I seem to have the worst luck with V-bands (turbo to DP). About a year ago, I bought 3 from vibrant... ALL of them developed leaks over time and when I would try to adjust them, the bolt would snap with fairly little effort. I'm pretty confident at this point that the vibrant clamps are no good and use cheap steel.

I just ordered one from burns stainless after finding a few good reviews on other forums. What brand clamps are you using?

 

I am using a burns stainless clamp. I am very happy with it and have removed and re-installed it a few times. I have really cranked on it as well and no breakage or leakage.

 

I've used the vibrant ones on plenty of projects with success. Id guess that the turbo / Vband connection may get so incredibly hot that the steel gets brittle on the clamps bolt. What I'm saying is, the vibrants might be just fine for most places, thus you might not need to shell out the bigger burns cash for all your vbands, just the ones that get really hot?

 

Clampco Products, Inc


V-BAND Clamps (99...)

 

I'm using the vibrants. They have a really useful quick release feature that I have come to love. Just need to loosen it enough to spin the clamp around and then you can quick release it.

 

Those prices are great... I might pick up a back-up or two from them.

 

really need patience with these things and insure they fit before start clamping down, sometimes they are the devil disguised to make life easier.

I did find "gaskets" if you slightly damage one- lets say at the end of the downpipe if you bottomed out driving and slightly flattened it

 

I use these things where I can:



You don't have to get them from HKS, just search for the nearest metric equivalent and you should be able to find them. I pull them off of scrap mitsu turbos, they hold the turbine housings onto the CHRA. Far superior to the vibrant style clamps imo

 

R.J. rays. “R.G.RAY t-bolt hose clamps, V band clamps, exhaust clamps and hose clamps used for heavy duty applications." in my opinion by far the best i've ever used.

 

I got the burns stainless yesterday and visually there is not a single feature that is different from vibrant's clamps. As far as I can tell, they are the same clamp, but who knows they may use different materials. I installed it and it didn't break and it doesn't leak... so it passed the first test . Hopefully it lasts.

 

What is the brand name stamped on the clamp?

 

Burns: Detroit flexible group 1-800-HOSE, and a part number I didn't write down
Vibrant: VIB 1491C H11

I'm not sure if the stamps are applied at manufacturing or at resale, though. I would hope at manufacturing. I looked again, and there is not a single visual difference between them.