This is the fourth and final installment of the Intercooler comparison...

Part I of the test...IPP Intercoolers versus Stock Intercoolers ! PartI ~ The Bench Test

Part II of the test...IPP Intercoolers versus Stock Intercoolers ! Part II ~ Cruise, In-Car Road Tests

Part III of the test...Stock versus IPP versus RS4 Intercoolers - Part I - The Bench Test

I've made my formal thanks to all, in my previous posts...hopefully this proves to be of vaule to the community!!


RS4 Intercooler Road Test

Stage II

Road Tests

Objective - Determine how the RS4 intercoolers respond to heating and cooling when mounted on the S4 under conditions similar to what the stock and IPP intercoolers were tested under.

Procedures - The same as for the stock and IPP intercoolers.

Configurations - The same as for the stock and IPP IC test.

Constraints - The same as for the stock and IPP IC test.

Results -

1) Cruise Test

With the outside air temperature between that recorded during the stock and IPP tests, there was a noticeable, decrease in the Intake Air Temperature with the RS4 intercoolers installed at similar driving speeds. The difference was generally between 5-10F less on the RS4 IC's than the stock and IPP IC's had shown. (See chart below)



2) Speed Test

In fourth gear at 3000 rpm the RS4 intercoolers reached a steady state temperature approximately 5F cooler than the stock IC's with no indication that the temperature would have risen if the test was run further in that gear.

In third gear at 3000 rpm the RS4 intercoolers increased in temperature approximately 4F over the previous steady state temperature. The temperature difference between the RS4 and stock IC's increased slightly, with an additional temperature difference occurring between the IPP and RS4 IC's. The RS4 IC's had the least rise in temperature with this speed change.

When changing to second gear and decreasing the vehicle speed to 27 mph the temperature of the intake air through the RS4 IC's began to rise steadily. After rising approximately 10F it began to steady out. Shortly thereafter the car was forced to slow and turn around, which caused a slight additional increase in temperature.

At this slowest speed the RS4 IC performance was very similar to the stock IC. The IPP IC was 10F warmer when the data collection was halted on those IC's. (See chart below)



3) FATS Test

During the FATS tests the temperature increase of the RS4 IC's followed a similar trend as the stock and IPP IC's (see chart below). There were some differences noticed, the RS4 IC's reached a cooler temperature in the middle rpm region. This affected the FATS IAT Rise chart.



Upon first look (on chart below) it's clear that the RS4 IC's rose in temperature a greater amount than the stock or IPP IC's. What becomes clear is that the superior temperature drop in the middle rpm is driving this result because the starting and ending temperatures are nearly the same between all of the intercoolers. Overall, the three sets of intercoolers maintained final temperatures within five degrees of one another.



The post-FATS cool down on the next chart below shows some difference between the RS4 IC and the other two systems. Despite slowing the vehicle more rapidly during this series of tests and to a lower speed, the RS4 intercoolers showed the most rapid temperature recovery of the three.



The chart of post-FATS temperature drop shows the RS4 IC's tying with the second IPP test for most temperature drop over the thirty second period that was evaluated following the FATS run.



It important to consider that only three FATS tests were performed with the RS4 IC's, limiting the certainty that can be given to the results. As a whole the data collected is representative of the RS4 intercoolers, but in order to make more confident conclusions about their performance versus the other IC's on the FATS tests, additional runs would be needed.

Final Conclusions -

The RS4 IC's showed the most rapid temperature drop on the bench test. They were the top performer on the cruise and speed test; on the FATS test their performance was close enough to the performance of the other IC's to make a clear cut winner on that test uncertain.

As on previous tests this one does not account for pressure drop through the intercooler. It also does not test at the pressure, temperature and air mass flow rates that could be seen with a Stage III equipped S4 at high loads and high rpm's.

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Part I of the test...IPP Intercoolers versus Stock Intercoolers ! PartI ~ The Bench Test

Part II of the test...IPP Intercoolers versus Stock Intercoolers ! Part II ~ Cruise, In-Car Road Tests

Part III of the test...Stock versus IPP versus RS4 Intercoolers - Part I - The Bench Test

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