Turbochargersvs. Superchargers

When it comes time to look for more power in a car many people turn to turbochargers and superchargers. These power adders have been around for a long time but began getting much more popular in the early 90's thanks to many of the Japanese import cars. Both can add some serious horsepower by forcing more air into the engine. This would have to be the biggest similarity between them. They work in different ways in order to force your engine full of air. This is why when it comes time to decide which path to go in order to make those big horsepower numbers many people get stuck on which to choose. Since these products are very expensive people usually do a lot of research on this topic. I can't tell you how many debates I have seen when people are comparing them.

Turbochargers work by using the exhaust gas to spool itself up. The time it takes for a turbo to create positive boost pressures is referred to as turbo lag. So when you floor it you usually have to wait a second or two and then you feel the power kick you back in your seat. This is where I would say that a supercharger has an advantage. Since it runs off the crankshaft it is constantly compressing intake air which means power as soon as you hit the gas. When you start to deal with top end power that is where a turbo really shines. Turbochargers can reach speeds of up to 150,000rpms (rotations per minute) while the best supercharger can only reach about 40,000rpms which you can see is a major difference. You will usually see turbochargers make high peaky horsepower numbers but that is not always the case. The smaller the turbocharger the quicker it will spool up but it may lack high horsepower numbers that many people crave from them.

Since turbochargers run off exhaust gasses they don't steal horsepower from the motor. They use wasted energy to power themselves. This is always a good thing and it makes perfect sense. The exhaust is leaving the car out the exhaust pipe so why not have it spin up the turbo on its way out. Superchargers on the other hand run off a belt that is connected to your crankshaft therefore the more the engine revs up the more horsepower it takes to run the supercharger. So let's say the supercharger is rated to make an extra 175 horsepower on your car. The supercharger dose make all that power then you got to subtract about 50 of those horses just to run the belt the supercharger is on. Many people don't know about this and if they did it would have a big effect on their choice.

Another issue people need to think about is location. Where can they fit the turbo or supercharger? Since Turbochargers run off the exhaust they are usually mounted under or on the side of your engine bay. Superchargers usually sit right on top on the engine and sometimes require the owner to buy a new hood just for clearance. Turbochargers are also usually smaller and lighter. Since the majority of the people who do these upgrades to their car are looking to make it faster would mean less weight is best and a heavy supercharger isn't going to help in that category. I would have to say that the turbocharger edges out the supercharger on these problems.

Cooling is also a major concern