Introduction
Previously I described the motivation to fact check claims about products and services as well as some standards that apply to sales of these products.
While adding the 118th turbocharger to a list of Mk7 turbo options a couple of claims related to the TPC IS38 stood out as worthy of Fact-Checking.
Claims
The following are excerpts from the Turbo Parts Canada product web page for the IS38 ball-bearing turbocharger. I have added emphasis to claims of interest.
TPC now offers the popular IS38 turbo in a ball bearing version. Not only have we removed the horrible IHI bearing system and replaced it with a Garrett style bearing system but we also increased the shaft diameter as well to handle higher boost pressures. The compressor and turbine wheels remain OEM sized.
Turbo Parts Canada
This means you no longer have to taper your boost down towards redline. Most tuners will peak their tunes around 28psi and taper down to 22 psi by redline. With our ball bearing IS38 you can run max boost all the way to redline increasing performance over a regular journal bearing IS38.
Turbo Parts Canada
The particular claims that are of interest are listed next followed by the reason they are interesting to me.
- “removed the horrible IHI bearing system” (How was the determination made that the IHI brand turbocharger bearing system is horrible? This claim, if unsubstantiated, has the potential to be defamation.)
- “Garrett style bearing system” (Is the bearing system a Garrett product? Garrett uses both ball bearing and journal bearing systems, what characteristics of the Garrett product line apply to this TPC turbocharger?)
- “no longer have to taper your boost down towards redline” (What amount of boost pressure does this turbocharger generate without tapering off?)
- “run max boost all the way to redline” (Related to question #3)
- “increasing performance over a regular journal bearing IS38” (What aspects of performance are increased? How is the performance increase being measured? How much increase is there with the TPC IS38 over the IHI IS38 in each measure?)
Claims Substantiation
A request for additional information was sent to Turbo Parts Canada on 3-Nov-21 through the company Contact Us page form.
On 4-Nov-21 an additional inquiry was sent to Turbo Parts Canada via email to the Customer Service email address on the Contact Us page.
As of 10-Nov-21 there was no response from Turbo Parts Canada. Another inquiry was submitted on the product page using the “Ask About This Product” pop-up form.
Business Response
On 11-Nov 2021 I happened across a post on Facebook that showed the Turbo Parts Canada name and logo and discovered that the person making the post was associated with Turbo Parts Canada. I asked them about how I could contact the business and explained the difficulty I was having. Their response is below:
While the statement makes clear that I won’t be getting answers, this reply does help with moving forward because a goal I have is to give businesses the opportunity to directly address concerns.
Source Check
To make sure the reply I was receiving was from a TPC employee I did some research.
The Canadian Business Registry provides information about businesses in Canada:
The registry confirms that Nick has a position with Turbo Parts Canada:
With confidence that I have the “final answer” from Turbo Parts Canda the fact-checking phase concludes.
Conclusion
Questions brought to Turbo Parts Canada for clarification were not addressed by the business.
Note: TPC has slightly revised the product description since the post was originally made. The updated description does not resolve the questions.
Previously:
This means you no longer have to taper your boost down towards redline. Most tuners will peak their tunes around 28psi and taper down to 22 psi by redline. With our ball bearing IS38 you can run max boost all the way to redline increasing performance over a regular journal bearing IS38
Currently:
Most tuners will peak their tunes around 28psi and taper down to 22 psi by redline. With our ball bearing IS38 you can run higher boost levels increasing performance over a regular journal bearing IS38. No longer is the oem bearing design or shaft size the limiting factor of how much boost you can run, you will be able to run this turbo to the maximum wheel efficiency range.
Next Steps
A future post will address the next steps. This statement from the Government of Canada indicates what is next:
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre estimates that less than 5% of the total number of fraud victims report their experiences to law enforcement agencies. By reporting a scam, you provide law enforcement with the information they need to stop fraudsters and help prevent others from becoming victims. The information you provide is important!
Competition Bureau Canada
Highly interested by the response you’ll receive from TPC.
Disappointing, but not surprised.
We’ve for years wanted to fit a speed sensor to one of our products to learn more about just how hard performance tuning makes the turbocharger work. Any time you want to test a Shuenk IS38+ we’d provide it with the necessary sensor.