[Jec1]

Looking to replace my intercooler with one of the above two using the stock couplers (am not interested in any fmic that does not use the stock couplers). I've seen the post where one guy had busted welds on his wagner, and I know the wagner is better value and the forge is known to be the crème de la crème in terms on construction. I'll write the busted welds to be a one off and I'm not too interested in appearance but rather pros/cons from people who have either/or actually on their car that they drive around with, not my friend has this or my buddy said his shop has another customer who has that.

Does anyone have real world experiences with either of these two intercoolers, not dyno numbers or flowbench tests but how they perform in the real world? My car isn't a dyno queen, 18k miles this year so far, theory and end tank design is immaterial.

N55 m sport, looking for a fmic that works that I can bolt in without any cutting or trimming that bolts up to the stock couplers. The above two seem like my only options.

[PeterPure]

I have had the forge and the wagner competition on my car. Forge does keep the iat temps a bit lower than the wagner. However the downside is your turbo has to work harder with the forge. I experienced 2 psi pressure loss over stock with the forge and only 0.5 psi pressure loss with the wagner.

If you do circuit driving and dont push high psi on your turbos, get the forge. For quartermile and day to day get the wagner

[JETmn]

How are the AIT's on each? Normally a higher pressure drop means more turbulators and better AITs, but not always.

[PeterPure]

Originally Posted by JETmn

How are the AIT's on each? Normally a higher pressure drop means more turbulators and better AITs, but not always.

The forge was around 10F cooler than the wagner. However i was running meth as well on both. The stock fmic (again with meth) ran around 25F hotter than the wagner so wagner iat was still far better.

[JETmn]

Good to know, thanks!

[Jec1]

Originally Posted by Darkhold

I have had the forge and the wagner competition on my car. Forge does keep the iat temps a bit lower than the wagner. However the downside is your turbo has to work harder with the forge. I experienced 2 psi pressure loss over stock with the forge and only 0.5 psi pressure loss with the wagner.

If you do circuit driving and dont push high psi on your turbos, get the forge. For quartermile and day to day get the wagner

I'm intending to run around on a stage 1+ sort of setup, possibly with the pure stage 1 after my vanos recall is completed. The parts are beginning to pile up but I'm waiting on the recall to install. Still undecided on whether I'll do the wagner catted downpipe or not, it seems intuitive to reduce backpressure but with New York emissions concerns and the weird way the N55 apparently reacts to downpipes I'm hesitant. For downpipes with a performance catalyst I'm not spending anything more than the $650 for the wagner, a 200 cell cat has a shelf life. 1k is crazy for downpipes but for a fmic I'm more willing to spend if it better suits my needs.

I'll probably be at around 14.5 psi peak on 93 most of the time...when you say 2 psi pressure loss, can you elaborate what exactly you mean? Are you indicating it is more difficult to hit boost targets, i.e. lag due to the fmic?

Would you anticipate I would experience a bit of lag with the forge that wouldn't be present with the wagner?

Thank you for sharing your direct experiences with both, the forge sure is pretty but your comments lead me the other direction. You are def pushing your setup a bit further than I intend but your results are impressive no doubt.

[PeterPure]

Well I would stick with the wagner with your setup then. Unless you are obsessed with needing to have the lowest iat possible.

But if you will have a pure stage1 upgrade the forge unit will allow you to run 14.5 psi at 6500 rpm as well so no issue there. It didnt feel more laggy just did not allow same boost as stock or wagner unit.

I would pick the wagner since less strain on the turbos is always better.

[PeterPure]

The forge cools more hence more turbulence in the fmic meaning there is more pressure drop in the system.

[Jsoboti]

Originally Posted by Darkhold

The forge cools more hence more turbulence in the fmic meaning there is more pressure drop in the system.

I'm assuming there is a diminishing point of return with this? So when does it make sense to upgrade the FMIC if you're likely to experience a pressure drop

[PeterPure]

Originally Posted by Jsoboti

I'm assuming there is a diminishing point of return with this? So when does it make sense to upgrade the FMIC if you're likely to experience a pressure drop

I guess it depends on your climate and wether you run meth or not. For me in belgium if i run meth my stock fmic would do fine october till april. The hotter it is outside, the more gains you see from the fmic.

[Tiago@VRSF]

Is there a reason you're not interested in removing the one time use clamp on the driver side? You can easily replace the one time use clamp with a BMW hose clamp and nobody would notice the difference

The passenger side is unaffected since that entire pipe is replaced so that one can be replaced without issue.

The reason I say this is because the OEM connectors neck down to less than 2" which cause a lot of additional back pressure and flow restrictions in the intake path. They have proven to leak above stock boost levels.

[Jec1]

Originally Posted by Tiago@VRSF

Is there a reason you're not interested in removing the one time use clamp on the driver side? You can easily replace the one time use clamp with a BMW hose clamp and nobody would notice the difference

The passenger side is unaffected since that entire pipe is replaced so that one can be replaced without issue.

The reason I say this is because the OEM connectors neck down to less than 2" which cause a lot of additional back pressure and flow restrictions in the intake path. They have proven to leak above stock boost levels.

Logically? No real reason, I'm not going to get into discussing ever particular detail of my thought process because it probably isnt logical except to me but suffice to say from the standpoint of a cursory non invasive inspection everything I've done to my car is easily reversible in a couple hours.

I'm aware that the stock tubing is a restriction and people have been clamping up intercooler tubing for decades with nary an issue...if I didnt care about stock couplers your FMIC would be on the list, everyone seems to rave about how good your product is at a beyond reasonable price point.

Suffice to say everyone has their weird little OCD aspects of how they modify their car...I've never done anything more than wheels and spacers, exhaust and chip to prior cars so I'm already living on the edge thinking about a FMIC with the possibility of an lsd, catted downpipes and a stage 1 turbo upgrade

[Turbmando]

Darkhold did not test Wagner's intercooler which retains the oem fittings, he tested the competition version. The Wagner Evo 1 which utilizes the stock fittings also has a large pressure drop. I believe their website shows 2 psi and the data below shows 5.29 psi.
http://mosselmanturbo.com/uploads/media/intercooler_test_Mosselman.pdf