Jackson Racing Super Charger Rotrex Reliability Poll

[motomaster132003]

I am very interested in purchasing a Jackson Racing Supercharger for my 2018 BRZ, but the majority of the people that I have talked to that have the kit said that they have had a Rotrex unit fail. I want to create a poll to get an idea of what the failure percentages are really like.

Also, please comment below if you are running a High Boost Pulley, E85, etc. Since that could be a factor.

[drm]

Standard C30-94 kit running carb tune (on crappy CA/AZ 91 gas). Roughly 90/10 daily vs track.

Mods: oil cooler, oil catch can.

20K miles (over ~ 4 years) when it failed. It was hinted that it was potentially due to not changing SC fluid/filter at exactly 2 year mark. I was a bit skeptical that the fluid/filter was that time sensitive, but i am not an expert on that .

Since i had base kit already, i ended up buying a new C38 to replace (C30 was not available). It was much cheaper & easier than buying a whole new setup. Playing the odds that i wont have same issue twice.

I have mixed feelings as i love the setup, but having a sealed unit that cannot be rebuilt kinda sucks.

[GrabTheWheel]

Why not just make this a Rotrex reliability poll? Lots of Kraftwerks owners out there who could contribute.

[amcp1]

Because the Kraftwerks kit uses a toothed pulley to drive the blower. And from what I can recall Rotrex says thats not an approved method to run it.

[GrabTheWheel]

50% failure rate. Not looking so good...

[mistople]

Originally Posted by GrabTheWheel

50% failure rate. Not looking so good...

50% of 14 owners =/= an accurate report.

That said, after reading the various threads related to the JRSC, it does seem like owners have had quite a number Rotrex units failures. The number of videos out there showing a failed blower is definitely concerning.

It doesn't necessarily deter me from the kit, as I still think its the best option available (at least for my goals), but the Rotrex and BPV issues tend to linger in my mind.

JR has a great record of replacing any faulty BPV from what I've seen. Rotrex taking multiple months to replace a blower is simply bewildering.

Is there a root cause? Is Rotrex moving to address the issue(s) if so?

[pgranberg11]

I'll comment since I've had a rotrex before and now have gone turbo. Why even go supercharger? Why not get a small, properly sized turbo? There are turbos that offer a better compressor efficiency. Rotrex just doesn't make sense on these cars.

If you want to talk about linearity sure, but even a GTX2860r will provide you a flat torque curve too.

I've gone down the supercharger route. Even though I never had a jackson, but a kraftwerks (for almost 3 years AND yes I tracked it), I will say supercharging is a waste of time. You can get more power out of less PSI on a turbo, and have a similar torque curve. You don't have to worry about belt slip, belt snap, supercharger unicorn oil, or any of these rotrex failures. With a turbo, all you need is proper coolant/oil routing and that's it. And you can even change boost with your cruise control stalk... no need to mess around with pullies... I'm not saying jackson is a bad kit. I'm just saying turbocharging just makes way more sense. Believe me, I've gone through the process already and I will never supercharge again.

The root cause for the reason why it takes so long is because Rotrex is based out of Denmark... all the time it has to ship and go through customs, etc and then the amount of time to diagnose and ship back.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by pgranberg11

I'll comment since I've had a rotrex before and now have gone turbo. Why even go supercharger? Why not get a small, properly sized turbo? There are turbos that offer a better compressor efficiency. Rotrex just doesn't make sense on these cars.

If you want to talk about linearity sure, but even a GTX2860r will provide you a flat torque curve too.

I've gone down the supercharger route. Even though I never had a jackson, but a kraftwerks (for almost 3 years AND yes I tracked it), I will say supercharging is a waste of time. You can get more power out of less PSI on a turbo, and have a similar torque curve. You don't have to worry about belt slip, belt snap, supercharger unicorn oil, or any of these rotrex failures. With a turbo, all you need is proper coolant/oil routing and that's it. And you can even change boost with your cruise control stalk... no need to mess around with pullies... I'm not saying jackson is a bad kit. I'm just saying turbocharging just makes way more sense. Believe me, I've gone through the process already and I will never supercharge again.

The root cause for the reason why it takes so long is because Rotrex is based out of Denmark... all the time it has to ship and go through customs, etc and then the amount of time to diagnose and ship back.

Because cost of entry of a trackable turbo setup is double that of a trackable supercharger setup.

[mistople]

Originally Posted by pgranberg11

I'll comment since I've had a rotrex before and now have gone turbo. Why even go supercharger? Why not get a small, properly sized turbo? There are turbos that offer a better compressor efficiency. Rotrex just doesn't make sense on these cars.

If you want to talk about linearity sure, but even a GTX2860r will provide you a flat torque curve too.

I've gone down the supercharger route. Even though I never had a jackson, but a kraftwerks (for almost 3 years AND yes I tracked it), I will say supercharging is a waste of time. You can get more power out of less PSI on a turbo, and have a similar torque curve. You don't have to worry about belt slip, belt snap, supercharger unicorn oil, or any of these rotrex failures. With a turbo, all you need is proper coolant/oil routing and that's it. And you can even change boost with your cruise control stalk... no need to mess around with pullies... I'm not saying jackson is a bad kit. I'm just saying turbocharging just makes way more sense. Believe me, I've gone through the process already and I will never supercharge again.

The root cause for the reason why it takes so long is because Rotrex is based out of Denmark... all the time it has to ship and go through customs, etc and then the amount of time to diagnose and ship back.

I don't hear about any of those issues besides the Rotrex unit with the JRSC. The Kraftwerks kit is another story entirely. I was more curious as to the root cause of the Rotrex unit failures. I know they are in Denmark, but even so it shouldn't take that long.

I would love a turbo, but as Mike said, it's a huge investment to get a reliable setup with real heat management.

[weederr33]

What is usually the cause of malfunctions with the Rotrex units?

[GrabTheWheel]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Because cost of entry of a trackable turbo setup is double that of a trackable supercharger setup.

Mike, is it not common knowledge in the S2K community that Paxton blowers are more reliable than Rotrex when driven hard on track?? I am huge Jackson Racing fan just not a Rotrex fan. Wish they would switch to a different blower...

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by GrabTheWheel

Mike, is it not common knowledge in the S2K community that Paxton blowers are more reliable than Rotrex when driven hard on track?? I am huge Jackson Racing fan just not a Rotrex fan. Wish they would switch to a different blower...

Not at all... you might say I have some experience.

[mrg666]

Originally Posted by GrabTheWheel

50% failure rate. Not looking so good...

You cannot come to 50% fail rate conclusion with just 6 reports. I am not even sure all of those 6 are related to Rotrex quality or even correct at all. This poll is so far from reality.

[mrg666]

Originally Posted by pgranberg11

I'll comment since I've had a rotrex before and now have gone turbo. Why even go supercharger? Why not get a small, properly sized turbo? There are turbos that offer a better compressor efficiency. Rotrex just doesn't make sense on these cars.

If you want to talk about linearity sure, but even a GTX2860r will provide you a flat torque curve too.

I've gone down the supercharger route. Even though I never had a jackson, but a kraftwerks (for almost 3 years AND yes I tracked it), I will say supercharging is a waste of time. You can get more power out of less PSI on a turbo, and have a similar torque curve. You don't have to worry about belt slip, belt snap, supercharger unicorn oil, or any of these rotrex failures. With a turbo, all you need is proper coolant/oil routing and that's it. And you can even change boost with your cruise control stalk... no need to mess around with pullies... I'm not saying jackson is a bad kit. I'm just saying turbocharging just makes way more sense. Believe me, I've gone through the process already and I will never supercharge again.

The root cause for the reason why it takes so long is because Rotrex is based out of Denmark... all the time it has to ship and go through customs, etc and then the amount of time to diagnose and ship back.

JR FRS with JRSC won SCCA championship. You don't know what you are talking about.