So I want to do a turbo s4 rebuild in the near future and I'm not sure what to go with.

Car will be a street car, daily driven- I'm on a budget so ra looks great to me but the reviews don't.

Seems like you can get a good batch of ra seals or a bad one, that or there are other variables contributing to the problems associated with excessive housing wear.

RA SuperSeals
Pros)
1)Very strong/Indesctructible
2)low price

Cons)
1)Mixed reviews
2)cause wear on housings unless heavy premix is used with good tuning

Goopy seals
Pros)
1) all good reviews
2) very strong, possibly indestructible
3)Probably don't need heavy premix

Cons)
1) higher price (about $100 more)
2)Not as strong as ra (I believe)

Rotary >Pistons

 

my opinion is that i'd run the OEM seals, they are about $365 a set, before taxes, if you get a good deal

the goopy seals are interesting, as they offer an oversize seals which is nice.

the Ra seals IMO have no place inside an engine.

 

I've used both sets on the race car super seal is the way to go way better seal then goopy. If goopy breaks then say by to the turbo. Super seal only bend and never seen one break. Super seal do tend to wear housings slightly but its not something that will take away from reliability. Always premix ...

 

I have just gone through the same scenario and looked at all available alternatives. My experience with RA are not good, but they were installed long ago (2005) with very low miles, they ate my housing badly.
Might be better today if you can get a fresh batch!? I also heard good things about Atkins and Goopy, but don’t forget OEM, I know that they are high $$, but have hundreds and hundreds of 100 000 miles under their belt, even the three pcs. Seals used by Mazda (considered by experts as junk) held up good. I just opened a series 5 T ll from -91 with 90,000 miles and the housing was in mint condition.
As a daily driver you will accumulate a lot of mile in a hurry and if you plan to keep the car for many years a few hundred dollars might be a drop in the ocean.
Mazda have used mill. of $$$ in R&D and QC, the aftermarket company who copy the OEM closest would be my choice, if we can find that out…

 

OEM seals.

 

so, have you actually seen a set of Goopy seals break?


I've used most sets of seals and i only recommend OEM on stock or n/a applications. with modifications and a slight hiccup in your tuning you can say goodbye to the seals, a rotor and a housing if you're lucky.

i won't use RA seals for the simple fact that they only offered me free shipping, no bulk discounts or wholesale pricing. treating me like just another person off the street who's going to buy 1 set every 5 years or so.

 

they are $15 more than goopy... if $15 is high dollar, you might own an FC...

 

If its gonna be a DD and on a light tune there is nothing better then OEM seals!. Don't bother using aftermarket ones.. You pay more but get way better reliability!..

 

Goopy is looking to be the best while ra seems to still have bad experiences.

Anyone recently used ra?

Rotary >Pistons

 

honestly i prefer Atkins seals over OEM in lower horsepower engines, in my experience they last about as long as OEM 2 piece seals and in the event of failure they generally cause the least amount of damage.

Banzai and IRP build their engines mainly with RA seals, you can contact them about their experiences with them.

 

My car will be above stock, its a turbo - no one hardly drives stock turbo cars.

Rotary >Pistons

 

then sometimes it's better to sacrifice some rotor housing wear for reliability.

all the softer seals seem to rely heavily on the break in procedure. premix heavily and follow guidelines rather strictly and filter your intake well. once gouging starts it will not stop or go away, harder seals are better about preventing it from the start.

 

Soft seals aka Atkins?

Rotary >Pistons

 

i consider Atkins a hard seal, it is a little bit softer than OEM but not by much. it will readily fracture so it likely is also made of cast iron with some alloys added in.

 

So then how is ra soft?

Rotary >Pistons

 

bendable = soft
breakable = hard


all softer seals are non cast iron, they will bend before they break. ie soft.

there is no indestructable seal, but a seal that can bend before it breaks will cause less damage in the event it has a failure.

 

Goopy seals do break! Stock apex seals are the weakest part in a turbo rotary application so that's why I'm against them in any builds . Atkins are ideal for stock application even though I've had better compression number on super seals then Atkins.

Goopy- Are good unless you run into serious detonation, if they break their going through the turbo.

Atkins- Ideal for N/a or stock

Super seal- Seal fast reduce break in time, will take abuse of detonation, high boost friendly but wear housing in a quicker paced.

ALs - more expensive but a great seal overall and unbreakable.

Their some seals from Australia but can't remember the brand but their the best in market but cost about $1000.00 but just can't remember the name.

@ the least minimum I would recommend Atkins before I would install OEM Mazda Apex seals but hey that's how I do it every builder is different but I've used them all in my personal cars.

 

technically every seal can break, even RA and ALS. i would still like to see how these Goopy seals had fractured and any known cause.

 

dam you couldn't say it any more clear

I can definitely relate to what your saying here from all the years of experience that's what it comes down too.

 

Are the super seals worth the extra money over the classic seals?

What's the major differences

Rotary >Pistons

 

you would have to ask RA about the differences, i would suspect the classics are for lower power applications and are a more brittle(hard) blend of metals that last longer at the cost of durability in the event of detonation. ie the classics are more breakable, which is why most everyone goes with the super seal.

 

Ok, Goopy $ 350.00, OEM at Atkins $ 462.00 and Mazdatrix $ 465.90. Where do you buy your seals? And yes I have a FC…

 

i go to the dealership... my price before tax is $60 a seal, $360 for 6. i would imagine that somebody like Malloy Mazda would quote a price close to that.

 

Well, it's probably to early to tell...but my engine was built with Super Seals apexes, Atkins solid corner seals. My last engine was a stock refurb with 78,000 miles on it and was plum wore out and I blew it up besides that...broke a corner seal during a detonation event. And yes, I've had a few on the new engine and it's still ok at the moment.

I have about 5,000 on this engine and it starts and runs better than it ever did... running 14.5 lbs of boost.

 

I wana see these blown up goopy seals..