never did get it to the recycler (who has the xrf analyzer). That is still on the list but when you have a $75 new housing we think it is pretty safe to say that it is not going to be of great metallurgical quality- it is the typical throw away type of stuff known from this region when it comes to aftermarket reproductions. There's certainly a market for cheap junk though, good by us as it will free up only more genuine cores for us in the future.

Rob
 

veer90

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Nov 16, 2016
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Doesn't aliexpress usually require a bulk order? As in 50+ units before they'll even do business with you. Or is that only certain stuff they sell?
 

Mightbaal

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Apr 22, 2018
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Doesn't aliexpress usually require a bulk order? As in 50+ units before they'll even do business with you. Or is that only certain stuff they sell?

Alibaba yes aliexpress no. Alibaba is for resalers like dhgate and madeinchina buy bulk big discounts these turbos would be much cheaper in bulk.
 
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buster84

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Being someone that has removed there turbos I wouldn't wish this on anyone so Id recommend any Vender over China turbos. There is alot less risk of the turbos being damaged from shipping when shipped within the usa (bad packaging or dropped to hard could mess up the balance). Then the warranty is iffy

But, if you don't mind the labor give it a go. It's like playing the lottery, you'll either win or loose.
 

Mightbaal

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Apr 22, 2018
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Being someone that has removed there turbos I wouldn't wish this on anyone so Id recommend any Vender over China turbos. There is alot less risk of the turbos being damaged from shipping when shipped within the usa (bad packaging or dropped to hard could mess up the balance). Then the warranty is iffy

But, if you don't mind the labor give it a go. It's like playing the lottery, you'll either win or loose.

Lol what are the odds haha. I don't mind working on cars I own a N54 awd lol. My question is what type of power would these deliver vs stock... I am a turbo noob so I don't know... I am currently FBO+inlets+E85 E85 back end flashed. I'm guessing I will need fuel upgrades if I want more hp because my hpfp is currently maxed out at E50-60. That's at 22-24 psi midrange on stockers that drop to about 18 at redline.
 

Rob@RBTurbo

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Forget about the shoddy balancing or basic bearings, if they have a TD03L turbine wheel (as they likely do) with a 16T compressor they will make about 475-500rwhp on a well tuned ethanol car for about 250-1,000 miles, at which point they'll start leaking oil like a sieve and by about 2-3k miles you'll be at the point of tossing them in the garbage when no one responds to your email about a warranty replacement on your junk $800 turbo purchase. Sorry for the negativity just felt compelled to be a crystal ball on this one, by all means give it a whirl and report back.:cool:

Rob
 

boostE92d

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Even if you end up with more power than Rob is saying, I can't see these turbos lasting. They are based on a product that isn't doing well on the longevity standpoint it self. I wish the best for you if you get them, I just think it's a bad idea. It's just time and a few hundred dollars, right?