F3X Nothing New About the "New" CSF N55 Intercooler

ATMSpeedShop

Specialist
Jun 19, 2017
50
27
0
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335D
Well, this is going to be interesting...

There is a lot of hype about a new CSF intercooler on the market for the N55. A member of the community was gracious enough to contact us because he noticed some obvious similarities. Well turns out there are more than a few similarities and I think many of you will find this info interesting.

Does this look familiar?
bmw_f30_fmic6_1024x1024.jpg

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What the facts show is very clear, EXACTLY the same as far as manufacturing tolerances go. As you can see below everything is copied, most of it down to the millimeter. What caught our eye initially are the mounts and the endtanks. ATM is the only one that has this shape of endtank with these mounts.
2018-03-21 (1).png

But it gets worse, they didn't stop there. Fin count and type are the exact same as well. Bar and plate specs are exactly the same as well as the number and size of the rows.
2018-03-21.png

And it gets even worse yet. CSF advertises a rounded front/face bar plate design that is a "world exclusive". Well anyone that has been around the BMW platform for any amount of time knows that ATM was the inventor of the rounded header bar (since the helix core days) and we continue to use it in all of our cores. We are also still the ONLY ones to use it internally where it matters most for a positive effect on airflow through the core.

Given the above facts regarding construction, these intercoolers would perform similarly under the same conditions. Regarding any test comparisons that are done, at the end of the day if 2 intercoolers are not tested back to back in the same setup under the same conditions, no solid conclusions can be proven. And this is especially important when the tester is a distributor for one of the products and not an independent customer, naturally a vendor would push his or her product.....

It's really sad that we need to post this information. But what's worse is when one company feels it's ok to rip off the design and R+D of another and label it as their own. We feel the community needs to know what product they are buying and from what company though, as well as what time, effort and reputation is associated with that product. So for those that want an original and not a copy, you know where to find us :)
 
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all4bspinnin

Corporal
Jun 12, 2017
178
98
0
Ride
135i TT
This is a blatant copy of the ATM intercooler. ATM was the first on the market to have the rounded sections on the front of the intercooler. That, along with the dimensions ATM posted above leaves zero question in my mind that they ripped off ATM. Its a shame. ATM makes a great product. I've personally tuned several cars with it and it performs flawlessly... its been working great for over a year now on both a single turbo 135i and a 6466 135i
 
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houtan

Lieutenant
Nov 2, 2017
644
328
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135i N55 DCT; PS2
Love my ATM intercooler as it keeps my IAT in check with my PS2 turbo. Thanks for continuing to make great products and sharing this information.
 
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Mterkait

Private
Oct 22, 2017
26
4
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Kuwait
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F30 N55 '13
how much horsepower is this FMIC rated at? Im looking to make a custom intercooler locally, just because of the price of shipping to "Kuwait" is ridicilous.
 

ATMSpeedShop

Specialist
Jun 19, 2017
50
27
0
Ride
335D
how much horsepower is this FMIC rated at? Im looking to make a custom intercooler locally, just because of the price of shipping to "Kuwait" is ridicilous.
Well we've had our E-series unit on 700+hp cars with plenty of IAT control. This core is considerably larger, so we have yet to see it max'd out. Shoot us an email and we'll see what we can do for shipping!