New Ceramic Cam Follower...who's game enough?

[ROH ECHT]

***Warning...See Post #10***

Yes, a cam follower made from Silicon Nitride. I just saw this for the first time and wondered who would be brave enough to try it.
https://wasamotor.com/shop/vw-audi-...wSBwmhHASd5smnT_488IQJZmmntflsVLOwftNhFz9wGjQ

 

[3carmonte]

I'm thinking of how a fuse works. Do you want the wire to melt or the fuse to blow? Put in a bigger fuse than the wire ampacity and the wire will melt. So, this follower will work until the cam lobe wipes and wears down first?

 

[ROH ECHT]

I think about my favorite blade sharpener...a pair of ceramic sticks. I assume the porosity of the sharpener may be more porous than this CF, but????? IONO? I wish their site provided more proof of the wear the tri-lobe showed after a number of miles with this CF compared to the original...and with an upgraded hpfp and tune. The site does state it lasts longer, but doesn't this mean it still wears through? And then one must determine when this will happen, right? I see this product failing as they lack to provide info that makes one feel secure and to ease the mind of a product user.

I myself prefer the CF to wear before the tri-lobe.

 

[1131]

Does it last 3 times as long as the original INA part? Coz it looks like it cost 3 times as much. For a part that only needs to be replaced every 50K or so, I wouldn't bother.

And, just to add to what ROH said above, any time you have two wear parts in contact, you should want the cheaper and more easily replaced part to wear first.

 

[ROH ECHT]

I had a response from someone familiar with this and that is the use of Silicon Nitride ceramic ball-bearings in turbos. So I asked for their concerns for the tri-lobe and am now awaiting a response.

 

[ROH ECHT]

Here's the replies I've received:
"Used in bearings for years (I have over 17 years experience with silicone nitride rolling elements). Won’t ever wear down and hard as hell."...and when I asked "will this ceramic CF wear down the tri-lobe of the intake cam?"...he answered; "No, as long as your oiling system is good and you use quality synthetic oil you shouldn’t see any detriment."

 

[vwengineer]

Seems cool. I just see some other things, if it's as durable as they say, why make it thicker? Second point, if it does wear down, what about the ceramic particles now circulating in the engine oil? But seems cool anyway, they seem to have done quite a bit of research

 

[ROH ECHT]

I imagine it is hard enough to resist wear and temps...but I believe the added thickness would be for strength given what it must endure due to the nature of its motion and compression. If it had very thin walls and a contact surface...it would likely or rather easily crack.
Your second point is valid...I wish this were addressed on their site. Someone here in the states already spoke with someone there at WASA and ordered one. I asked this person how folks here can also place orders so to share...so I will ask if they can inquire on this concern of particles and wear, if and when they respond.

 

[ROH ECHT]

Looks like if you want one...you'll need to order from the WASA site.
It comes out of Sweden and shipping will be pricey.

 

[ROH ECHT]

OK...some bad news. There are issues with the WASA ceramic CF. Those who have had them fail found out the company never tested them with an upgraded HPFP which uses a different piston spring. And are now saying its only for stock HPFP spring. So, Autotech and others that reuse the original spring should be OK. But they may have shot themselves in the foot for this oversight.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/529405700525327/ ___ https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10157831618668922&set=pcb.2051984231600792

 

[1131]

Daaaaaaaamn. Anyway. I think most of us have simply accepted that it's a consumable item and have learned to live with frequent changes.

 

[ROH ECHT]

Me too. I only drive the MK5 2500 miles/year now...so a CF lasts me 4 to 5 years.

 

[GTI's]

It appears to have shattered and not worn through, what did the other failures look like??

 

[ROH ECHT]

I do not see any others posted. But yeah, I believe they also shattered.
All I see posted is this;
[The one that failed because of the APR pump was the APR spring being a Conical spring.One of the other failures appears to have been initiated by the pump itself failing.]
Apparently there were three failures;
[the first two known failures were with APR springs. The third is yet unknown.]

 

[ROH ECHT]

WASA responding to FB posts:

Niki @ R-Tech; "I took a stock pump and compared the fitment of the follower with the Apr pump and the stock pump. Then the penny dropped, I sent my findings to WASA pointing out APR use a fatter spring and the cam follower had absolutely no clearance and with a hot spring the follower would grab and hold on to the spring causing huge stress."

WASA; "We are looking at what causes this and how to avoid it. What we have found so far is the obvious one with the APR spring. Our "mistake" was to not know that some aftermarket brands use a spring that is conical."

At first WASA said the APR spring is Conical...then the user found there is little to no clearance of the larger APR spring. Right now...it sounds like WASA is tanking the project. But it isn't confirmed yet. They have attempted contacting everyone and asked them to remove their CF for now.