What's the difference between these two intercoolers?

[Stoicc]

I'm looking at getting an intercooler for my 2019 Kia Stinger GT 3.3T but I'm not sure what the main differences are between the "Wagner Tuning Competition Cooler" and the "Kia Stinger 3.3T - Ultimate Performance Front Mount Intercooler Kit"

They're similar enough in price that I can consider either or but I would like some advice and help on understanding the differences between the two and which would be the best bang for my buck.

Thanks!

 

[Spaceme17]

The Wagner intercooler is much bigger; too big actually. This would be more appropriate if you turned your car into an all-out race car.

The other kit looks to be a kit made by K8 store; I don't much care for it.

If I was going to get an intercooler, I would look at the Agency Power intercooler (if you only want to replace the intercooler but use stock pipes) or the Mishimoto intercooler (replace intercooler and pipes). The Mishimoto kit is THE kit to get; top quality, fitment, and performance. Performance Intercooler Kit, fits Kia Stinger GT 3.3T 2018+

Now I think the factory pipes are actually very good so the Agency Power would be great also especially if you want to save a bit of cash. KIA STINGER AGENCY POWER INTERCOOLER UPGRADE

 

[Stoicc]

@Spaceme17 When it comes to the difference in performance between the Agency Power Intercooler and Mishimoto Intercooler is the price difference worth the performance difference? Meaning is the performance benefits of the Mishimoto worth the price when I can get the Agency for half the price? I don't see much on their sites about what kind of gains each will get by installing their intercoolers.

 

[Terry@BMS]

Both of those are smaller than the BMS Stinger intercooler.

BMS High Performance Intercooler for Kia Stinger & Genesis G70

The Burger Motorsports high performance intercooler for 2018+ KIA Stinger/Genesis 3.3t delivers better cooling, more power to the wheels, and allows you to hold that power longer during extended runs.

burgertuning.com

 

[Robs GT]

I had the agency intercooler and have since replaced it with the BMS intercooler works well, didn't really see any gains with either but the BMS intercooler still uses Factory pipes and is larger.

 

[AWDGT2]

I bought the Agency kit before I knew about the BMS, but... I dont regret it. You'll be happy with either one. They'll both keep your IAT's down and keep power up.

 

[Stoicc]

@Terry@BMS I'm new to all of this so what does the size of the intercooler have to do with it?

 

[AWDGT2]

Cooling, it's all about cooling the compressed air before it enters the charge pipe and into the engine. Larger intercooler, means that more air can enter at any given time, in the volume available. At any given flow, the air will be in the intercooler longer, therefore it has the potential to cool it longer. This is especially true when the car is at idle, heat soak occurs. Google heat soak and you'll be glad you did.

 

[K8 Stinger Store]

Lots of interesting information here in response to you asking what the difference between the (2) intercoolers we carry.

For starters @Stoicc I would be happy to help you with this personally. Feel free to reach out to me directly: Sales@K8StingerStore.com

I would be happy to answer any questions you have about these intercoolers, or any other products we carry on the site.

As you most likely already know, both of the intercoolers are on sale right now during our "End of the year sales event" until the 31st at midnight.

-David

The Wagner intercooler is much bigger; too big actually. This would be more appropriate if you turned your car into an all-out race car.

The other kit looks to be a kit made by K8 store; I don't much care for it.

If I was going to get an intercooler, I would look at the Agency Power intercooler (if you only want to replace the intercooler but use stock pipes) or the Mishimoto intercooler (replace intercooler and pipes). The Mishimoto kit is THE kit to get; top quality, fitment, and performance. Performance Intercooler Kit, fits Kia Stinger GT 3.3T 2018+

Now I think the factory pipes are actually very good so the Agency Power would be great also especially if you want to save a bit of cash. KIA STINGER AGENCY POWER INTERCOOLER UPGRADE

The Wagner Intercooler is definitely not too big, and there is no evidence to show this, as if it were too big, there would be issues with turbo lag, etc. which are NOT present.

I'm sorry, but it would be helpful to members of the community if false information is not posted about what kits we make and don't make, as that is not productive for members asking questions here.

We do not manufacture any intercooler kits here, the Ultimate Performance Front Mount Intercooler Kit is manufactured by Ultimate Performance.

The Agency Power intercooler is one of the cheapest intercoolers offered for the Stinger, as it is made in China vs the US or Germany. (Lower labor costs and material costs in China)

However, yes, if one was looking to save money and get one of the cheapest priced intercoolers on the market for the Stinger, that would be the one to go with.

 

[Terry@BMS]

@Terry@BMS I'm new to all of this so what does the size of the intercooler have to do with it?

A larger IC has a lower pressure drop wasting less boost, more heatsync capacity to absorb heat during poor airflow, and a larger surface area to dissipate heat better with airflow. All good stuff.

 

[oddball]

Frankly, unless you have specific goals and requirements, any intercooler kit will function just fine for you. Sounds like you might not have a lot of experience with fabrication, so look for a kit with the installation process and fitment that works for you. There are reviews and comments of every intercooler here on this site.

The whole point of the intercooler is to cool the compressed air. Air coming out of the turbos can be 180 degrees or higher, and an engine prefers cooler air - preferably under 100 degrees.
Size is a tradeoff.
Smaller intercoolers can't cool as much air and will get heat soaked (fully hot to where they can't cool as well anymore). Tork has a infrared video of a stinger on a dyno that clearly shows this - you can see the intercooler heating up from inlet to outlet, then staying hot.
So bigger is better, right?
Well, the whole point of the turbo is to compress air. A bigger intercooler adds volume, which means there's more air to compress before the engine gets to the desired boost level. This is what leads to "lag". A smaller intercooler has less volume, so the engine "sees" the boost quicker. Thankfully, our engines with the two small turbos seem to be pretty immune to that. I'm running the Johnny Tig intercooler which is freaking massive and never notice any lag issues.

But, all of that is for folks that have very specific ideas of what they want to do. You're most likely to enjoy a performance part that you can actually install and use, so read the install instructions and read the reviews here and pick the one that looks the best to you. Don't worry about any kind of performance data - it's all a wash unless you're doing something really, really interesting.

For example, I have the Johnny Tig kit which I really, really like. However, I'd only recommend it to folks that have a really severe interest in it. The order process has been difficult (to say the least) and the install is pretty involved and usually requires some tweaks along the way. But, it includes some nice parts, like a larger charge pipe and most importantly the nicer merge pipe. Folks have said those don't actually have any performance impact - might be, I don't have a dyno - but it's one of those "should make more power" kind of things. And I'm happy to modify, fabricate, etc as I go. Even with the nice quality of the JT stuff, I still went in and cleaned up some of the welds

 

[Stiletto]

The Wagner intercooler is much bigger; too big actually. This would be more appropriate if you turned your car into an all-out race car.

The other kit looks to be a kit made by K8 store; I don't much care for it.

If I was going to get an intercooler, I would look at the Agency Power intercooler (if you only want to replace the intercooler but use stock pipes) or the Mishimoto intercooler (replace intercooler and pipes). The Mishimoto kit is THE kit to get; top quality, fitment, and performance. Performance Intercooler Kit, fits Kia Stinger GT 3.3T 2018+

Now I think the factory pipes are actually very good so the Agency Power would be great also especially if you want to save a bit of cash. KIA STINGER AGENCY POWER INTERCOOLER UPGRADE

Wow, lots of bad info here.

Wagner is a German company, and presumably their core (the functional part) and end tanks (very important for air flow dynamics) are made in Deutschland. Definitely not too big, just a competition sized intercooler.

UP uses Garrett cores, made in the USA.

Maintec is South Korean, presumably their core is made there.

99% of the remaining intercoolers will use a core (as well as other parts) made in China. Not a huge deal, considering practically everything is made there. But, quality and consistency isn't their strong suit.

For a daily driver, Agency, Maintec and Mishi are fine. If you're looking do track days, I would recommend BMS, UP, or Wagner.

 

[CeeDaRula]

Well I broke down and brought the Mishimoto, should be here in a week (shipped today) hoping for the best looking to put a big mouth on it also while the nose is off.

 

[K8 Stinger Store]

Well I broke down and brought the Mishimoto, should be here in a week (shipped today) hoping for the best looking to put a big mouth on it also while the nose is off.

Great intercooler, next time hit us up for a discount. We have both the silver and black in stock.

 

[RM7]

A larger IC has a lower pressure drop wasting less boost, more heatsync capacity to absorb heat during poor airflow, and a larger surface area to dissipate heat better with airflow. All good stuff.

Well, it's not all good stuff, it means you have more for the turbo to fill and you tend to increase turbo lag. You do drop temps, which is good, but an intercooler upgrade is often best paired with other tuning to help the turbo spin up faster and maintain more boost.

 

[CeeDaRula]

Great intercooler, next time hit us up for a discount. We have both the silver and black in stock.

Would have but I found it new just $100 off and the big mouths are sold everywhere else for $249 and you guys are $266

 

[xRagee23]

Great intercooler, next time hit us up for a discount. We have both the silver and black in stock.

Are the aftermarket Kia stinger intercoolers compatible with the g80 sport? I’ve tried looking everywhere for an answer and have had no luck.

 

[Kimberly Lazarski]

I'm looking at tuning over the winter and while I like that BMS products tend to be truly bolt-on and fully reversible to stock, I'm concerned about the increased volume where it comes to inducing lag. Has anyone on here actually compared intercoolers and gathered any empirical data useful for comparing them? The benefits of the increased surface area are obvious, but where I hate even a minimal amount of tip-in delay, turbo lag would be a total buzzkill, unless the performance gains are truly worth it.

I'd like to see see a custom intercooler sprayer/chiller system be made for the Stinger (yes I know how both CO2 and water spray chillers work and that the IC needs to be chilled prior to as well as during the run; STI drivers who complain about their IC chillers not helping don't understand the purpose and use case), than install a supposed "upgrade" that is in reality a downgrade (an IC that induces lag). There are universal chillers, but the water-based ones suck (they're usually repurposed windshield was nozzles run at low pressure, rather than high-pressure atomizing nozzles).

IMHO the ideal IC would be one that can integrate into the AC system, or one which has CO2 piping and integrated nozzles so that the CO2 chills the IC through both conductivity (through the integrated tubes) and convection (exiting the nozzles integrated in front of the IC).

I emailed BMS asking them to forward a suggestion/request for an IC chiller system to Terry but never heard back.

 

[Stiletto]

I'm looking at tuning over the winter and while I like that BMS products tend to be truly bolt-on and fully reversible to stock, I'm concerned about the increased volume where it comes to inducing lag. Has anyone on here actually compared intercoolers and gathered any empirical data useful for comparing them? The benefits of the increased surface area are obvious, but where I hate even a minimal amount of tip-in delay, turbo lag would be a total buzzkill, unless the performance gains are truly worth it.

No, most folks don't drop $1k for an aftermarket intercooler, then switch out.

I'm not most folks...I recently changed from the Ultimate Performance full kit (with a Jonny Tig merge pipe) to a full IMR kit. I haven't gotten to the dyno yet, but that would be first comparison, that I know of. It won't be too helpful since both cores are similar in size and surface area, the main difference will be the piping on the IMR is larger (.5").

 

[K8 Stinger Store]

Would have but I found it new just $100 off and the big mouths are sold everywhere else for $249 and you guys are $266

Are you factoring in that the price of $249 doesn’t include free shipping and the fact that our website does?

If you’re comparing pricing, you have to factor in that we include free shipping with our items, so if the manufacturer or other companies charge $10 or $15 for shipping, the price comes out to the same amount at checkout… This is something that you should reach out to us regarding, and we would be more than happy to explain, or offer you a little bit more of a discount to be more competitive with whoever you’re comparing to.