The intercooler cores we supply are aluminum. That much is consistent across the range, and it is the right starting point - but it is not the whole answer to the question people are usually asking.
Aluminum is the practical choice for an intercooler core for three reasons that matter more than any single specification number.
It conducts heat well, which is the entire job of the core: to move heat out of the charge air and into the cooling medium. It is light, and on a performance car that weight sits at the front of the vehicle where it costs the most. And it can be formed and joined into the thin, densely packed internal structures that give a core its surface area.
Those three properties together are why aluminum dominates intercooler construction, and why a heavier material would need a very good reason to replace it.
Two intercoolers can both be described as aluminium and behave completely differently, because the material is only one variable among several. What changes from part to part includes the internal core structure, the end tank design, the inlet and outlet sizing and the mounting arrangement.
The right combination depends on the boost level the system runs, the airflow available at the location, and how the car is actually used - a track car and a street car with the same engine do not want identical charge cooling. That is why we confirm the construction per model rather than publishing one universal description.
It helps to think of an intercooler as two problems. The core determines how much heat can be removed and at what pressure drop. The end tank determines how the charge air enters and leaves, and it has a significant effect on how evenly the core is used.
A core that works well but is fed badly by the tank will not deliver what it is capable of. This is the part of intercooler design that is easiest to get wrong and hardest to see from a photograph.
An intercooler only performs as well as the plumbing feeding it. Charge pipes that balloon under boost, or boots that swell and lose grip at the clamp, undo the work the core is doing.
That is why we treat the charge path as a system: the intercooler, the pipes and hoses connecting it, and the clamps holding the joints all have to hold the same pressure. You can see the hose side of that on our performance silicone hose and fluorocarbon lined silicone hoses pages.
Tell us the model, the engine and the boost level you intend to run, and we will confirm the construction used for that application rather than describing the range in general terms.
You can browse the intercooler and charge cooling products under Aluminum Intercooler and our broader intercooler range, or look at air intakes if you are reviewing the intake side at the same time.
