well after Howard Coleman bought to my attention a new BW turbo being released in the coming days i went to my local BW agent to see what he knew.he is 1 of 2 authorized agents in New Zealand.

from his understanding so far the updated bearing is just a 360deg thrust bearing.

i asked him is it worth it as you can buy a BW 360 thrust as a separate item and have it fitted. his answer to this was that the only ever abnormal thrust wear he had seen on a s-series was on one of the race trucks running 55psi and they were having compressor surge causing the thrust to unload drop its oil film and then load up and have metal on metal contact.they changed compressor and all issues dissapered.this truck is in the 1000hp range.so on a car he said would be overkill.

anyways just wanted to see what others new about it ahead of its debut.

BW have had the billet wheel available for some time.i just had one fitted to my s362/3
have attached pics as before and after.was hard to show the differnce in photos but when you see it without cover on it is amazing how much material removal around the hub/boss in comparison to the cast wheel

 

BW's new uprated thrust is a "6-pad" design, afaik it is sold in the USA only at this time. its still a 270 degree, the 360 degree thrust adds friction and spools slightly later so we do not use it. we do see abnormal thrust wear on pass car turbos when the BOV spring is too stiff or if there is no BOV at all.