17Blk.Mk7
Passed Driver's Ed
- Location
- north east
- Car(s)
- 2017 GTI SE 6MT
looking to go stage 2 and wanna know what’s the best intercooler brand. Thanks ahead of time.
7
Best intercooler for a gti
- Thread starter 17Blk.Mk7
- Start date
James At EQT
Ready to race!
- Location
- Colorado
- Car(s)
- 2017 RS3 + AWD Mk6
Do88 Offers one of the best cooling capacities on the market with the expense of being fairly heavy.
https://eqtuning.com/collections/vw-audi/products/do88-mqb-direct-fit-intercooler
If you're an AutoX or Circuit Racer and need to keep weight off the front end, the AMS is a good sum lighter but cools slightly less well.
https://eqtuning.com/collections/vw-audi/products/ams-mk7-golf-r-front-mount-intercooler
**Edited to show Do88 is ONE of the best, not directly indicating it is THE absolute best one. In our experience with various hardware setups, Do88 performs incredibly well. This statement is based on experience via tuning multiple different hardware setups. Apologies if it was at all misleading.
https://eqtuning.com/collections/vw-audi/products/do88-mqb-direct-fit-intercooler
If you're an AutoX or Circuit Racer and need to keep weight off the front end, the AMS is a good sum lighter but cools slightly less well.
https://eqtuning.com/collections/vw-audi/products/ams-mk7-golf-r-front-mount-intercooler
**Edited to show Do88 is ONE of the best, not directly indicating it is THE absolute best one. In our experience with various hardware setups, Do88 performs incredibly well. This statement is based on experience via tuning multiple different hardware setups. Apologies if it was at all misleading.
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JerseyDrew77
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Virginia & NC
- Car(s)
- 2016 TR GTI S 6MT
That's a pretty bold claim. Where's the data to back that up?
17Blk.Mk7
Passed Driver's Ed
- Location
- north east
- Car(s)
- 2017 GTI SE 6MT
How does this compare to the IE cooler?
Same thing different price. This pretty much goes for all the stock location IC's. Marginal difference.
But FMIC that's a whoooole different story. Bar/plate, plate/bar, tube/fin, fin/plate, twin cool...
Is Equilibrium Tuning able to back up those statements?
jay745
What Would Glenn Danzig Do
- Location
- Slightly Outside Chicago
- Car(s)
- Mk6 racecar, Tacoma
Of course not. Dave is a clown and should be disregarded.
I highly doubt do88 is the best, but it's pretty good in regards to performance/cost ratio. My do88, bought Nov 2021, cost $748.63 shipped direct from do88 and keeps IATs about 10* over ambient in 3rd. I hit traffic, so I couldn't pull through 4th. Car is a basic stg 2 R, power wise.
Datalog
VS my old BMS intercooler (junk) that was about 18* over ambient in 3rd and 32* over ambient in 4th gear. Car is a jb4 map1, no other power mods.
datalog
From random datalogs I occasionally see, I think IE V2 intercoolers perform better, but they seem to always be OOS and are decently more expensive. It's tough to get any useful data on these, because most people will just post (like dave) which one is the best but have no real world data. Also, Jeff's site that Sarudo linked, doesn't really replicate real world data, but everyone points to it for "proof" one intercooler is better than the other.
JerseyDrew77
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Virginia & NC
- Car(s)
- 2016 TR GTI S 6MT
Yeah I take those test results with a grain of salt because it's not the Holy Grail of IC tests.
mrmatto
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Jacksonville, FL
- Car(s)
- 2024 GTI DSG
The GTI world needs to know to take IAT readings with a big grain of salt and they shouldn't be relied on alone to assess intercooler performance.
"Also, Jeff's site that Sarudo linked, doesn't really replicate real world data, but everyone points to it for "proof" one intercooler is better than the other."
The temperature data is based on multiple full-throttle third gear pulls. What procedure do you recommend that would replicate real-world data?
James At EQT
Ready to race!
- Location
- Colorado
- Car(s)
- 2017 RS3 + AWD Mk6
In our experience with tuning almost every combination of hardware out there, the Do88 intercooler is one of the top performers that we come across.
Of course, some 1 off custom FMIC setups may perform better, but in the realm of stock location intercoolers, Do88 really knocks it out of the park. And as others mentioned, the benefit vs. cost is really well stacked in their favor.
The IE V1 intercooler was great if you ran an upgraded main radiator as it was slightly thinner than their V2 and some other intercoolers on the market, but V2 was definitely a significant improvement in the cooling department. Without back-to-back test data on the same vehicle under similar conditions, it's hard to make an accurate comparison against the Do88.
That said, Do88 is still our preference in the grand scheme of things having seen many different hardware setups.
Please see my reply above.
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