If you owned a V8 BMW ... like an E39 540i, you'd be used to replacing everything frequently and some measily front-wheel-drive parts wouldn't scare you off
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Upgraded T04 turbos for less $ than stock! Wtf? Link inside
- Thread starter Mightbaal
- Start date
.Yeah for me I wasn't willing to take the gamble. The cost of shipping to UK, insurance, taxes, installation, possible un-installation, replacement and down time was too much to risk.
Even if you buy reputable there's always a chance of failure. I'm sorry but 0% failure is impossible. Metal can have defects in it's lattice that don't appear for some time. Bearings can be starved of oil from bad driving habits or improper installation. If a customer installs the wrong blow off valve spring they can be destroying the turbo. You just have to hope that their QA processes have weeded out the majority of defective parts. That their warranties are good and that failure rates are very low from good practices and good manufacturing.
Even if you buy reputable there's always a chance of failure. I'm sorry but 0% failure is impossible. Metal can have defects in it's lattice that don't appear for some time. Bearings can be starved of oil from bad driving habits or improper installation. If a customer installs the wrong blow off valve spring they can be destroying the turbo. You just have to hope that their QA processes have weeded out the majority of defective parts. That their warranties are good and that failure rates are very low from good practices and good manufacturing.
I'm a little bit surprised these have not turned up on the forums yet. Maybe they have and I just missed it. Figured we are talking about china turbos so why not. I think it goes without saying what brand they resemble.
https://www.tomiokaracing.com/collections/turbos/products/tr-twin-turbo-upgrade-for-bmw-n54
https://www.tomiokaracing.com/collections/turbos/products/tr-twin-turbo-upgrade-for-bmw-n54
Rob@RBTurbo
Lieutenant
I'm a little bit surprised these have not turned up on the forums yet. Maybe they have and I just missed it. Figured we are talking about china turbos so why not. I think it goes without saying what brand they resemble.
https://www.tomiokaracing.com/collections/turbos/products/tr-twin-turbo-upgrade-for-bmw-n54
Those are the Zage units, aka GC 1.0's, but with an 11 blade turbine (something they "believe" is the fix for the chronic failures).
This is like Hexon reformulated into multiple companies lol
$2k for Chinese turbos is a total rip off. You can buy real ones from a well known vendor on here for that
Rob@RBTurbo
Lieutenant
This is like Hexon reformulated into multiple companies lol
$2k for Chinese turbos is a total rip off. You can buy real ones from a well known vendor on here for that
Yeah they reached out to us about 7 months ago asking if we wanted to resell. Knowing what we knew and still know (about tons and tons of failures) of these units we said "We are concerned about quality, and we wouldn't want to put our John Hancock on them considering all of the failures we hear about them." Their response was that a new 11 blade turbine will correct the problem, so it is now standard. Our reply was "How long have they been in service to know they are going to not have an issue?" No reply (Hint: We'd already knew it was a brand new change). About a month later we get an email from someone with a busted 11 blade, lol.
May the force be with you people taking these plunges!
Rob
I'm a little bit surprised these have not turned up on the forums yet. Maybe they have and I just missed it. Figured we are talking about china turbos so why not. I think it goes without saying what brand they resemble.
https://www.tomiokaracing.com/collections/turbos/products/tr-twin-turbo-upgrade-for-bmw-n54
Not worth it for the price. 3k for the GC equivalent and they think the 12 blade fixes the industry failure problem which I doubt. GC's are only $800 more at least with VTT you know your getting redesigned wheels in the 2.0s and a warranty that is local and won't give you the run around like those out the country. If the price was 1.6k for the 19t version it would have been talked about just as much at the 16t $800 version in this thread.
Rob@RBTurbo
Lieutenant
Definitely good points but if you are buying ANY setup that doesn't have a strong soak period (ie. 6-12 months minimum), with a 0% failure rate, over many units in the field you are looking for issues. Best bet is to always buy what is proven to have very little (if any) failure rate, or understand that you are essentially a Beta tester otherwise.
Any new "hot off the press" setup is always going to have its' risk. Having "someone there" to handle the broken parts is great and all, and is an insurance policy so to speak; but it would be most ideal to not end up with (or have the worry about) any broken parts in the first place.
Rob
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They have been around for sometime as the GC 1.0 and as Rob already mentioned the 11 blade is not the fix. As for people talking about them they have just been released to the public outside of VC and Zage a week ago. I have only seen people talking about them on one FB group but no other mention. I agree the price is to high for a china turbo, I think its just a matter of time before these start showing up on Alibaba as i'm sure the price will go down but will they fix the blade design who knows. Tomioka Racing has been around for some time and they have a US branch with a lot of big name stores selling the product so I doubt warranty would be an issue but I have never delt with the company just read some past reviews online.
Like any of the china turbos its a hit or miss really with who knows how long they will actually last. I know people that are running past brands from hexon ect with 30k plus on them no issues and others with less than 10k and failed.
Myself i just need something for my daily on the cheap so entertaining all options but I don't want to do E6X Xi install twice so I will go with a tried and true for peace of mind.
Oh look, it's the coil guy. The guy who thinks because we have a problem with the fact we were sold Walmart 3D printed shit, and have to modify every aspect of what was supposed to be a PnP kit, we are all not mechanically inclined to do anything.
Rob@RBTurbo
Lieutenant
Just an FYI in this industry the "warranties" can be as good as the paper they are printed on. Take a look at the GC 1.0's, how many failures were chalked up to a problem with something else and continued to be for the first year or so- at least until it was made public that they were a big flop? Answer: LOTS!
(NOTE: Don't get us wrong we are sure we had the same things to say about some of our products in the past- it happens especially when very sporadic and/or over longer periods of time. Sometimes you are left scratching your head especially when you have different offerings/options/etc and working with a lot of varying information about supporting mods/tuning/usage patterns/etc.)
But the point remains, if a manufacturer begins seeing significant failures you must at some point pull the plug on the product that is failing and try to determine the root cause as soon as possible. It is a never ending train wreck otherwise. What has happened with this Zage lineup was that the margins were great and an easy FLIP, while it was marketed to be a Game Changer and in high demand due to this, but despite large amounts of failures they kept getting sold. Once it got too deep (over 2 years and gobs of failures later); sales of the lineup was finally aborted (after having them copied by another manufacturer)... then washed hands and moved on. Now it is just the next guy(s) moving in for the whole rinse and repeat with the originals, and another USA vendor giving it another go round with some cheaper reproductions.
PS: There is no doubt that more and more of these parts will end up on Ebay, Alibaba, etc; and get cheaper and cheaper. The better and better aspect may come eventually, but how many years will it be remains uncertain. Good luck with any straight shooting convos regarding these lineups either, it's just not ever going to happen so there will always be a fog over the quality of what it is you are purchasing.
Rob
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Are you local to me? I just looked up a couple of your posts and now I totally recognize your car. You have the JP works kit and blew your motor or tranny or something racing a Hellcat right? I remember you because you have blue shit all over your engine bay.
Come talk shit to me to my face next time you see me in Mexico. I'll roll you out in my Z06 and only use the odd gears.
I'm a little bit surprised these have not turned up on the forums yet. Maybe they have and I just missed it. Figured we are talking about china turbos so why not. I think it goes without saying what brand they resemble.
https://www.tomiokaracing.com/collections/turbos/products/tr-twin-turbo-upgrade-for-bmw-n54
Be surprised at what China all makes lol. Some do a little modification to it some don't... slap a company logo on it and ship them out the door lol... Profit $
Btw to those GC 1.0 some say those are. The guy who said I bet they are not making just $800 off these remember that site is not a wholesaler. Bulk from china will always get you a significantly cheaper price especially directly from the manufacturer.
Rob@RBTurbo
Lieutenant
The GC 1.0 ordeal was worth about $500k profit, based on 100% markup (which was the markup @ MSRP) and what we've seen about the "released" sales numbers sold over the couple years. All in all a nice chunk of change for only a re-label and re-sell, but it is a short term win especially when you have to give a lot back in repairs and worse yet take the reputation hit to the brand. Different strokes for different folks, but we can see why it is tempting to do such things for the ease of income.
Rob
Early days I did this when those ecig pen kits were taking off bought the kits by the 1000's. Had them slap the EGO logo on them. Paid like $2.41 a kit sold on eBay all of them at $12.95 to $14.99. Its how it works kind of unless you can make a product from scratch and produce it but good luck in America. Our costs are to high compared to China.
Know a guy locally that became a millionaire doing the same thing before they were everywhere.
Yup. Lather.Rinse.Repeat. Been done a million times since ships crossed the sea. Amazes me that some people don't know this is a normal part of business. I guess they figure Walmart designed everything from scratch, eh?
Filippo
Large company's failure rate comes with the territory and often expected. This is nothing new and will continue, when buying material in quantity, mass production may seem your part is cheap, not like a smaller company who buys a few pounds of the same material. The large company may feel there failure rate is 10%, but there profit is 90, not a bad day, times 4 quarters. Mitsubishi has how may turbos out for these cars, with there rattle rate, I'm sure if it was an issue, it would have been brought back to the table. They seem to be ok with this, while we're making a 1,000 complaints on forums...lol
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