Author Topic: Garrett turbos are junk?  (Read 12546 times)

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Offline hammy221

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Garrett turbos are junk?
« on: July 29, 2012, 04:28:51 PM »
So Ive been throwing around the idea of doing a build on my car bottom end and either a rotrex supercharger or a turbo. Well as I was doing some resurce I came across a form with a guy talking about Garrett turbos being junk now after Honeywell took them over and wanted to know if anyone knows if there's any truth to this. The following is a qute from that thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbtech
I work at Garrett Turbos, now called Honeywell Turbo Technologies which there so proud of. When Cliff Garrett Owned Garrett He used to brown bag his lunch everyday and cared for a quality Product. If he knew what Honeywell has done now he would turn over in his grave. Honeywell bought Garrett In 1998 or 1999. After this they opened up a turbo testing lab in shanghai China and quickly moved there turbo overhaul to Mexicali Mexico, quickly after Garrett overhaul went belly-up. So they moved there whole production to Mexicali Mexico, as if that first failure was not a sign.

Garrett Turbos made a quality product for a fair price. A turbo is a precision instrument. Garrett turbos was part of Garrett Air Research (on 190th st. In Torrance ca.) Where they have a huge facility designing turbine engines, and so on. Most of the senior technicians in our main turbo facility (Lomita Blvd Torrance ca) came from our air research. If you’re building jet engines a turbo is not all that difficult. Well Cliff Garrett dies. At that time ALL production of Garrett Turbos was at Lomita Torrance ca. Also all engineering and research was there as well. After we were bought and production was sent to Mexico to save costs. Our production numbers doubled. And cost was cut in half our failure rate tripled. Well who cares Honeywell is making money and lots of it. Turbos are considered Honeywell’s golden egg. They feel that turbos are going to take over big. Which it already has in the diesel market. We make ford diesel turbos, daf, Chevrolet, some Audi, vw, fiat, Perkins. Millions of turbos. And there now all coming from china and Mexico. Well up until lately the company figured if the product was designed in the US and assembled in Mexico we would be ok. Well to further there profit and **** the customer once again....the LAST of what makes turbo American leaves in January 2011. We will close the doors to the Torrance Lab. In Torrance we did all our racing turbos (wrc stuff, Audi racing etc..) then in the garret garage we did the turbos you people buy for your Subaru’s. Actually I take that back. They take turbos that were made on a production line somewhere else in the world, and change a couple of parts on a bench in Torrance (wheels, housing..etc) and send it to you the customer saying it was made in the us.....no it was not it was just repackaged and altered a little. Well as of Jan 2011 all your turbos will be made in Mexico or china or Czech Republic. This is the last Garrett facility in the United States.

We have huge law suits pending due to turbo failures. GM is probably going to leave us.... ford has already sued us. Caterpillar has one of the largest recalls in garret history in the process. Our name is becoming ****. The last few VERY smart guys left in the company are being fired to save costs, but see our profit is already good.....they just want more. Please don’t spend 1500$ on a gt35r. Now that it’s costing Honeywell less to build turbos do you think you will see a smaller bill when you order there product? NO!. They are going to charge you even more for even less. There are countless procedures that are being terminated everyday that made our turbos THE BEST. They keep cutting corner after corner. Did you know that we shave metal off our turbine and compressor housings until they are at the EXTREME minimum needed to contain in the event of failure they are shaving every nickel off the cost of a turbo. Did you know that 2000$ gt40 you buy is all mark up. I won’t dare say the actual cost to the company in fear of a lawsuit but lets just say your sales tax is more then the production cost.

Do not buy these turbos. BorgWarner and mitsu are trying there best to compete with us making a quality product. Honeywell is using its big name to back junky turbos Like Toyota is starting to do. I guarantee in the next 8 months you will see a huge decline in quality. All designing and production is in CHINA AND MEXICO. Honeywell is taking back all there benefits they used to supply us with as employees. That way when they lay us off its as cheap as possible. Instead of saying "Well after we take a hit laying those people off we will make tons" they are just taking back all there benefits so they walk away clean and clear. We used to get a severance package. Which they just took away. One of the head engineers involved in the t3 project. (Designing the first t3) he is still with our company. he was supposed to get 44 weeks of pay if he ever got layed off (30 days and 1 week for every year with the company. 40 years with the company)Due to the new Honeywell rules he gets only 16 weeks pay they stole all that pack after promising it to him for 40 years. My fingers and about to fall off typing all this and I am heated so I don’t care about grammar I’m concerned about you people not supporting a Nazi company. Take your business elsewhere. Somewhere where you will get what your money pays for. Have a nice day and don’t forget if you hear the name HTT Honeywell Turbo Technologies Stay away

(They still use the garret stamp on the turbos)

End of quote


Below is the link to the site I found it at
http://zilvia.net/f/loud-noises/306838-dont-buy-garret-turbos-anymore.html

Offline NormSky

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2012, 04:53:54 PM »
I rebuilt both Garrett and Mitsu with $30 rebuild kits from Pacific Rim with no problems to report.

While the author doesn't go into specifics on what makes them bad, long interval oil changes may some doing rebuilds sooner than they should.
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Offline elff

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #2 on: July 29, 2012, 05:03:31 PM »
I am running the BNR 2871 kit from DDM

Check out this thread to see how good it is running on E47.
http://www.kappaperformance.com/forum/index.php/topic,8985.0.html

I had this turbo installed in May 2011 and have had zero issues with it.

Kelu has a GT3071
Vroompsh has GTX3071
Intruder had the BNR 2871 kit from DDM
Go-n-Def has the BNR 2871 kit From DDM
Sky888 is using 2 Garrett's in his setup
Someone has a working Garret 2871r on a 2.4 engine

So there are a decent amount of working examples

All GM lnf engines use Borg Warner's.  What engines use Garrett's?

Offline Wartie

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2012, 05:35:04 PM »
I am running the BNR 2871 kit from DDM

Check out this thread to see how good it is running on E47.
http://www.kappaperformance.com/forum/index.php/topic,8985.0.html

I had this turbo installed in May 2011 and have had zero issues with it.

Kelu has a GT3071
Vroompsh has GTX3071
Intruder had the BNR 2871 kit from DDM
Go-n-Def has the BNR 2871 kit From DDM
Sky888 is using 2 Garrett's in his setup
Someone has a working Garret 2871r on a 2.4 engine

So there are a decent amount of working examples

All GM lnf engines use Borg Warner's.  What engines use Garrett's?


Although not tuned the same as yours Elff, add one more to your list. I am running the BNR 2871 kit from DDM as well.


Offline elff

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2012, 05:41:39 PM »
 :thumbs:

Offline Gentleman Jack

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #5 on: July 29, 2012, 05:45:46 PM »
The letter sounds like an angry employee.  I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice to keep more buisiness in the USA, or in California for that matter, but Honeywell isn't the only company leaving this state. CA is horrible to run a buisiness in.  That said, I'm sure some of what this guy is saying is true.  When the owner / founder of a company leaves or dies, the company is going to go in a different direction.  Every engine those turbos he is speaking of go on, went through the exact same cost cutting system the turbos are going on.  By his reasoning, we shouldn't buy a single product.  A dollar says he buys his toilet paper at either Costco or Walmart.

Anyway, back to the original question: Are Garrett Turbos junk.  I have no idea.  Hope that helps.

Please refer to Elff's post for more helpful info.

Thank you and have a nice day

GJ
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Offline Kelu

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #6 on: July 29, 2012, 07:49:19 PM »
I ran 4 different turbos in my GT, here is my review:
1) Stock Borg Warner - very strong turbo but too limited for my power goals
2) EFR by Borg Warner - awesome quality but very bad delivery and unacceptable warranty period, too many break downs
3) Comp Turbo - very nice turbo but still with issues (heh, small company)
4) GT3071 - works strong even I hate Garret because they didn't introduced any new product for more than 5 year, this will be my recommendation for others
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Offline ihawk95

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #7 on: July 29, 2012, 07:49:59 PM »
I have yet to hear of anyone that has upgraded to one say they've had trouble with them on the kappa platform.  I could be wrong since I don't read the forums like I used to either.  But it sure sounds like they are fine so far.  Time will tell of course!

Offline SKY888

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #8 on: July 29, 2012, 07:52:19 PM »
I've used gt2871r kit on my 1999 honda civic SiR.......never had issues for 4 years.

I've used gt3071r and gt3076r kits on two EVOS, .....never had issues for 5-6 years .

I've used gt3076r and gt3582r kits on my Sky Roadster.....never had issues.


I haven't used their new GTX-R turbos......but I think theyre really nice


Garrett turbos are NOT JUNK!  :)
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Offline ihawk95

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #9 on: July 29, 2012, 07:56:29 PM »
Ok so there ya go!

Offline miller11386

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #10 on: July 29, 2012, 08:35:01 PM »
This is the most ridiculous thing ive read in quite some time.
Check out Miller's Youtube Channel HERE

Offline Gentleman Jack

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Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #11 on: July 29, 2012, 09:51:27 PM »
I've used gt2871r kit on my 1999 honda civic SiR.......never had issues for 4 years.

I've used gt3071r and gt3076r kits on two EVOS, .....never had issues for 5-6 years .

I've used gt3076r and gt3582r kits on my Sky Roadster.....never had issues.


I haven't used their new GTX-R turbos......but I think theyre really nice


Garrett turbos are NOT JUNK!  :)


Not to be picky, but all of those were before the "change" at Garrett that the quote in the OP represents.

I think the question is- going forward, will Garrett turbos be junk or will the remain high quality.
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Offline ihawk95

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #12 on: July 29, 2012, 09:59:10 PM »

Not to be picky, but all of those were before the "change" at Garrett that the quote in the OP represents.

I think the question is- going forward, will Garrett turbos be junk or will the remain high quality.

I thought the buyout was in 1998 or 1999.  Therefore wouldn't these be post Honeywell purchase turbos?

Offline Gentleman Jack

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #13 on: July 29, 2012, 10:05:22 PM »
iHawk,

I was refering to:
Quote
Well as of Jan 2011 all your turbos will be made in Mexico or china or Czech Republic.

but you are correct.  The buyout is referenced as 1998.  So perhaps some of these are good examples?

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Offline miller11386

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #14 on: July 29, 2012, 10:45:12 PM »
so because the parts are being made in another country, the quality standards and designs will change? Unlikely.
Check out Miller's Youtube Channel HERE

Offline hammy221

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #15 on: July 29, 2012, 11:03:51 PM »
This information you guys have provided is what I figured I'd find just thought I'd post this to see if there might be any truth to this.  Thank you sky888 for your input as I respect your input here with your turbo work you've done.

Offline SKY888

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #16 on: July 30, 2012, 05:41:27 AM »

Not to be picky, but all of those were before the "change" at Garrett that the quote in the OP represents.

I think the question is- going forward, will Garrett turbos be junk or will the remain high quality.

The new GTX-R turbos are basically the same GT-R turbos except that it flows higher.    The wheels are now billet and has a better design.    So IMO should be better, more efficient,  and since the wheels are now BILLET....they should be stronger :)

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Offline hammy221

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #17 on: July 30, 2012, 07:11:46 AM »
Sky888 is there a big price difference between the gtx3071r and the normal gt3071r. And if so are the gains worth the price

Offline Dave@DDMworks

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #18 on: July 30, 2012, 07:50:30 AM »
Sky888 is there a big price difference between the gtx3071r and the normal gt3071r. And if so are the gains worth the price

The difference is a couple hundred usually between the regular and the GTX.

The compressor maps are on Garretts site -http://www.turbobygarrett.com/turbobygarrett/turbochargers

We made 625 to the wheels with a GTX3076 which would not have been possible with a regular GT3076, the GTX moves about an extra 10 lb/min of air, so you get to use a smaller turbo and get the airflow out of it.

As for Garrett's being junk or not. So far the only turbos we have ever had problems with are the Borg EFR's.
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Offline SKY888

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #19 on: July 30, 2012, 08:21:49 AM »
The difference is a couple hundred usually between the regular and the GTX.

The compressor maps are on Garretts site -http://www.turbobygarrett.com/turbobygarrett/turbochargers

We made 625 to the wheels with a GTX3076 which would not have been possible with a regular GT3076, the GTX moves about an extra 10 lb/min of air, so you get to use a smaller turbo and get the airflow out of it.

As for Garrett's being junk or not. So far the only turbos we have ever had problems with are the Borg EFR's.


^^^  yeah the  extra 10 lb/min more efficient wheel is worth the extra $$$ for the GTX-R


plus of course the wheel being billet ....




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Offline SKY888

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #20 on: July 30, 2012, 08:28:20 AM »
I like Garrett GTR or GTX-R turbos because you can replace their turbine housing.......with Tial turbine housings.

You can have full v-band for your turbo!    No more leaks........no more gaskets.....no more bolts loosening......   :)
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Offline Dave@DDMworks

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #21 on: July 30, 2012, 09:09:05 AM »
I like Garrett GTR or GTX-R turbos because you can replace their turbine housing.......with Tial turbine housings.

You can have full v-band for your turbo!    No more leaks........no more gaskets.....no more bolts loosening......   :)

On the last GTX 3076 we used the Tial housing, and you are right, install and fab was so easy that now I  hate to go back and use a regular 4 bolt flange. ;)
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Offline SKY888

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #22 on: July 30, 2012, 09:13:30 AM »
besides the ease of install.........and better seal reliability.

Tial Turbine housing is  way lighter......and so much Sexier! ;)



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Offline idkfa

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #23 on: July 30, 2012, 09:32:38 AM »
Oh god, v-band would be SOOO nice :-/ 

Offline Kelu

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Re: Garrett turbos are junk?
« Reply #24 on: July 30, 2012, 11:52:25 AM »
Sky888 is there a big price difference between the gtx3071r and the normal gt3071r. And if so are the gains worth the price
I had this situation about 1 months ago: GTX is almost double price, spools same but makes 20% more airflow.

My target was over 400hp and maximum 450hp which GT3071 fitted and a lot chepear, if I would aimed +500hp I would got GTX.
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