compressor wheel damage

[LEMHEAD16]

So I took my intake off tonight and there is some very strange damage to my comprssor wheel. The front of the wheel is totally chewed off. I guess the easiest way to explain it is a picture so i will try and post one up. there is no shaft play and it doesn't look like the wheel hit the inside of housing. It almost looks like something was inside the intake and hitting the front of the wheel?

[steve s14]

i've heard of some of the cheap, made in china turbos having problems of the compressor blades chipping on the leading edge. also i've seen a similar thing happen when you don't run an air filter, causing the compressor blades to get bead blasted.sounds bad though. what brand and size of turbo are you running?

[LEMHEAD16]

It's a garrett turbo and I am running a filter so I have no idea what happened?

[steve s14]

i guess something like a small screw must have fallen into the air stream some how. that or it might be a factory defect. it's probably fixable without costing too much.if you are running and intercooler, remove the hot pipe side and see if there is any foreign objects laying in the intercooler tank or pipe.

[C-Kwik]

Considering the speed at which compressor wheels spin, a small particle can easily cause damage here. Just make sure you are using a good filter...something that will do a good job filtering out particles. Stay away from foam filters (i.e. HKS) if you can. I had the same problem with mine but had been forced to use an HKS filter due to space limitations. I suspect the damage to the wheel was due to very small particles getting past the filter.

[KATwo40]

??? Stay away from foam filters? Why? If the filter element is properly oiled, it should be better than traditional filters.

In the dirtbike world, the best filters on the market are foam/oil filters.

Lemme know about this, please, because I've been considering the HKS mushroom.

Thanks.

[C-Kwik]

??? Stay away from foam filters? Why? If the filter element is properly oiled, it should be better than traditional filters.

In the dirtbike world, the best filters on the market are foam/oil filters.

Lemme know about this, please, because I've been considering the HKS mushroom.

Thanks.

zerothread/180100

[chandler]

I would like to see a test like that for the new AEM dryflow vs standard filters