Fake turbo kits reviewed: garbage, trash, and hogwash

Anyone who loves the thrill of automotive passion admires the sound of a turbocharger. The whistle created during a high PSI boost is euphoric, and yet some want to try and imitate this beautiful audible gift. Let me introduce you to the "turbo whistler", a.k.a. the fake turbo sound kit. There is many ways to imitate the sounds of a turbo vehicle, and in this article we will discuss each method. Two of them imitate the boosting sound by placing placebos in the exhaust system, and the third creates a simulated whoosh of air as created by a blow off valve by using an electronic speaker system. All of them are lame, and will mark you as a poser. Heed my warning, this novelty items are not going to impress anyone.


The first version and most popular is a product called the "turbo whistler". We will call this one by a fictional character name, "garbage". This lame device is nothing more than a cone that visibly bolts on to the end of any exhaust system, similar to a "whistler tip" but with a more turbo oriented sound. The air flowing through the exhaust hits the cone, and walla; instant turbo sounds. The bad part is that this lame device doesn't even sound like a turbo, but more like a leaky tire or bad differential. Not only is it highly visible, it technically reduces performance by adding a minimal amount of back pressure to the exhaust system.

Video content: Fake turbo sound kit #1 "turbo whistler"

The second type of fake turbo sound kit is an actual muffler with a fan built right into the tip known as a muffler spinner. Just for fun, its fictional character's name will be "trash". This fan has a noise bearing that activates when the exhaust pressure moves the blades. A whizzing sound accompanied by the swirling fan noise created during down spool is emulated. This one is by far superior to the whistler type, as it's hidden and accurately simulates all sounds created by a turbo. However, even though it is superior it sound it has a manufacturing flaw that becomes extremely dangerous. After continued use, the bearing gives out and the nut will come flying off the spinner. If you're traveling at speed, you had better have good insurance because it's going to damage the following vehicle. Sounds cool, looks great, but can be deadly. This is not just dangerous and a waste of money, but it's also totally lame and will mark you as a poser should your dirty little secret be discovered; chance are that it will. The following video is just a sample of an exhaust spinner, as the turbo spinner was so lame it never even made it to YouTube videos.

Video content: Fake turbo sound kit #3 "exhaust spinner"

The third fake turbo kit is an actual sound computer and speaker system that emulates the whoosh of a blow off valve. The end of the story must have a character's name, so this one will be called "hogwash". After spooling, the pressure stuck between the turbo and throttle body has nowhere to go. Some choose to run no blow off valve, and just let the pressure shoot back into the turbo which reduces spool but keeps pressure levels high. Others choose to run a blow off valve and discharge the pressure to atmosphere or back into the intake. And then there is the third group, who uses electronic poser-matics and chooses a device to simulate the sound instead of really boosting the vehicle and gaining performance. This by far is the most lame of all fake turbo sound kits.

Video content: Fake turbo sound kit #3 "electronic bov"

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Source: Tampa Sports Car Examiner