HPFP Cam Follower arrives

[GIACUser]

This will be installed in a couple of weeks. Needless to say this will be a long term post. It will probably take me 6 months to put 5,000 miles on it.

I will take it out and photograph it at 5,000 miles.

Here it is new. 3/28/2013 165 plus tax

 

[filthyillness]

I just installed mine 50 miles ago. So far so good. Its bigger than the stock follower but the spring keeps it snug and works flawlessly. Just in case anybody became weirded out at the size difference. With that said, its going to last x3 longer than the factory followers.

Tapatalk 2.0

 

[ChattMkv]

Sub'd. Finish on it looks awesome. Just curious to see how it performs in the long-haul since it's such an important maintenance part for FSI owners.

 

[Red5pade]

I just installed mine 50 miles ago. So far so good. Its bigger than the stock follower but the spring keeps it snug and works flawlessly. Just in case anybody became weirded out at the size difference. With that said, its going to last x3 longer than the factory followers.

Tapatalk 2.0

3 times longer isnt enough to offset the cost.

also, why is it green on the bottom? is your ceiling green? i thought it was suppose to be chrome

 

[NJdubber]

3 times longer isnt enough to offset the cost.

also, why is it green on the bottom? is your ceiling green? i thought it was suppose to be chrome

I think they are trying to market it more for piece of mind and convenience. For me it's not worth it, I can get almost 5 OEM followers for that price.

 

[Red5pade]

I think they are trying to market it more for piece of mind and convenience. For me it's not worth it, I can get almost 5 OEM followers for that price.

exactly. if it was put it in and leave it, then sign me up, but not for 60k miles or w/e it would end up being

 

[GIACUser]

3 times longer isnt enough to offset the cost.

also, why is it green on the bottom? is your ceiling green? i thought it was suppose to be chrome

It is chrome/silver on top. There were plants in the background (reflection). Top has almost a mirror finish. Based upon posts by hpfp it will last much longer than 3x. However it is going to take quite a while for us consumers to know. For the small amount of money I thought I would give it a try. I am chewing through the stock followers pretty much as everyone describes and the cost/effort of doing the roller conversion was something I wanted to avoid.

 

[07GTI-2.0T]

3 times longer isnt enough to offset the cost.

No but 4x longer will (if one swaps that out every 40k miles instead of every 10k miles). It becomes more convenient as well as that would mean only taking the pump off every 2-3 years for me.


My problem with aftermarket followers is this: If VW has made multiple attempts and they haven't been able to come up with an effective coating/dimension with the budget they have to do so AND what its costing them in repair cost I'll be damn if I'm going to trust the research/development of someone with lessor resources. Surely VW has tried other coatings and thicker material and chose not to use it for one reason or another. The amount of long term testing it would take to develop a product like this in real world conditions is insane. You need multiple cars and years of mileage. I probably won't still have the car but I don't want to find out 5 years later an aftermarket follower wore down my camshaft. After market cam follower may work great but at $50 and 20 minutes of time I'm alright with using oem every 10k miles.

 

[GIACUser]

I think they are trying to market it more for piece of mind and convenience. For me it's not worth it, I can get almost 5 OEM followers for that price.

I have to pay retail so I can only get 3.6 for that price but for me its not about the cost, its about the frequency of effort. I would rather not be installing these on a regular basis.

 

[Red5pade]

i change mine 12 or 18k miles. its easy to change and i dont mind doing the work in the least. so for sake of argument, lets say a cf last 15k miles on a s2+ car (like mine for example). also, an oem cf cost about $50, so if it last 3x longer, than an oem cf would be cheaper. if it last 4x or more, then its cost effective, but how does the cam wear? they say the cf is still softer than the cam and the holes do better at supplying oil, but im still not convinced. they never showed enough info

they need to take a car with 45k miles on it, and compare the wear of the cf and the cam (before and after)... the cam being the big one to check on. even the slightest bit needs to be known.

edit: if you guys do a bench test, please explain the cycles it goes through to simulate real world conditions

 

[GIACUser]

No but 4x longer will (if one swaps that out every 40k miles instead of every 10k miles). It becomes more convenient as well as that would mean only taking the pump off every 2-3 years for me.


My problem with aftermarket followers is this: If VW has made multiple attempts and they haven't been able to come up with an effective coating/dimension with the budget they have to do so AND what its costing them in repair cost I'll be damn if I'm going to trust the research/development of someone with lessor resources. Surely VW has tried other coatings and thicker material and chose not to use it for one reason or another. The amount of long term testing it would take to develop a product like this in real world conditions is insane. You need multiple cars and years of mileage. I probably won't still have the car but I don't want to find out 5 years later an aftermarket follower wore down my camshaft. After market cam follower may work great but at $50 and 20 minutes of time I'm alright with using oem every 10k miles.

Like you this is more about convenience. We are not talking about any kind of big savings here. Not sure why people are letting the dollars talk. If I drive 15K a year I don't want to be changing these 3 times a year. My time is worth much more than the few dollars in savings. (Just my view, understood others will have different values on time vs money)

As for the factory problem, they did not necessarily put all their weight into R&D for remediation of this part. They probably looked at the numbers to see which was cheaper and to estimate total expected failures on a line of motor parts no longer being produced and the cost of reparation based on their limits of liability/warranty. I am guessing it made sense to let them fail and just do the repairs. My guess is that this was a limited window of exposure and the R&D went into the TSI setup which corrected this problem and uses a roller instead of a flat follower.

Anyhow we won't know if this cam follower works until we use it for a while. We will find out if their R&D is valid. I will take this out in 5000 miles and photo the wear. I am using the APR fuel pump and as I said it does chew them up. We should have a pretty good indication of longevity at that point. Until then its all talk.

 

[Red5pade]

Like you this is more about convenience. We are not talking about any kind of big savings here. Not sure why people are letting the dollars talk. If I drive 15K a year I don't want to be changing these 3 times a year. My time is worth much more than the few dollars in savings. (Just my view, understood others will have different values on time vs money)

As for the factory problem, they did not necessarily put all their weight into R&D for remediation of this part. They probably looked at the numbers to see which was cheaper and to estimate total expected failures on a line of motor parts no longer being produced and the cost of reparation based on their limits of liability/warranty. I am guessing it made sense to let them fail and just do the repairs. My guess is that this was a limited window of exposure and the R&D went into the TSI setup which corrected this problem and uses a roller instead of a flat follower.

Anyhow we won't know if this cam follower works until we use it for a while. We will find out if their R&D is valid. I will take this out in 5000 miles and photo the wear. I am using the APR fuel pump and as I said it does chew them up. We should have a pretty good indication of longevity at that point. Until then its all talk.

can you measure the wear too?

 

[gti2slow]

Id rather have a softer follower to replace than a harder one that would wear on the cam. I thought the whole purpose of the B cam revision was to harden the cam so that the follower would be the replaceable item.

This seems like its going to reintroduce the issues seen with the A revision cam. I am genuinely curious about how this will play out after 10K miles or so.

follower replacement > cam replacement

 

[GTIRaider]

Id rather have a softer follower to replace than a harder one that would wear on the cam. I thought the whole purpose of the B cam revision was to harden the cam so that the follower would be the replaceable item.

This seems like its going to reintroduce the issues seen with the A revision cam. I am genuinely curious about how this will play out after 10K miles or so.

follower replacement > cam replacement

Hardness of the metal doesn't really equate to increase wear. Surface friction is what will cause wear. If they have effectively created a product that decreases surface friction greater than the stock follower, then it won't matter it's slightly harder.

 

[GIACUser]

Id rather have a softer follower to replace than a harder one that would wear on the cam. I thought the whole purpose of the B cam revision was to harden the cam so that the follower would be the replaceable item.

This seems like its going to reintroduce the issues seen with the A revision cam. I am genuinely curious about how this will play out after 10K miles or so.

follower replacement > cam replacement

We will see. As stated, friction will be key. I will be making sure oil is not only changed on schedule but that it is always kept at the full line. They also state that the cam follower is still softer than the cam.