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I just got my tax return and I have to fix my turbo up pipes and figured now will be a good time to upgrade my turbo. I was looking at either the powermax or MTW stage one. I tow heavy loads and plan on stepping up my injector size down the road. Which would you go with and why?
Truck is an 06, basically stock hard parts. I have it studded, egr delete, coolant filter, upgraded FICM with ATLAS 40 tune, 4" turbo back straight pipe exhaust, SCT tuner with extreme street, race and tow tunes. Im looking for reliability and a good turbo for towing while being able to go down the track at times.
The Madturbo is nice cause it works without having a custom tune made for the truck. So it doesn't have additional cost. It's comparable to the PowerMax and less expensive too.
There are non-vgt turbos out there that are better yet, but then require the tunes to be written for the truck...
I can' only speak for the PMax and I'm very happy. I'm the odd man out in that I did not get that extra lag some say they do with the Pmax. It runs great, and with a tune it's extremely responsive. I've heard other comment also, that it seems to move more air without building higher boost.
In my case, it's also louder than the OEM. I like it.
I don't mind having another set of tunes written if the powermax will be a better all around turbo... or I can go with the MTW stage 2 that is a modified powermax. Butthat's more money.
You aren't getting anything more out of the PowerMax for twice as much. Not that the PowerMax is bad, just that it's over priced...
I paid within $100 of an OEM turbo for my PMax. What is the PMax twice the price of? Looking at the MTW's even the Stage 1 is only about $200 less, and appears to be a comparable rebuilt turbo to the Pmax.
I have the PowerMax with a custom tune and the Atlas 40. Even before adding the tune the PowerMax did just fine. As you already mentioned, the cost is not much more than a rebuilt stock turbo.
The turbo shop that my employer deals with told me he has a Borg Warner turbo he sells as a factory replacement for the Garrett. Im not gonna buy it, but was wondering if it is a good reliable option.