Corbzin

what are some of the pros and cons of each? which do you perfer and why?

Fabrik8

Ball bearing:

Pros:

• Faster spool
• Longer bearing life
• Often more modern wheel design (many/most journal bearing wheel designs have been around a long time)

Cons:

• Cost
• (slightly) less selection
• There are no other cons.

Daft Punk

This

White Devil

http://autospeed.com/cms/title_Turbo...8/article.html

Also with ball-bearing turbos, they most likely will need water cooling lines added to reduce heat more than sleeved turbos. As a result of their complexity, most ball bearing assemblies cant be pulled apart like other turbos in the event of a rebuild, so repair costs are ramped up having to replace the entire assembly. The cost though is usually factored into the cost of improving your system altogether, as well as the convenience of selling the "bad" turbo off to a remanufacturer to rebuild and resell to someone else. I.E. - if the turbo smokes badly, has major shaft play either side-to-side or in-out, or has scoring and broken fins in the housing, you probably don't want to just buy a refresh kit and try to do it yourself. Better to factor in a newer replacement turbo with addons like ceramic coating, larger internals, etc..., so that you really get the benefits of swapping one out. And that company that sold you your new sweet turbo will more than likely give you fair market value for your shit!

Fabrik8

The water cooling has nothing to do with what type of bearing it is, only that many/most modern turbos are water cooled, and this goes for journal bearing turbos too. Water cooling is really nice and prolongs bearing life on whatever turbo you get, so I'd recommend getting a water cooled turbo if you have a choice.