Best intercooler upgrade?

Smirky

Smirky

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hi just wondering what is the best intercooler upgrade is for the s3 ? Looking at the airtec one as its standard fitment, better off with a single cooler or is the twintercooler a good choice?i will eventually be stage 2 plus then possibly a bigger turbo
 
ProAlloy is about the biggest of all if I'm right.
Other than that the Wagner and equivalents are good.

Proalloy is the one I have and it can keep intake temps within 7-10c of ambient on a hot day even without the benefit of WMI.
The faster you go the better it performs as air flow over it increases.
 
Sounds like a good excuse for the policeman ,I had to go that fast officer as it helps keeping my engine cool :tonguewink::tonguewink:
Yeah I seen the Wagner one is it oem fitment?dont really wanna start chopping up the bumper or grill (ordering carbon fibre grill) if you take stuff to amd do they charge extra for fitting stuff u bring in?
 
You can't go wrong with the APR intercooler.
 
Will be able to tell you all about the Wagner on Thursday when I have mine fitted
Pretty sure it's standard fitment as looking at standard S3 intercooler dimensions and that of the Wagner, they're very very close.

As been stated I think the proalloy, Wagner and Peron seem to be in favour at the minute.
 
audi upgrades
Dt_racing said:
Will be able to tell you all about the Wagner on Thursday when I have mine fitted
Pretty sure it's standard fitment as looking at standard S3 intercooler dimensions and that of the Wagner, they're very very close.

As been stated I think the proalloy, Wagner and Peron seem to be in favour at the minute.
Click to expand...
Where did you get your Wagner from?and how much did it cost you if you don't mind me asking?
Yeah I was looking at the stage 2 airtec (£600) can't really justify 1k plus fitting on an ic
 
Smirky, same place I have all my work done now, TTS Roadsport. They will match any price you can find on the net for parts and their labour rate is ok to. I tend not to worry about labour cost, TTS's service and attention to detail is well worth paying for. On price, direct from Wagner I think it comes in at £630 then a couple hours of labour so under £1k all in. Hope that helps
 
630 is not to bad at all , that could be the one i go for ,Apr one just seems well overpriced when u factor labour in , cheers for the info,is it listed on wagners page as s3 ic?
 
If the APR is a grand then I'm afraid that's way over the odds.

Even the Proalloy isn't that much.
 
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S3Alex said:
If the APR is a grand then I'm afraid that's way over the odds.

Even the Proalloy isn't that much.
Click to expand...
The pro alloy is 700? Yeah then u add couple hours labour looking at 1200 fitted now I no it's huge and maybe if you live in the far east or Australia u may need it but for here think its overkill Unless your running like 1000hp! Think I'll go for the Wagner got good reviews and think it will cope with what I'm gonna Chuck at it (rs 6 boys seem to rate it)
 
Pm Tsr performance on her they do 3 or4 different makes for good prices and they keep some makes in stock worth a massage or a call mate
 
Smirky said:
The pro alloy is 700? Yeah then u add couple hours labour looking at 1200 fitted now I no it's huge and maybe if you live in the far east or Australia u may need it but for here think its overkill Unless your running like 1000hp! Think I'll go for the Wagner got good reviews and think it will cope with what I'm gonna Chuck at it (rs 6 boys seem to rate it)
Click to expand...

The Wagner seems to be a good buy.

My point about the ProAlloy Vs APR was down to the prices,and if you look at both including fitting,it's easy to see which comes out ahead,and which doesn't have cast end tanks etc.
 
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S3Alex said:
The Wagner seems to be a good buy.

My point about the ProAlloy Vs APR was down to the prices,and if you look at both including fitting,it's easy to see which comes out ahead,and which doesn't have cast end tanks etc.
Click to expand...
I think your paying purely for the name with the apr ic and 300 is sum premium !
 
Smirky said:
630 is not to bad at all , that could be the one i go for ,Apr one just seems well overpriced when u factor labour in , cheers for the info,is it listed on wagners page as s3 ic?
Click to expand...

Dont want to push in any direction, it's for everyone to make their own assessment as to what's good for their car/build. All these mentioned above will work just fine.

For info link to the Wagner
http://www.wagner-tuning.uk/200001034.html
 
The Wagner is thicker than OEM but doesn't require any bumper/crash bar mods. However, it does push your radiator back and if you have the Forge/CTS hard front pipe then you could get some contact between the electric fans and the pipe.
 
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nluk100 said:
The Wagner is thicker than OEM but doesn't require any bumper/crash bar mods. However, it does push your radiator back and if you have the Forge/CTS hard front pipe then you could get some contact between the electric fans and the pipe.
Click to expand...
All my pipes are standard so hopefully be ok,
 
And I assume you can recoup some money by selling standard s3 ic? Either seat/skods or standard a3 2.0t guys could use it ?
 
Smirky said:
And I assume you can recoup some money by selling standard s3 ic? Either seat/skods or standard a3 2.0t guys could use it ?
Click to expand...

TDi guys running hybrid turbos also use them :)
 
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Smirky said:
The pro alloy is 700? Yeah then u add couple hours labour looking at 1200 fitted now I no it's huge and maybe if you live in the far east or Australia u may need it but for here think its overkill Unless your running like 1000hp! Think I'll go for the Wagner got good reviews and think it will cope with what I'm gonna Chuck at it (rs 6 boys seem to rate it)
Click to expand...
Wow £250 an hour labour...your mechanic must be loaded lol
 
Smirky said:
Where did you get £250 an hour from?£60 an hour plus vat pretty much standard down here I think?
Click to expand...

Price went from 700 to 1200 including 'couple hours labour'...1200 minus 700 is 500 divided by 2 leaves you 250 per hour?
 
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Sayam said:
Price went from 700 to 1200 including 'couple hours labour'...1200 minus 700 is 500 divided by 2 leaves you 250 per hour?
Click to expand...
700 referred to the proalloy ic,1200 fitted referred to the apr ic
 
I wanted the best. I bought ProAlloy. No regrets. And its standard fitment, no modification necessary. I think Wagner and Airtec are decent as well, but the APR boys must be smoking something dangerous if they think their cooler is worth that! Kinda like their HPFP and all their other branded stuff.
 
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nluk100 said:
The Wagner is thicker than OEM but doesn't require any bumper/crash bar mods. However, it does push your radiator back and if you have the Forge/CTS hard front pipe then you could get some contact between the electric fans and the pipe.
Click to expand...

That is a good point. The ProAlloy must push it back as well as I have the Revo pipe and there isnt much room! But there is enough. In fact I made a custom bracket to help with this but thats another story lol.
 
APR hardware is notoriously overpriced. 7k for a GTX28 setup is insane when Nortech do a 30 series setup for less.

A grand for an intercooler?! I wouldn't part with that money unless i could see some pressure drop and Intake temp data from logs to compare. I highly doubt its much more efficient than the Wagner or ProAlloy. Certainly not worth then extra £300-£400.

I also saw somewhere that APR wanted 180 quid for a billet gear selector bracket. I have no idea who the hell pays this sort of money for that stuff. Their software is good but the hardware is overpriced massively.

Wagner and Pro Alloy are very good coolers for the money. If you want something cheaper Airtec do coolers around 500 or less.
 
The Nortech kit is excellent.

Really well made and very helpful guys.
Also built to accept anything up to a GTX35.
 
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Your setup and also Hurdy's + the other Golf R's that Statllers have created are proof of the pudding Alex. With a little research you can get equivalent or better hardware and support for less money. I know where I will be going when I'm ready to make the step to BT.
 
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It was Hurdy that pointed me towards Nortech and then Nortech who suggested Storm and Syvecs as the next step.

That's the great thing about here and VAGOC with so many people being open with their data and their experience.

We all try to help each other.
 
Indeed this site and Vagoc have been invaluable.

Back on topic about IC's for Smirky - Check this thread for info on a number of intercooler options:

http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180325

This has been posted on another thread on ASN but I'll put it here as well. It doesn't cover Intergrated Engineerings IC but they have released good data on their own website. Nor does it include the ProAlloy but the core size on the ProAlloy is similar to the Wagner unit and alex will vouch for it.
 
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s3_trev said:
Pretty sure the ProAlloy is the biggest of the lot from memory.
Click to expand...

From memory the Proalloy does have the biggest core of all but the Wagner is the best of the rest.

There isn't a lot between the Wagner and Proalloy in dimensions or performance I think but it does at least allow some choice over the best.
 
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It's not all about size either, internal core and end cap design as just as important.

Just for the record, I fitted the all-alloy OEM S3 IC to mine (facelift S3's have the plastic end-cap design) and after 6 full power dyno runs it was keeping temps down to 10 deg above ambient, which I think is pretty decent considering it was 29 deg at the time. If you're thinking you need a large IC for stage 2+ then I'd say spend it on the H&R anti-roll bar kit instead.
 
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That's a good point.

It does become increasingly important as you increase power and to have an intercooler that can perform as well as the Proalloy on a 600bhp engine is very important.

It's a lot easier to obtain decent performance at lower levels but to maintain it further up the range gets harder.

We're lucky now to have a good set of alternatives to choose from.
 
nluk100 said:
facelift S3's have the plastic end-cap design
Click to expand...

I always thought this was the case. Its what everyone says. However I was very surprised to find my car actually had the alloy end tanks, NOT plastic, and my car IS facelift. Go figure!!!
 
s3_trev said:
I always thought this was the case. Its what everyone says. However I was very surprised to find my car actually had the alloy end tanks, NOT plastic, and my car IS facelift. Go figure!!!
Click to expand...

Did you buy the car from new Trev? What MY is yours?
 
I had done a bit of reading on the subject and read that even stage 1 can massively increase your intake temps ? I looked at the airtech stage 2 cooler does seem decent for the money,but as I can't say for sure I won't end up with a. Big turbo I'd rather put something in that will cope with a big turbo rather than having to spend out twice to replace the ic again,if the standard cooler will work at stage 2+ it surely must be right at the limit ?
 
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