Radiators! what options are there outside of Mountune and Mishi?

[Brianmc27]

That pro alloy unit is very nice and the price is good if one was also planning on doing an oil cooler upgrade as well. If its just the radiator someone wants, 800 is steep. I'm a devoted whoosh customer. I would like to see what Ron's offering looks like. I have never had any overheating issues in socal with my stock unit but I might just be lucky. If a good radiator comes available at a good price ill buy it just for piece of mind.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

I’ve yet to overheat in Sacramento, but I’m hoping the Whoosh unit is a good value compared to the Mountune one. Also hoping it can install without removing the bumper similar to the Mountune.

 

[Dpro]

That pro alloy unit is very nice and the price is good if one was also planning on doing an oil cooler upgrade as well. If its just the radiator someone wants, 800 is steep. I'm a devoted whoosh customer. I would like to see what Ron's offering looks like. I have never had any overheating issues in socal with my stock unit but I might just be lucky. If a good radiator comes available at a good price ill buy it just for piece of mind.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

It only took me once on a trip up little Tujunga in the middle of the day with the air to know it could happen even though prior to that I had had no problems.
I did the upgrade in part also because I do not like plastic end tank radiators to begin with.

Being a BMW M3 owner and having a factory BMW plastic end take radiator explode spectacularly going onto the 405 Northbound off the 101 at 75 mph I did not want to meet with that experience ever again. No did not lose the engine as I realized what had happened and pulled over immediately and shut down before the engine could overheat.
So ya I consider putting an Aluminum aftermarket radiator in our cars cheap insurance towards longevity and protection

 

[jmrtsus]

Hi ya'll, I am posting because i've had trouble finding clear and objective information on which other Aftermarket upgraded radiator options there are.

I was wondering if anyone uses brands that aren't Mishimoto or Mountune, how much they cost, how they perform vs stock, what kind of temperatures/humidity you deal with in your area, are they single, dual or triple pass?

I apologize in advance if this specific question is already posted but I could not seem to find a clear thread on it. Just a lot of talk about overheating and upgrading to Mountune or Mishimoto.

Run like hell from Mishijunk.....check BBB rating!

 

[powermatt]

Run like hell from Mishijunk.....check BBB rating!

I never had an issue with their radiator on my '15. Went through a very hot road trip to Florida with zero issues. The intakes I've had nothing but trouble with; poor fitment and dubious design choices, though they do function well and make good noises. Their customer service left much to be desired. Definitely a mixed bag in my experience.

 

[jmrtsus]

That is some of the marketing which Ron uses to push the other already on the market choice, which no one ever mentions, or suggests (I'm guessing due to it's exorbitant price? ), the PRO ALLOY one out of jolly ol' England.

He has explicitly told me that being a large SINGLE PASS unit (like the stocker in that respect) that it is MUCH MUCH easier on the water pump (while still cooling many times better than the factory unit) than the double/triple pass radiators out there.
Unless Mountune drops the price on a Black Friday sale down to like $375.00 or less, I am currently saving up for the Pro Alloy.

(But I DO wish that anyone on here who has installed one of these would chime in with some feedback on how it has performed for them under severe stress.)

FWIW.......The Mountune has been around many years.......never heard of "water pump" problems......don't believe marketing hype without proof. Search the Forum and you will find zero on water pump failures and Mountune radiator. I also have never heard of any failures of the Mountune radiator itself. You cannot compare a long term high quality product to an invisible one. Mountune is not cheap but quality never is.

The purpose of a tri-pass radiator is to keep the coolant in the radiator longer to increase cooling. The Mountune was made to work properly with the stock water pump flow. Moving the fluid faster will decrease temp drops not raise them. Kinda defeats the purpose of a tri-pass radiator. (does anyone even make a higher flow stock replacement?) I received mine this week for $80 over your "dream" price, spend the $80. Keep in mind Mountune is slowly stepping away from the FiST and who knows when this radiator will become "extinct", LOL. I plan on keeping my FiST so price is not my first priority in parts/fluids and service selection. Also changing the radiator is a PIA and expensive if you cannot do it yourself. I only want to do it once. "Marketing" is just a another way of saying "creative deception". My 2 daughters both have Marketing degrees, ask them! Wrench on!

 

[jmrtsus]

I never had an issue with their radiator on my '15. Went through a very hot road trip to Florida with zero issues. The intakes I've had nothing but trouble with; poor fitment and dubious design choices, though they do function well and make good noises. Their customer service left much to be desired. Definitely a mixed bag in my experience.

When low BBB ratings and total lack of customer service is in the mix it is no longer a mixed bag for me, it is "run like hell" time. Read the BBB ratings, I spent 4 months trying to get their 2016 intake hose to work without success. The lied outright to my BBB complaint and refused to respond when the BBB asked about the lies. Finally got my money back on my credit card with a fraud complaint. Other BBB reports were numerous radiator failure complaints on different cars/trucks. Glad your radiator is not one of the many defective ones they sell.

 

[powermatt]

When low BBB ratings and total lack of customer service is in the mix it is no longer a mixed bag for me, it is "run like hell" time. Read the BBB ratings, I spent 4 months trying to get their 2016 intake hose to work without success. The lied outright to my BBB complaint and refused to respond when the BBB asked about the lies. Finally got my money back on my credit card with a fraud complaint. Other BBB reports were numerous radiator failure complaints on different cars/trucks. Glad your radiator is not one of the many defective ones they sell.

I could have gotten lucky, or just got away from it at the right time. Main reason why I didn't want to go back to them is because of the extra hassle of needing to remove the crash beam to install it. After the intake problems, though, I won't be back for anything they make.

 

[danbfree]

and this is the one you installed, correct?

It was the one from the other reply (Mishimoto clone) that I bought but never installed, to clarify, I was just touching on others here too.

 

[M-Sport fan]

I love climbing up Mt. Lemmon

Is that little cabin bar/cafe still there on the very top of Mt. Lemmon, or is it LONG GONE? (Last time I was up there was almost 45 years ago while a student at the UofA)

 

[DirtyChalupa]

Is that little cabin bar/cafe still there on the very top of Mt. Lemmon, or is it LONG GONE? (Last time I was up there was almost 45 years ago while a student at the UofA)

Yeah dude, the cookie cabin. Giant cookies with ice cream, pizza and hot cocoa. Best meal I ever had was that after riding my bicycle up there, lol. Never been so hungry in my life.

 

[scooter123]

I'm gonna check that out since I also hear that triple pass radiators are bad on the water pump, more volume to push= more stress. Also, did you mean, "installed without issue" or what you said?

Whoever fed you that line of BS didn't take the time to think thru his line of Bunk. The water pump is a very simple circulating pump and the total volume of water it's circulating has ZERO effect on it's longevity. If could be circulating the water in your cooling system or the water in Lake Michigan and it won't matter, it will keep working until the bearings wear out. Because all it is doing is moving the water from the inlet to the outlet, what's at the other end of those hoses doesn't matter.

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^I believe that the actual 'claims' were that there is much more resistance caused to the pump in pushing the coolant (of ANY actual volume) through a double or triple pass vs. a single pass, and NOT because of any 'higher volume' rationales.

But yeah, that could very well be 'bunk' as well, or even if true, might not cause any harm to said water pump, nor it's bearings and seals.

 

[jmrtsus]

If you increase the tube size in a tri-flow you maintain the same level of "resistance" to flow as the OEM radiator. I highly doubt Mountune used the same tube size as a single flow radiator uses. I looked at one radiator site that had all three choices for GM LS engines and it showed the tube size of its single, double and triple flow radiators and with the double the tube size increased over the single and with the triple it increased again over the double to maintain proper flow. Seems common sense to me. If cost is the primary goal over quality using smaller tube sizes (and increased "resistance") is one way of producing a cheaper radiator. Claims like this demonstrate a lack of knowledge on how quality radiators are designed.