I am considering an ESS VT-625 supercharger for my 2012 e92 M3. I drive the car occasionally (~75 miles per week) and attend 5-7 track events (10-14 track days). I would appreciate advice on what works well for keeping the engine cool; lots of folks have upgraded their radiator or oil cooler but was else should I consider? I'm trying to figure out how much additional cost I need to factor into the cost of the blower itself. Thanks.
The cooling system on your vehicle quite good already. You would be more than safe enough to run just the super charger without coolant mods if you like and just let the vehicle idle cool after having some good track runs. But yes you can upgrade the radiator for better heat displacement and upgrade the oil cooler the same. These will be the best upgrades for the cooling system. Also I do recommend water wetter from Red line will help with heat transfer. Some say its snake oil but it has worked for me in my M5.
Thank you for the advice. You're the first person who hasn't said scary things about the e92 M3 stock cooling system. The forums are filled with horror stories of cars overheating, but only during extended track runs. Just as you've said, most of the guidance has been to upgrade the Oil Cooler and Radiator and I will check out the product you've suggested. One poster said that he keeps a 5 gallon tank of ice water in his trunk; that's not an option for me. I haven't been able to find any objective information which compares ESS, VF and Active Autowerke kits. I would like to better understand what makes them different and why one is better than the other. I would appreciate any advice you can provide or if you can point me to objective information, reviews that I can examine before making a decision. It's a significant investment that I don't want to botch. -Vikas
Best kit is really matter of opinion and what your looking for out of the kit. There are quite a few to choose from as well since Evolve makes one as well. The superchargers from ESS and vortech are the same type active uses a little different of one but I doubt you will tell much a difference in that set up. ESS is the cheapest I have seen out there and they have great customer service and the product is the best looking as well. This of course again is just my opinion. The VF and active are both great kits as well manifolds don't look as good as ESS though. And all the kits make roughly the same amount of power. So in the end it really comes down to who sells it cheapest which anymore they are close in price. Also most use a air to liquid intercooler which helps drop the IAT a good amount by does create more heat to be displaced. So if you will be tracking it hard a lot look into the extra cooling like we talked about, more cooling never hurt.
Thanks again, I agree that they are all on par in terms of power output; reliability is the one metric that I cannot find any objective, 3rd party data for. With all of the modification shopping I did this past offseason, there's no way I'll be able to sell the idea of buying a SuperCharger to my wife. Like my one buddy who has been doing this for a long time said to me: "go and get a supercharger the day your car doesn't scare you anymore" and I can say that I'm not there just yet. My car scares the crap out of me on the track but that's why I keep going back! I'll let you know what else I learn in terms of the kits and cooling ideas as I talk with other guys throughout the upcoming season.
