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

Rob@RBTurbo

Lieutenant
Dec 7, 2016
626
401
0
St. Louis, MO USA
www.rbturbo.com
Ride
'08 335i, '14 M6, '15 Tundra
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

The MHI OEM turbos are built quite very well from a balancing perspective (literally perfection) when new. Being a world turbo producing power it makes sense, as they have multi-million dollar machinery/robotics handling these functions at large volume capacity production. So with the right amount of money invested, turbo builds can be done at a mass produced level and still get perfect results every time. Alternative to that is having a boutique shop with the right equipment (scaled down in cost obviously), the necessary skills, of whom shall take whatever time required to get the same perfection in every build. These are all things that are shorted when going to mass production China and why it is largely hit or miss with the outcome, and based on what we have seen in our "limited" testing of them is that none of them are even remotely close to perfection, but rather "tolerable" if you are ok with having a much higher vibration threshold. One must understand that the "high balancing threshold" on builds is rather loose and most aftermarket production teams consider them fine for sale. So ultimately if they find a centersections balance under these levels the unit will be kicked down the line without any further thought- and this is what you end up with installed on your vehicle.

Rob
 
Last edited:

08_335i

Sergeant
Nov 3, 2016
371
215
0
31
Ride
2008 ST 335i
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.
Tranny was slipping, not blown, still using same exact tranny with a bigger turbo no issues. I'll gladly come see you face to face :fearscream::tearsofjoy: Btw, beat the hell cat with my slipping transmission. -I care about how tough you are-

Edit: are you that douche that had the ST 335i that was up for sale ans you ran around acting like you knew it all about BMW's and N54's? I seriously hope that was you because that explains EVERYTHING lmao.
 
Last edited:
  • Funny
  • Dislike
Reactions: Team503 and Milan

Milan

Sergeant
Dec 24, 2016
413
241
0
jebi se
Ride
your mom
Tranny was slipping, not blown, still using same exact tranny with a bigger turbo no issues. I'll gladly come see you face to face :fearscream::tearsofjoy: Btw, beat the hell cat with my slipping transmission. -I care about how tough you are-

Edit: are you that douche that had the ST 335i that was up for sale ans you ran around acting like you knew it all about BMW's and N54's? I seriously hope that was you because that explains EVERYTHING lmao.

Nah dude that wasn’t me, my cars were both way cleaner than that POS.

See you DT kiddo.
 

08_335i

Sergeant
Nov 3, 2016
371
215
0
31
Ride
2008 ST 335i
Nah dude that wasn’t me, my cars were both way cleaner than that POS.

See you DT kiddo.
Yeah I just talked to Erik hessings and you're the exact toolbag I thought you were. The one who's bought two single turbo 335i's but never seen them run, yet you're this great BMW mechanic. You're right, I can't wait to see you downtown so you can run and hide just like when you talked shit to Erik and his friends supra. See you soon buddy.
 

Milan

Sergeant
Dec 24, 2016
413
241
0
jebi se
Ride
your mom
Yeah I just talked to Erik hessings and you're the exact toolbag I thought you were. The one who's bought two single turbo 335i's but never seen them run, yet you're this great BMW mechanic. You're right, I can't wait to see you downtown so you can run and hide just like when you talked shit to Erik and his friends supra. See you soon buddy.

Alright dude...gonna figure this out with the peeps involved. You are either getting bad info or I am not who you think I am. Should get interesting fsho
 

doublespaces

Administrator
Oct 18, 2016
9,303
4,332
0
AZ
Ride
2009 E93 335i
UlqLDtI8Qc0j6.gif
 

08_335i

Sergeant
Nov 3, 2016
371
215
0
31
Ride
2008 ST 335i
Alright dude...gonna figure this out with the peeps involved. You are either getting bad info or I am not who you think I am. Should get interesting fsho
It's gonna be very interesting, Erik knows exactly who you are and filled me in completely. We will be seeing each other buddy :grin: I'm not the first person who you've keyboard warrior'd. Good luck.
 

Milan

Sergeant
Dec 24, 2016
413
241
0
jebi se
Ride
your mom
It's gonna be very interesting, Erik knows exactly who you are and filled me in completely. We will be seeing each other buddy :grin: I'm not the first person who you've keyboard warrior'd. Good luck.

I'll just leave this here brosephine. If you still got beef let me know, I'd be happy to meet you and Erik for some beers somewhere. Maybe you can teach me some stuff about BMWs
image1.png
 

JayG335

Private
Apr 6, 2018
26
4
0
Ride
2007 335i FBO VVT stage2
Id like to chime in again. Not to hijack the thread or steer from its orignal message but id like to speak about VTT as they are under fire here. Originally when this was posted I had just finished install of my VTT stage 2, the day before. This post has thoroughly freaked me out as my stage 2 look ABSOLUTELY identical and pretty much are. There is not a VTT logo anywhere on casting only laser etched. No balance sheet of any kind but i honestly dont know it that is common practice. Of course I'm super worried I got shafted. I umderstand companies out source parts for margin, it doesn't bother me, I simply want a reliable product. That's what matters right? After reading through everything I wish I felt better but not really. I truly hope VTT does assembly and balance in house. Like I stated earlier, it's a down right atrocity to rebrand and sell as is and if that is the case natural selection will weed out these companies unfortunately at the cost of many consumers (I hope I'm not one), as we have seen in the past. I will say this, I have since put 1100 miles on the car. Put my MHD backend tune on, (just stage 2) and the car runs beautiful, no smoke, no miss, pulls consistently. I will run an e85 mix like I was previously but I'll wait a little longer(Still paying for these turbos). I'm leaving for a 900 mile road trip tomarrow and feel very confident in the car. Time will be the true test.
 

vegasboy

Private
Mar 28, 2018
33
67
0
Ride
2009 335i
Jay did you happen to take any pics of your turbos before you installed them? Sound like to me like you got the previous version VTT was selling before they rebranded them with thier logo. Great to hear your turbos are doing good. My car is running great with these Chinese turbos. The power and spool is great. I’ve pretty much decided to stopped posting as this thread is so far past it’s original intent.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JayG335

JayG335

Private
Apr 6, 2018
26
4
0
Ride
2007 335i FBO VVT stage2
Jay did you happen to take any pics of your turbos before you installed them? Sound like to me like you got the previous version VTT was selling before they rebranded them with thier logo. Great to hear your turbos are doing good. My car is running great with these Chinese turbos. The power and spool is great. I’ve pretty much decided to stopped posting as this thread is so far past it’s original intent.
20180418_183943.jpg
20180418_183933.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: M&M'S

Mightbaal

Specialist
Apr 22, 2018
76
12
0
Ride
2008 335xi E90
Jay did you happen to take any pics of your turbos before you installed them? Sound like to me like you got the previous version VTT was selling before they rebranded them with thier logo. Great to hear your turbos are doing good. My car is running great with these Chinese turbos. The power and spool is great. I’ve pretty much decided to stopped posting as this thread is so far past it’s original intent.

That is true however I like to see good news and search for you on this thread. I have decided I need to upgrade my index 8 and 5 injectors before I look into turbos which right now are more expensive than the turbos that are sold lol. I also question my AWD if I upgrade, but thanks for chiming in on these. Also seems as if these are almost confirmed VTT Stage 2 turbos which do have problems but at least if they are just bought and resold by them you got them at a fraction of the price. I like to hear cheaper upgrade options that are viable for a quickly depreciating car. Still cant blow my damn stock turbos even at 24 psi midrange and 17-18 redline sigh they are taking a beating but no oil consumption no signs of pending failure yet... Glad those turbos are working out for you and hopefully others will have good results in the future with these also. These cars are getting so cheap but the essential maintenance is still the same expensive stuff.
 
  • Dumb
Reactions: buster84

vegasboy

Private
Mar 28, 2018
33
67
0
Ride
2009 335i
Jay they do look very similar, however the paint marks on my wastegates and V band clamp were marked with green.

I agree it’s getting hard to justify spending so much on these cars when we are starting to see them sell for $7-8k
 
Oct 24, 2016
1,152
1,202
0
46
Scottsdale, AZ
seems as if these are almost confirmed VTT Stage 2 turbos which do have problems but at least if they are just bought and resold by them you got them at a fraction of the price.

As previously stated, they are 100% not our turbos, although they may share some parts, so of course look similar. We build them in-house, with internals sourced from the UK.

Chris
 
  • Like
Reactions: JayG335

JayG335

Private
Apr 6, 2018
26
4
0
Ride
2007 335i FBO VVT stage2
Any update op? how are they running? any smoking?
So far 3k miles on the VTT stage 2. everything is great. I have a light burning oil smell right after coming to a stop and very light smoking on decel after a hard pull but I don't have the best pcv setup. just a mishimoto and rb valve, I've order VTT dual catch can system with head block off port to fix this. Overall I'm very happy with how everything is holding up. I'm working out the tune and fueling issues at 20+psi but that's nothing to do with the turbos. I've maxed out my fuel system.
 
Last edited:
  • Sad
Reactions: Rob@RBTurbo

Rob@RBTurbo

Lieutenant
Dec 7, 2016
626
401
0
St. Louis, MO USA
www.rbturbo.com
Ride
'08 335i, '14 M6, '15 Tundra
So far 3k miles on the VTT stage 2. everything is great. I have a light burning oil smell right after coming to a stop and very light smoking on decel after a hard pull but I don't have the best pcv setup. just a mishimoto and rb valve, I've order VTT dual catch can system with head block off port to fix this. Overall I'm very happy with how everything is holding up. I'm working out the tune and fueling issues at 20+psi but that's nothing to do with the turbos. I've maxed out my fuel system.

Nothing should be wrong with the RB PCV Valve setup, it is what we sell to all of our customers outside of the RB External PCV setup and both seem to be very unproblematic. Beyond these things what you are looking at is internal engine or turbo issues. May want to just monitor oil consumption rate as well to see if it is anything worth mentioning.

Rob
 

Mightbaal

Specialist
Apr 22, 2018
76
12
0
Ride
2008 335xi E90
With these aftermarket turbos they all scare me now expensive and seem to not last very long... OEM maxed out fuel system pushing 24 psi 18 psi redline on OEM 80k turbos...
 

Torgus

Brigadier General
Nov 6, 2016
2,671
2,194
0
Boston
Ride
ACF 6466 E92 + METH
With these aftermarket turbos they all scare me now expensive and seem to not last very long... OEM maxed out fuel system pushing 24 psi 18 psi redline on OEM 80k turbos...

Nothing will be as reliable as stock MHI turbos. That being said, look at the ones with the least issues you hear about if you want to upgrade, also the ones with a long healthy track record.

RB and PURE get my vote. Never ran either but you hear the least about them, regarding failures, afaik.

At the end of the day it depends on your power goals and how much you are willing to gamble with your money.