supercarger vs. turbo

[SupersonicGSR99]

i know this is has been one of the biggest questions in dealing with forced induction but which is more reliable, which is more expensive and so on?

 

[Winki]

you will be happier with a turbo

 

[JDMxDB8]

Turbo > Supercharger

 

[ewoo]

both can be very reliable given that everything was installed with quality parts, and you get a really good tune. personally, i've seen less go wrong with a supercharger. thats just me though, thats not a universal fact. both are expensive, but you'll have more power potential with a turbo in the long run.

 

[mteg]

A lot has to do with what kind of sc u go with. A roots type, you are a lot more limited. In order to increase the boost, you need to decrease pulley size. My buddies had good results with his jrsc on his rsx-around 270whp. I have another friend with a vortech sc on a b16 that puts down close to 280whp. I would have to say that the sc is more reliable, but the turbo has more potential, also a lot more headache.

 

[dc2GS-R]

Keep in mind that a Vortech supercharged B16 may have 280 hp at redline but probably 100 less at 6k rpms. Centrifugal superchargers are not nearly as linear as a Roots. Coupled with the already peaky B16 they make a lot less power under the curve than the peak numbers suggest

 

[BigMac88]

Yeah, bad parasitic loss on certain superchargers is lame for bottom end power, I would assume especially on a higher-revving engine. But I guess it depends what you want to do with your build. I have been thinking about doing a turbo/supercharger on my gsr too and the problem you run into is the high compression of the b18c1. I was talking to the owner of my local tuning shop and he says it's totally chill to turbo on the stock bottom end for the streets if you keep the boost low tho so idk. I guess it just depends on what you plan to build your car for.

 

[J_Jay_B]

superchargers are ok. but you have to take power in order to make power. in other words you have to add another pulley which will rob power from your engine, but you come out with more power than you started with. i have heard that sc's take less tuning and are a lot more reliable. personally i like the feel of turbo lag. you get thrown back in the seat and the faster you go the farther back in the seat you go. turbos have more potential in the long run just because of the enormous amounts of boost that you can have, and all of the upgraded parts and what not.

Vortech chargers are more of dyno queens... they put up decent numbers at peak, but that peak is only reached for a split second, everything else in the powerband doesnt even come close to the peak power, just like dc2GS-R said.

anyway my two cents would be...
- turbo > supercharger for high horse power
-supercharger > turbo for reliability and less headache