I have a co.pletely stock 07 rdx. In the future I will look into an rv6 downpipe but for now was looking at less expensive mods and ones that don't have a 6/7 week lead time due to covid. Is an air to water setup worth the extra weight or should I just try and find an ets intercooler?

Will I see any difference in fuel economy or performance over the oe or the ets bar and plate intercooler ?

For 300 I think I can get a pretty complete setup.

Thanks, Derek

 

I personally think air/water is adding more complication to a problem that doesn't necessarily need solving. You need to find out where to mount the plumbing, pump, reservoir, and heat exchangers, and route power to the pump. Then with all that hardware now you're also introducing additional failure points that can leave you in a bad spot - pump goes bad, leak in the system, etc. Now you are unable to cool your charge air at all.

As long as you have decent airflow over the air/air cooler you should be fine. Air/water can potentially remove more heat, but just as it is slower to get heat-soaked, it will be slower to cool off once it does. I think you are best with an ETS if you can find one - it strikes that balance by being able to absorb more heat (an intercooler is really just a heat sink), while maintaining stock functionality and simplicity.