Intercooler recommendation

[CPE1704TKS]

Hello all,

Last Saturday I clipped a (likely) dead bear at 50mph on an unlit section of road with my '15 MK7. It had been hit previously about 30 seconds earlier, and fortunately for my car it only weighed ~ 200lbs.

The car just got towed to the body shop, so I don't have an estimate yet, nor do I know what was damaged beyond the bumper, radiator, right fog light, and splash guards.

In the event that I punctured the intercooler when I went up over booboo, what would be a decent intercooler if I wanted one better than stock?

I'd be looking for a drop in replacement, nothing ridiculous but with more volume than the OEM one. If my stock turbo goes bad eventually, it'd be replaced by an IS38 and a corresponding tune.

Does a Golf R intercooler drop right in with the same size ductwork and mounting hardware? What about aftermarket ones?

TIA

 

[Diggs24]

OEM is junk. Grab a used one off marketplace and throw it in. Any aftermarket is better than OEM.

 

[DSC808]

Yea don't waste your $$$ on the R IC. People hate on ECS but for the price its not a bad deal. Could get a AliE IC but it'd be about the same price plus you'd have to wait like a month for shipping and if something happens more or less SOL. At least with ECS you can send it back. I had the AliE IC for a few years and it worked great.

 

[AdamSheikh]

Agree with Diggs - any aftermarket IC will be an upgrade over stock. The R one is slightly larger, but minimally so and not worth using.

I'm running a Wagner on my IS38 GTI and it's been great, even through the dead of summer here in FL.

 

[BudgetPhoenix]

Yea don't waste your $$$ on the R IC. People hate on ECS but for the price its not a bad deal. Could get a AliE IC but it'd be about the same price plus you'd have to wait like a month for shipping and if something happens more or less SOL. At least with ECS you can send it back. I had the AliE IC for a few years and it worked great.

yes I am an aliexpress twin cooler degenerate

 

[JerseyDrew77]

Hello all,

Last Saturday I clipped a (likely) dead bear at 50mph on an unlit section of road with my '15 MK7. It had been hit previously about 30 seconds earlier, and fortunately for my car it only weighed ~ 200lbs.

The car just got towed to the body shop, so I don't have an estimate yet, nor do I know what was damaged beyond the bumper, radiator, right fog light, and splash guards.

In the event that I punctured the intercooler when I went up over booboo, what would be a decent intercooler if I wanted one better than stock?

I'd be looking for a drop in replacement, nothing ridiculous but with more volume than the OEM one. If my stock turbo goes bad eventually, it'd be replaced by an IS38 and a corresponding tune.

Does a Golf R intercooler drop right in with the same size ductwork and mounting hardware? What about aftermarket ones?

TIA

OEM is junk. Grab a used one off marketplace and throw it in. Any aftermarket is better than OEM.

Exactly what Diggs said and I have my old IC for sale. It's a CTS drop in location IC that I am selling with the charge pipes.

https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/inde...er-drag-radials-pr-mpi-parts-for-sale.432201/

 

[Maiden69]

IC is probably toasted, I hit what looked I though was a coyote or bobcat, my radiator, intercooler, core support were toasted. They also replaced the AC condenser as it was bent and they didn't want to take any chances. I was able to replace the radiator with the ECS aluminum one as they were almost the same price, but they found out the intercooler was cracked and didn't told me until it was too late. Had I been notified I would had ordered at least the ECS one or the Majesty with the larger inlet/outlet.

 

[CPE1704TKS]

Thanks for the advice all, I heard back from the body shop today. The bear took out my AC condenser, intercooler, intake tubing and radiator, along with the bumper, radiator support(s), fog light, splash guards, and I'm sure more stuff. I haven't gotten the full list yet, still waiting to hear back from State Farm because we're now over the $5k mark.

Should I also be looking at an aftermarket radiator? I'm perfectly fine with the performance of the OEM radiator; it had about 10 years and 91k miles with no issues, but I don't know if it is on the edge of its capacity and adding a turbo & tune later on would put me at risk of overtaxing the OEM one. This car is 100% a daily driver, and not a track car.

Also, and this may be a dumb question so forgive me. Do all aftermarket stock location intercoolers require aftermarket ductwork, or will the OEM sized tubing work with the aftermarket intercoolers? Since this is going to be done by the body shop, I don't want them struggling to put an aftermarket IC in because they don't have all the necessary parts, and I want to make sure I order everything that is needed. I haven't settled on a brand yet, but ECS looks like it will serve my needs.

Thanks again!

 

[Diggs24]

stock radiator is fine
if you are talking about this one then it drops right in using factory pipes

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-ecs-parts/oe-upgrade-cast-aluminum-intercooler-kit/015120la01kt/

 

[GoatAutomotive]

Mishimoto
APR
DO88
Unitronic
Wagner

These are the best for flow, fitment and value per dollar. They will all support bigger power up to ~500whp with hybrid turbos.

 

[CPE1704TKS]

Mishimoto
APR
DO88
Unitronic
Wagner

These are the best for flow, fitment and value per dollar. They will all support bigger power up to ~500whp with hybrid turbos.

Thanks for the info, I put an ECS drop-in on order at the end of March and hopefully it'll be at my door by the end of next week. Should be considerably better than the stock one.