What's the real performance difference? If any...

 

both are better then the factory rubber. Hardpipes might be more proned to heatsoak.

 

Depending on what you are doing with your car...silicone are great for moving air unrestricted, but hardpipes perform much better under higher boost because there is no expansion or collapse.

Personal experience, I had silicone before hard pipe was an option. If I were you, I would get hard pipes and save yourself the grief of possibly wanting them after you purchase silicone. Not that silicone is bad, but hard pipes will benefit you more...

my 0.02

 

Hardpipes or stock!

 

Hard pipes work equally well under boost and normal engine vacuum. They're not always as easy to make or to install. Hard pipes can also transmit a bit more noise. At least on the 'suction' side of the turbo, you need to have a hardpipe, that's why the stock intake has all the ribbing to keep it from collapsing and the JCW pipe is more rigid yet (dealing with higher boost).

 

Silicon is easier to install, you can bend it to get over some tight spots etc.
Silicon Is lighter than hardpipes.

Silicon hoses that have sensors and BOV flanges have been known to pop off the silicon under good boost, it comes off even easier when residual oil works its way in the silicon and into the connections. Yes boost generates residual oil and its normal.

Silicon at times is to short because the oem rubber piece when you remove it slings back into position so if thats used as a sample to make the silicon,they will make it based on the slinged back length of the OEM piece vs the extended length of the oem piece.

Pipe has more gentle turns vs silicon.

 

My ED pipes should be here Monday!! WOOT!

 

You can reinforce the silicone ones if you are that worried about them bulging

 

How??

 

My idea would be taking 1/2" plastic strips and and wrapping them around the tubes about 1" apart. That should cause a ribbing which should reinforce it. You can glue them on or figure another way to attach them. Now I haven't done this or know of anyone that has done this so it might or might not work. This is something that has been done to other piping in various forms to help.

 

For that you just use duct tape around it, its strong too.

 

ya that's the classy setup for a nice new car

or you could just start w/ hardpipes & not give it a second thought.

 

hard pipes are sexier, and we all know sexier = 30 hp

 

What about some spaced out zip ties or something similar??

 

Zip ties would be an awesome idea especially if you get the 1/4" type you could leave the lock part under the intake so that you wouldn't see.

The problem with duct tape is that the heat would melt the glue and it would end up falling off. On top of looking ugly as hell the zip ties would be a better idea especially if you color match it.

The last part is, I highly doubt that you will be pushing enough boost that you are going to see any kind of bulging in the pipe. The piping is pretty strong as is. Not as hard as metal but it will hold its own. Its personal opinion on you want they both have their pros and cons you just got to look at what you need in your car.

 

^^^^agree'd - I don't think we'll reach boost level pressures that could distort that piping.

 

Not enough boost to distort the silicone or hardpipe?

 

If your goal is to get a bigger turbo and upgrade the performance of the car on a more serious level, the hard pipes are better for 3 important reasons.

1. The hard pipes are not going to expand or collapse under high boost.

2. They are just as smooth as the inside of the silicone and fit much better in the engine bay. They do not rub up against anything and the install is so much easier. I had previous pipes rubbing against other areas of the engine bay which made it much harder to install.

3. The way the hard pipes are built are much better. The stronger clamps and flanged edges of the pipes ensure that the pipes/couplers won't come flying off under WOT situations or higher boost.

I had a silicone pipe blow off at the track and it was the first time I had the car at its limits. This was before my tune and my boost levels were around 14 to 15psi. Not a huge number, yet they blew off. And regardless of what anyone says, the pipe fit just fine, not too long or too short.

I been running my new hard pipe setup and though I haven't seen any gigantic gain, the butt dyno tells me the car is more powerful. My recent dyno day showed that to me as well. The safety and peace of mind is far greater now and I have more confidence in my driving at the track not having to worry about blowing a pipe and loosing boost in the middle of a race. Not very safe!!

Again, my opinion is that if your not going to go crazy with performance, they aren't worth the money. The stock pipes are setup perfectly for what you got, although restrictive, they are strong enough to handle stock boost levels.

If you are looking for better air flow, get the silicone. Looking for performance, get the hard pipes. Neither setup alone will net you big HP/TRQ gains, its what they contribute to the rest of the components.

My .02 - I have owned and used both.

 

Hearing a boost tube blow off must be quite a sound!

 

Yeah! Especially with the windows down, sounds like an explosion. I got so scared when it happened, I thought it was something in the engine at first.