The orginal hood scoop on my 07 S got wavy because of the heat from the turbo so I replaced with a chrome one which now has the chrome starting to lift. Before I spend the money for a Carbon Fiber Hood Scoop does anyone have any idea how it holds up to the heat from the turbo? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks, Tony

 

From what I've read they can still have problems. Apparently the only real fix is to get a heatshield.

 

I have the JCW cf hood scoop on my car for over a year now. No Issues.

 

same here for almost a year no issues. My dealer BTW installed it for free when mine warped.

 

No issues here =]

 

I don't get the heatshield thing. Why would I want to blanket my turbo and keep it from shedding heat. I'd much rather have the scoop overheat than the turbo, as the latter is far more expensive to repair when it eventually fails from overheating. Hell, someone even tried to convince me it was a performance enhancement to keep the turbo hot. I didn't bother to argue the point.

Anyway, I remove the screen on the scoop (it unscrews easily after the scoop is removed). That allows cold air to flow through more readily while the car is moving.

 

No warping with the CF on mine. Rock steady through a Texas summer.

 

Well, there is some truth to the argument that keeping the turbo hot is of performance benefit.

The point of a turbo is to transfer energy that would otherwise be wasted (exhaust) and use it to compress the air entering the engine.

By allowing heat to leave the exhaust and turbo, the air is losing volume and velocity, both of which help to turn the impeller which then compresses the air on the other side of the turbo for better performance.

That being said, this is specific to the cast-iron exhaust side of the turbo, as you do not want to retain heat on the intake side of the turbo. Also, inevitibly, retaining heat puts more heat load into the oil. So, there are pros and cons, but it's not completely ridiculous to try and retain heat in the exhaust side of the turbo for performance benefit.

 

OK, but the shields I've seen are on the topside of the turbo, including where the air intake is. Anyway, turbos are expensive to repair when they fail, so I certainly don't want to push it.

 

Yeah, I'm not saying that the currently available heat shields offer a performance benefit necessarily, nor am I willing to quantify the pros and cons. I was just commenting on the theory of increased performance due to retained exhaust heat.

 

I thought it's the exhaust pressure -- and not the heat -- that generates the power for the turbo.

 

Assuming the mass rate of air being exhausted is a constant, hotter air will be at a higher volume and velocity than cooler air, resulting in higher pressure.

 

Yeah, but how much difference can it really make on our little turbo? Also, how much does it compete with the effectiveness of the intercooler? Even if you just heat the exhaust side of the turbo to get more exhaust pressure, some of that heat will dissipate and negate some of the air cooling benefits of the intercooler.

 

Like I said, I'm talking theory. Testing would be the only reasonable way to quantify the performance improvement.



Typically, implementation is heat insulating wrap or cover specifically on the header, intermediate piping (if existing), and turbo hot side. In that case, not only does it keep the heat inside the exhaust for performance benefit, it also keeps radiant heat from transmitting as readily to the intercooler and other items under the hood and directs it through the exhaust where it should be.

Again, however, I think the current 'heat shield' options are designed primarily to keep heat from warpimg the hood scoop rather than doing the above. Like I said before, I'm not suggesting that the current options are beneficial to performance, but theoretically, a proper implementation of heat insulation could offer some benefit under certain circumstances.

 

Yeah, I'm not trying to question you about it. Just discussing (interesting topic).

I'm inclined to call B.S. on the current crop of turbo heat shields. Seems the benefits of keeping heat away from the scoop are possibly far outweighed by the potential for premature failure due to excessive heat on [wrong parts of] the turbo.

I just have the stock scoop, with sport stripes and clearbra applied, and have not had problems. The only preventative measure I take is to lift the bonnet after hot sessions on the track. Otherwise, i just don't worry about it.

 

I agree with you that the current offerings are, IIRC, designed primarily to block heat from getting to the scoop. I also agree with you that simply blocking heat from the scoop may not be an ideal solution, but that being said, I couldn't possibly quantify if the shield is adding significant heat load to other parts compared to not having one without testing/research.

It is certaily an interesting discussion... one that the heat shield vendors may be able to answer if they've done testing.

 

Count me as another among the happy carbon scoop owners. I warped two plastic scoops within the first year and a half of ownership- dealership agreed to swap to the JCW scoop at no cost to prevent future problems and it's been rock solid ever since.

-Josh

 

I installed a heat shield the day I picked up my mini last Oct. I haven't seem an issue with warping from the (Texas) heat. There were just too many warped scoop stories for me to want to deal with. I'm totally happy I did it as I doubt that I will have that issue. As far as turbo life goes, I'm not too worried about it. The turbo is designed to handle extremely high heat and should normally be able to handle a full day of hard driving, on a track, in hot outdoor temps (do you really think they didn't test this)? The temp of the turbo is not going to increase after the car is shut off, and holding its heat should not adversely affect its life (IMO). Additionally, rapid heating and cooling is probably just as bad, if not worse, on turbo life as sustained high temps!

 

I have both a CF hood scoop and M7 heat shield. My reason for installing the M7 heat shield is that my clear bra was beginning to get weird bumps in it and discoloration from the extreme heat on my hood (due to lack of ventilation and turbo heat) after the car is done running. After a drive my car's hood was too hot to even touch, the CF hood scoop was fine, yet like I said the clear bra was getting weird. Now that I have the M7 heat shield my hood is warm, not HOT. the M7 heat shield doesn't seem to trap heat, as it absorbs heat using it's lined space-age heat gel material. In fact you can touch the outside of the heat shield and it's warm but much cooler than my hood used to be without the shield.

 

So, are you guys having these painted, or just sticking with the CF look?

 

And you have evidence for this, or are you just making assertions based on your own assumptions? (and I don't count any claims made by the vendors selling the heat shields)

I wouldn't do a track weekend with a heat trapping blanket on my turbo. I agree that MINI may test turbo under hard conditions, but not with a aftermarket heatshield installed.

 

Yea, I am considering a CF hood scoop and am wondering whether to paint it (dark silver) or leave it plain CF......

 

MINI Fixes Sagging MCS & JCW Hood Scoops

 

My CF scoop is fine after a year of use in Texas. I left it raw and it's a nice accent piece I think. Too much CF looks silly to me, use in moderation.

 

Take a look at the insert in your scoop, there should be holes in it for air to get in. Early model scoops DID NOT have the holes which caused the scoop to disform.

I have heard that the CF scoop is not suseptable to the melting due to the material can handle higher heat temps. I have the CF scoop but only have about 250 miles on my Clubman, so I cannot say at this point.