Quote:
Originally Posted by mixxer
I agree except not sure i would perfer air to air.
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Air-to-air is a more direct method of intercooling, basically the heat that is sunk into the intercooler is removed back into the air immediately. The intercoolers are bigger and heavier because air is not as effective at cooling than water, but they do work when they are properly sized and sourced from a reputable manufacturer.
Air-to-water has a more instantaneous cooling effect, because water absorbs heat more effectively than air, but it transfers absorbed heat to the heat exchanger, where heat is then removed to the atmosphere (i.e. air becomes the ultimate limiting factor as to how fast heat can be removed). Most of the heat exchangers you see are much smaller than air-to-air intercoolers, hence if you are continuously generating large amounts of heat (e.g. extended hard driving), the system eventually runs out of heat capacity and cooling diminishes...
General rule of thumb is air-to-water works great for the drag strip and normal daily driving, air-to-air is better for the track...