04-22-2009, 11:13 PM
About this thread:
This thread was requested to help separate truths and myths regarding anything Sorento related. It will continue to be a work in progress because new ideas will come up occasionally and will need to be added.
This is an empowered thread, which means you can contribute and answer questions as long as you know what you are saying is true. Let's face it, the internet is full of enough bad information and we don't want our site dirty, right? That being said, I'm sure we will see some good debates.
Let's begin.
Throttle Body Spacers - Throttle body spacers are for vehicles where the fuel is injected before the intake manifold (ie. Throttle body injected (TBI) or carbuerator). The reason they work is because it gives the fuel and air more time to atomize before entering the intake manifold, creating a better burn once it gets to the combustion chamber. Our Sorentos are port injected, meaning the fuel is injected into the intake port just before it goes into the combustion chamber. Adding a throttle body spacer doesn’t do anything for our vehicles since it doesn’t change fuel atomization, making this piece an expensive do-nothing performance modification. Port fuel injected vehicles typically have much higher fuel pressures than throttle body injected vehicles, which makes the fuel atomize better for better fuel efficiency and more horsepower. I would take a port injected vehicle over a throttle body vehicle with a spacer any day of the week.
Turbonator/Tornado – Ah…the Turbonator. Another fine, expensive, do-nothing performance modification. The Turbonator’s claim to fame is that it, like the throttle body spacer, helps atomize fuel by making the intake air swirl as it passes through the intake tube. The fact is, it would, if you didn’t have a throttle blade to immediately stop the “swirling” before it enters the engine. The throttle blade is a thin piece of aluminum that controls the amount of air entering the engine. When you are off the throttle, it is closed, blocking most of the air into the engine. When you put the pedal to the floor, the blade is open but is still in the way (horizontally) and still blocks any swirling that may be happening.
Resistor Modifications – These are popular on Ebay. They are advertised that they trick the ECM into thinking the air intake temperature is colder than what it is, causing it to richen the air-fuel mixture. This doesn’t do anything but waste fuel. Manufacturers spend big bucks on making the air-fuel ratio correct under all conditions. Every condition has a perfect air-fuel ratio, and the various sensors on your engine provide information to the ECM to make sure that happens. Tricking the ECM into thinking the air is colder would richen the mixture and the timing wouldn’t be right. This adds too much fuel for the condition and ignites that mixture too soon. Wasting fuel is one thing, but timing that’s too far advanced can cause detonation (ie. Engine knock). Detonation happens when the piston is still on it’s way up when the air-fuel ignites and tries to force it back down. This creates very high pressures inside of the combustion chamber and can blow out head gaskets and eventually damage bearings, pistons, spark plugs, etc. One of the sensors on the engine is designed to detect knock, but controls it by retarding the timing, which costs you more horsepower than if you didn’t use that resistor in the first place.
Air Intakes - There are two different types of air intakes; warm and cold air intakes. Cold air intakes pull air from outside of the engine bay. Warm air intakes, also known as short ram intakes, pull air from under the hood. Cold air is more dense, and more dense air means that more fuel can be added for a bigger bang. This obviously creates more horsepower, which is nice at full throttle, but also means that you don’t have to put your foot down as far to drive normal either, reducing fuel consumption. Warm air intakes pull less dense air, which doesn’t need as much fuel to ignite the mixture. It doesn’t create as much horsepower, but does increase the fuel mileage if you do a lot of freeway driving. Driving on the freeway doesn’t require much horsepower, and the warm air makes the ECM advance the timing which also helps with mileage. Basically, warm air flows better, but cold air is better air. Both have perks.
The negatives, especially with the cold air intake, is that you could make the engine ingest large amounts of water if you were to drive through large puddles. To make a cold air intake, you usually pull the cold air from down low near the front bumper, where it can get wet. The factory intake’s inlet is more protected and less likely to ingest large amounts of water.
Hydrogen Generators - I have to be honest; I don’t know jack about the theory and operation of hydrogen generators, and I’ll tell you why. Everything that I have ever read about hydrogen generators tells me it’s a joke. In several other forums I’ve been in, I’ve read more than a thousand posts on the subject and have yet to see any proof that it actually works. People provide pictures, and diagrams, and debate with other people, but I still haven’t seen anything concrete. It would work, but without being able to design the engine to run off of pure hydrogen, there are too many other problems that exist to make this plug and play. Feel free to chime in if you have any valid information about hydrogen generators, but I’m guessing we won’t see anything about it.
Fuel Magnets – These are marketed as devices that change the fuel at the molecular level and cause it to burn faster and more completely. First of all, fuel is not magnetic. Myth busted. Even if fuel was magnetic and somehow this crazy contraption affected it, the “benefits” don’t make sense. If the fuel burned faster, it would be the equivalent of running lower octane fuel and the ECM would have to retard the ignition timing (which takes away power). The second claim to fame is that the fuel would burn more completely. Hello? Ever heard of emissions standards? The fuel already burns very completely and what doesn’t burn, isn’t going to burn anyway (about 1% the way I understand it due to the head gaskets).
High Octane Fuel - The myth is that higher octane “premium” fuel is better for your engine, creates more horsepower, burns cleaner, etc. The truth is, unless you “need” high octane fuel, there is no reason to use it. The way our engines are designed, they will never need higher octane fuel than regular. The octane in fuel makes it burn more slowly. Engines with higher compression make a bigger “bang” when the fuel ignites. This is good, but the bigger bang tends to happen too early (before the piston reaches the top) and creates engine knock. To combat engine knock, you have to use fuel that burns slower. Our engines are designed to run on regular fuel, and would not benefit from “premium” in any sense. In fact, using premium fuel would actually create less horsepower due to the slower burn. Engines tend to run better (smoother) with premium, but that’s because the “bang” is less violent. Race cars use very high octane fuel because the compression ratio is so high. It depends on the race car, but 116 octane fuel is pretty common. I’m not sure how true it is or how long it takes to happen, but I’ve heard that higher octane fuel in a vehicle that doesn’t need it will create more carbon inside of the combustion chamber than normal, creating it’s own set of problems.
Oils and Oil Changes - Without a doubt, synthetic oils are better than conventional oils. Many, many tests have proved it. They have more lubricity that reduces friction inside of the engine, and that obviously helps fight wear and also increases horsepower since there is less resistance. They also don't break down as fast as conventional oil or create sludge.
Think synthetic oil changes cost more? Wrong. With synthetic oils you can drive longer between oil changes, which saves you money. Most people change their oil at 3000 miles. With synthetics, you can go much further. "Much further" is open to interpretation because you should change your oil at intervals that you feel comfortable with. Mobil makes an oil they say you can drive 15K miles with before it needs to be changed. I'm sure you can, but since my ride is out of warranty and I plan on taking care of it, I don't feel comfortable with waiting that long between changes since it gets dirty just as fast. I use Mobil 1 full synthetic oil and change it every 7500 miles. The owners manual says you can go up to 7500 miles between changes on conventional oil, but I'd rather use a better oil to drive that far. If I were still using conventional oil, it would be changed at 3000 miles.
So what about synthetics in other areas? Well, here's where we may see some debate. I'm all for synthetic gear oil, but I'd keep it out of the transmission. Transmissions depend on fluid to operate properly. With engines and gears, pretty much the slicker the better. Well, with transmissions, they depend on a specific amount of friction to provide the proper shift firmness necessary to prolong the life of the transmission. The fluid is every bit as important as the hardware inside of the transmission, and if it doesn't have the correct friction modifiers in it, the transmission will fail. If the fluid is too "slick", the bands will slip and overheat the fluid. If the fluid doesn't slip enough, you will experience harsh shifts and could break something in the drivetrain. Either one could could cause the bands to wear out faster since they are designed around a specific fluid.
"But the synthetic fluid I bought said it would work". Well, that's nice, but was your transmission designed to be used with that fluid? No. I'm not saying it won't work for now, or right after you change it, but will it still work down the road? If it lasts to 120K miles, is that long enough? Maybe, but considering the transmissions were designed to last twice that, then no, it's not long enough. You can believe what advertisements tell you, but they aren't going to be stuck with a $4K bill because you thought expensive was better.
Transmission Flushes - Some people think that transmission flushes are necessary, when in fact, they are not. In fact, Kia recently sent out a memo stating that transmission flushes are not recommended in any of their vehicles. In fact, most manufactuers don't recommend. The people that do recommend them are the companies that make the expensive machines and the shops that own them. That doesn't mean that your Kia dealer won't try to sell you one, but the people that make the vehicle recommend a fluid change instead. Transmission flushes work by flushing fluid and solvents at high pressure the opposite way it was intended to go. This cleans out "junk" that has built up, but can cause it to end up in places it wasn't supposed to go. There are many small oil passages in transmissions (and engines for that matter) that can easily be plugged by small pieces of debris.
If you change your fluid like you are supposed to, you wouldn't have anything to flush. There wouldn't be any large collection of "junk" to wash away, and no large repair bill because you thought a flush was what you needed.
On a side note, old fluid is the number one reaon transmissions fail. Over time, the fluid gets dirty and stops working like it's supposed to. This causes the fluid to get hot and eventually burns. This changes the important friction modifiers in the fluid I talked about earlier and transmission failure becomes iminent. So don't push the mileage on your transmission changes because these things are not cheap.
Warped Rotors - This one has been brought up time and time again. The most obvious symptom of warped rotors is a vibrating brake pedal as you apply the brakes, especially obvious when the rotors are hot. Some people have experienced their rotors warping very quickly, and others never have the problem. I know it is a problem for some people, but I can't honestly nail down the reason why. We can speculate that the brake system isn't beefy enough for the weight of the vehicle, or the rotors are made of inferior metal, but I can't agree with either. All of our Sorentos weigh about the same, and we're all using equal quality rotors and pads. Besides, the people that have the problem, replace the rotors and pads only to have it happen again. This leads us to believe that the problem is either somewhere else, or located behind the steering wheel. Personally, I believe it could be varying combinations of both.
If your rotors are warping, it's usually because of heat. Brake pads rub on the rotors all the time, whether you're on the brakes or not. This causes the rotors to stay hot all of the time. When you apply the brakes, they get much hotter. The harder you apply the brakes, the hotter they get. Anytime there is more friction, there is more heat. Applying the brakes creates more friction, as does driving on the freeway.
So, here is a list (in no real order) of well known things that can cause warped rotors on any vehicle:
Driving through puddles when the rotors are hot - When the rotors are hot, making them cool too fast will warp the rotors. The rotors are expanded when they are hot, and water will almost immediately suck the heat out of them. It more or less "shocks" the heat out of them and this causes warped rotors.
Stopping too fast - Sometimes, you don't have a choice. Some idiot pulls out in front of you and you have to lay on the brakes. Doing this once, doesn't usually cause the rotors to warp, but repeatedly stopping too quickly builds excess heat and will eventually cause the rotors to warp. If you get the rotors good and hot, then have to slam on the brakes, the rotors could warp. The rotors are vented, but are still heat soaked and can not shed enough heat during heavy braking.
Improperly torqued lug nuts - Many people don't understand the reason wheel lugs get torqued. Wheel lugs are not torqued so that you know they are tight, they are torqued so each lug is equally tight. If some lugs are tighter than others, the ones that are less tight will eventually get loose, leaving the tighter ones to put unequal pressure against the wheel and rotor. When the rotors are hot, they expand, and in this case, they would expand against an uneven surface since the lugs are not equally tight. When they cool, they'll try to keep the shape, which warps the rotors. Think of it as a cookie fresh out of the oven. If it cools off of a flat surface, it will never be flat again, even if you put it back in the oven.
Having said all of that, here is a list of things you can do to prevent your rotors from warping:
Try to avoid large puddles of water if the rotors are hot.
Stop slower. The more pressure you put on the pedal, the faster the brakes will wear out, period.
Torque your wheel lugs to 75 ft lbs, then again after 50 miles. If you don't work on your own vehicle, make sure your mechanic is using a torque wrench.
Replace the rotors with slotted and dimpled rotors. Adding slots and dimples to an otherwise flat surface will allow less heat to build up, and allows heat that does build up to disipate faster. Stay away from drilled rotors because drilled rotors tend to crack around the holes.
Seafoam - Good stuff. This product does different things depending on how you use it. It is a fuel system cleaner when you add it to your gas tank. It will help clean your fuel injectors over time and cleans some carbon off of the valves. When added to your crank case (with the engine oil) it frees up sticky lifters, cleans oil passages, etc. The biggest area this product will help with is also the most difficult area to get into. That would be the combustion chamber. It has to be added through a vacuum hose that feeds all of the cylinders. You only use a third of a can when you use it this way, but the results are amazing. It cleans carbon build up from bad fuel, high octane fuel, and any other fuel you use. Over time, carbon builds up on the valves, in the heads, and on the pistons. This carbon restricts air flow, alters the compression ratio, and can even cause pre-ignition from the carbon heating up and igniting the air/fuel before the spark plug even ignites, similar to engine knock. Follow the directions and you can't go wrong. Seafoam recommends using it at every oil change, but I feel that's excessive. I use it about ever two to three oil changes.
That’s all for now. More posts to come.
(UPDATED 6.29.09)
This thread was requested to help separate truths and myths regarding anything Sorento related. It will continue to be a work in progress because new ideas will come up occasionally and will need to be added.
This is an empowered thread, which means you can contribute and answer questions as long as you know what you are saying is true. Let's face it, the internet is full of enough bad information and we don't want our site dirty, right? That being said, I'm sure we will see some good debates.
Let's begin.
Throttle Body Spacers - Throttle body spacers are for vehicles where the fuel is injected before the intake manifold (ie. Throttle body injected (TBI) or carbuerator). The reason they work is because it gives the fuel and air more time to atomize before entering the intake manifold, creating a better burn once it gets to the combustion chamber. Our Sorentos are port injected, meaning the fuel is injected into the intake port just before it goes into the combustion chamber. Adding a throttle body spacer doesn’t do anything for our vehicles since it doesn’t change fuel atomization, making this piece an expensive do-nothing performance modification. Port fuel injected vehicles typically have much higher fuel pressures than throttle body injected vehicles, which makes the fuel atomize better for better fuel efficiency and more horsepower. I would take a port injected vehicle over a throttle body vehicle with a spacer any day of the week.
Turbonator/Tornado – Ah…the Turbonator. Another fine, expensive, do-nothing performance modification. The Turbonator’s claim to fame is that it, like the throttle body spacer, helps atomize fuel by making the intake air swirl as it passes through the intake tube. The fact is, it would, if you didn’t have a throttle blade to immediately stop the “swirling” before it enters the engine. The throttle blade is a thin piece of aluminum that controls the amount of air entering the engine. When you are off the throttle, it is closed, blocking most of the air into the engine. When you put the pedal to the floor, the blade is open but is still in the way (horizontally) and still blocks any swirling that may be happening.
Resistor Modifications – These are popular on Ebay. They are advertised that they trick the ECM into thinking the air intake temperature is colder than what it is, causing it to richen the air-fuel mixture. This doesn’t do anything but waste fuel. Manufacturers spend big bucks on making the air-fuel ratio correct under all conditions. Every condition has a perfect air-fuel ratio, and the various sensors on your engine provide information to the ECM to make sure that happens. Tricking the ECM into thinking the air is colder would richen the mixture and the timing wouldn’t be right. This adds too much fuel for the condition and ignites that mixture too soon. Wasting fuel is one thing, but timing that’s too far advanced can cause detonation (ie. Engine knock). Detonation happens when the piston is still on it’s way up when the air-fuel ignites and tries to force it back down. This creates very high pressures inside of the combustion chamber and can blow out head gaskets and eventually damage bearings, pistons, spark plugs, etc. One of the sensors on the engine is designed to detect knock, but controls it by retarding the timing, which costs you more horsepower than if you didn’t use that resistor in the first place.
Air Intakes - There are two different types of air intakes; warm and cold air intakes. Cold air intakes pull air from outside of the engine bay. Warm air intakes, also known as short ram intakes, pull air from under the hood. Cold air is more dense, and more dense air means that more fuel can be added for a bigger bang. This obviously creates more horsepower, which is nice at full throttle, but also means that you don’t have to put your foot down as far to drive normal either, reducing fuel consumption. Warm air intakes pull less dense air, which doesn’t need as much fuel to ignite the mixture. It doesn’t create as much horsepower, but does increase the fuel mileage if you do a lot of freeway driving. Driving on the freeway doesn’t require much horsepower, and the warm air makes the ECM advance the timing which also helps with mileage. Basically, warm air flows better, but cold air is better air. Both have perks.
The negatives, especially with the cold air intake, is that you could make the engine ingest large amounts of water if you were to drive through large puddles. To make a cold air intake, you usually pull the cold air from down low near the front bumper, where it can get wet. The factory intake’s inlet is more protected and less likely to ingest large amounts of water.
Hydrogen Generators - I have to be honest; I don’t know jack about the theory and operation of hydrogen generators, and I’ll tell you why. Everything that I have ever read about hydrogen generators tells me it’s a joke. In several other forums I’ve been in, I’ve read more than a thousand posts on the subject and have yet to see any proof that it actually works. People provide pictures, and diagrams, and debate with other people, but I still haven’t seen anything concrete. It would work, but without being able to design the engine to run off of pure hydrogen, there are too many other problems that exist to make this plug and play. Feel free to chime in if you have any valid information about hydrogen generators, but I’m guessing we won’t see anything about it.
Fuel Magnets – These are marketed as devices that change the fuel at the molecular level and cause it to burn faster and more completely. First of all, fuel is not magnetic. Myth busted. Even if fuel was magnetic and somehow this crazy contraption affected it, the “benefits” don’t make sense. If the fuel burned faster, it would be the equivalent of running lower octane fuel and the ECM would have to retard the ignition timing (which takes away power). The second claim to fame is that the fuel would burn more completely. Hello? Ever heard of emissions standards? The fuel already burns very completely and what doesn’t burn, isn’t going to burn anyway (about 1% the way I understand it due to the head gaskets).
High Octane Fuel - The myth is that higher octane “premium” fuel is better for your engine, creates more horsepower, burns cleaner, etc. The truth is, unless you “need” high octane fuel, there is no reason to use it. The way our engines are designed, they will never need higher octane fuel than regular. The octane in fuel makes it burn more slowly. Engines with higher compression make a bigger “bang” when the fuel ignites. This is good, but the bigger bang tends to happen too early (before the piston reaches the top) and creates engine knock. To combat engine knock, you have to use fuel that burns slower. Our engines are designed to run on regular fuel, and would not benefit from “premium” in any sense. In fact, using premium fuel would actually create less horsepower due to the slower burn. Engines tend to run better (smoother) with premium, but that’s because the “bang” is less violent. Race cars use very high octane fuel because the compression ratio is so high. It depends on the race car, but 116 octane fuel is pretty common. I’m not sure how true it is or how long it takes to happen, but I’ve heard that higher octane fuel in a vehicle that doesn’t need it will create more carbon inside of the combustion chamber than normal, creating it’s own set of problems.
Oils and Oil Changes - Without a doubt, synthetic oils are better than conventional oils. Many, many tests have proved it. They have more lubricity that reduces friction inside of the engine, and that obviously helps fight wear and also increases horsepower since there is less resistance. They also don't break down as fast as conventional oil or create sludge.
Think synthetic oil changes cost more? Wrong. With synthetic oils you can drive longer between oil changes, which saves you money. Most people change their oil at 3000 miles. With synthetics, you can go much further. "Much further" is open to interpretation because you should change your oil at intervals that you feel comfortable with. Mobil makes an oil they say you can drive 15K miles with before it needs to be changed. I'm sure you can, but since my ride is out of warranty and I plan on taking care of it, I don't feel comfortable with waiting that long between changes since it gets dirty just as fast. I use Mobil 1 full synthetic oil and change it every 7500 miles. The owners manual says you can go up to 7500 miles between changes on conventional oil, but I'd rather use a better oil to drive that far. If I were still using conventional oil, it would be changed at 3000 miles.
So what about synthetics in other areas? Well, here's where we may see some debate. I'm all for synthetic gear oil, but I'd keep it out of the transmission. Transmissions depend on fluid to operate properly. With engines and gears, pretty much the slicker the better. Well, with transmissions, they depend on a specific amount of friction to provide the proper shift firmness necessary to prolong the life of the transmission. The fluid is every bit as important as the hardware inside of the transmission, and if it doesn't have the correct friction modifiers in it, the transmission will fail. If the fluid is too "slick", the bands will slip and overheat the fluid. If the fluid doesn't slip enough, you will experience harsh shifts and could break something in the drivetrain. Either one could could cause the bands to wear out faster since they are designed around a specific fluid.
"But the synthetic fluid I bought said it would work". Well, that's nice, but was your transmission designed to be used with that fluid? No. I'm not saying it won't work for now, or right after you change it, but will it still work down the road? If it lasts to 120K miles, is that long enough? Maybe, but considering the transmissions were designed to last twice that, then no, it's not long enough. You can believe what advertisements tell you, but they aren't going to be stuck with a $4K bill because you thought expensive was better.
Transmission Flushes - Some people think that transmission flushes are necessary, when in fact, they are not. In fact, Kia recently sent out a memo stating that transmission flushes are not recommended in any of their vehicles. In fact, most manufactuers don't recommend. The people that do recommend them are the companies that make the expensive machines and the shops that own them. That doesn't mean that your Kia dealer won't try to sell you one, but the people that make the vehicle recommend a fluid change instead. Transmission flushes work by flushing fluid and solvents at high pressure the opposite way it was intended to go. This cleans out "junk" that has built up, but can cause it to end up in places it wasn't supposed to go. There are many small oil passages in transmissions (and engines for that matter) that can easily be plugged by small pieces of debris.
If you change your fluid like you are supposed to, you wouldn't have anything to flush. There wouldn't be any large collection of "junk" to wash away, and no large repair bill because you thought a flush was what you needed.
On a side note, old fluid is the number one reaon transmissions fail. Over time, the fluid gets dirty and stops working like it's supposed to. This causes the fluid to get hot and eventually burns. This changes the important friction modifiers in the fluid I talked about earlier and transmission failure becomes iminent. So don't push the mileage on your transmission changes because these things are not cheap.
Warped Rotors - This one has been brought up time and time again. The most obvious symptom of warped rotors is a vibrating brake pedal as you apply the brakes, especially obvious when the rotors are hot. Some people have experienced their rotors warping very quickly, and others never have the problem. I know it is a problem for some people, but I can't honestly nail down the reason why. We can speculate that the brake system isn't beefy enough for the weight of the vehicle, or the rotors are made of inferior metal, but I can't agree with either. All of our Sorentos weigh about the same, and we're all using equal quality rotors and pads. Besides, the people that have the problem, replace the rotors and pads only to have it happen again. This leads us to believe that the problem is either somewhere else, or located behind the steering wheel. Personally, I believe it could be varying combinations of both.
If your rotors are warping, it's usually because of heat. Brake pads rub on the rotors all the time, whether you're on the brakes or not. This causes the rotors to stay hot all of the time. When you apply the brakes, they get much hotter. The harder you apply the brakes, the hotter they get. Anytime there is more friction, there is more heat. Applying the brakes creates more friction, as does driving on the freeway.
So, here is a list (in no real order) of well known things that can cause warped rotors on any vehicle:
Driving through puddles when the rotors are hot - When the rotors are hot, making them cool too fast will warp the rotors. The rotors are expanded when they are hot, and water will almost immediately suck the heat out of them. It more or less "shocks" the heat out of them and this causes warped rotors.
Stopping too fast - Sometimes, you don't have a choice. Some idiot pulls out in front of you and you have to lay on the brakes. Doing this once, doesn't usually cause the rotors to warp, but repeatedly stopping too quickly builds excess heat and will eventually cause the rotors to warp. If you get the rotors good and hot, then have to slam on the brakes, the rotors could warp. The rotors are vented, but are still heat soaked and can not shed enough heat during heavy braking.
Improperly torqued lug nuts - Many people don't understand the reason wheel lugs get torqued. Wheel lugs are not torqued so that you know they are tight, they are torqued so each lug is equally tight. If some lugs are tighter than others, the ones that are less tight will eventually get loose, leaving the tighter ones to put unequal pressure against the wheel and rotor. When the rotors are hot, they expand, and in this case, they would expand against an uneven surface since the lugs are not equally tight. When they cool, they'll try to keep the shape, which warps the rotors. Think of it as a cookie fresh out of the oven. If it cools off of a flat surface, it will never be flat again, even if you put it back in the oven.
Having said all of that, here is a list of things you can do to prevent your rotors from warping:
Try to avoid large puddles of water if the rotors are hot.
Stop slower. The more pressure you put on the pedal, the faster the brakes will wear out, period.
Torque your wheel lugs to 75 ft lbs, then again after 50 miles. If you don't work on your own vehicle, make sure your mechanic is using a torque wrench.
Replace the rotors with slotted and dimpled rotors. Adding slots and dimples to an otherwise flat surface will allow less heat to build up, and allows heat that does build up to disipate faster. Stay away from drilled rotors because drilled rotors tend to crack around the holes.
Seafoam - Good stuff. This product does different things depending on how you use it. It is a fuel system cleaner when you add it to your gas tank. It will help clean your fuel injectors over time and cleans some carbon off of the valves. When added to your crank case (with the engine oil) it frees up sticky lifters, cleans oil passages, etc. The biggest area this product will help with is also the most difficult area to get into. That would be the combustion chamber. It has to be added through a vacuum hose that feeds all of the cylinders. You only use a third of a can when you use it this way, but the results are amazing. It cleans carbon build up from bad fuel, high octane fuel, and any other fuel you use. Over time, carbon builds up on the valves, in the heads, and on the pistons. This carbon restricts air flow, alters the compression ratio, and can even cause pre-ignition from the carbon heating up and igniting the air/fuel before the spark plug even ignites, similar to engine knock. Follow the directions and you can't go wrong. Seafoam recommends using it at every oil change, but I feel that's excessive. I use it about ever two to three oil changes.
That’s all for now. More posts to come.
(UPDATED 6.29.09)
Excellent. The Tornado falls in the same pot as the Turbonator. 
