How to Find the Right Toyota Supercharger for your Vehicle
There are few aftermarket parts that will increase the power of an engine more than a Toyota supercharger. While the price of a supercharger can be very expensive, the amount of horsepower is actually quite cost effective.
When shopping for a Toyota supercharger, you have a couple options. Luckily Toyota have a racing division better known as Toyota Racing Development (TRD). They provide really good performance parts for a majority of cars. Another options is to buy from aftermarket dealers. Many of which specialize in superchargers. There are pros and cons for each so you really need to understand what to do, in order to the most from your vehicle. For example, comparing the supercharger built for the Tundra with a supercharger built for the Scion is like comparing apples to oranges. It’s better to compare Toyota superchargers from different manufacturers and design elements within each different unit.
One popular myth is that your gas mileage will skyrocket when you bolt on a new Toyota supercharger to your vehicle. In reality, normal driving will not be that much different, with maybe losing a mile per gallon. Of course, you probably got the supercharger for a reason and your going to stomp the gas pedal every chance you get which will have a huge effect on gas mileage.
There are some gimmicky products that claim to be superchargers and they will actually increase your gas mileage but they are not very good at all and really not even superchargers. They just create a more turbulent air flow pattern into the engine for a very minimal effect. You might have seen them go by the name of “Tornado”, but recently they have be marketed as cheap superchargers. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for.
Toyota Racing Development (TRD)
Toyota Supercharger
Of course TRD superchargers are made specifically for Toyota vehicles. They are designed and tested by Toyota engineers and are put through some of the toughest tests. Unlike a lot of aftermarket tuners that test horsepower gains on dynomometers under ideal, non-real-world conditions TRD sends it’s supercharged vehicles to an independent testing facility that made dyno runs under the scrutiny of SAE engineers. This type of testing is called SAE J1349 Surface Vehicle Certification and is used to determined each application’s horsepower in the exact same manner as manufacturers do when introducing a new vehicle to market.
Additionally, when installed by a Toyota dealer, the original vehicle powertrain warranty remains valid in every respect. With the complete TRD supercharger kit, you will experience a seamlessly integrated addition that delivers the best combination of power, throttle response and low-end torque for this size of engine. When installed at a Toyota dealership, TRD superchargers have no effect on the original warranty and are fully covered under the five-year or 60,000-mile Toyota powertrain warranty. The power is smooth across all RPM’s making an easy but powerful daily driver. Some aftermarket superchargers will require additional medications and might not meet emission regulations.
TRD superchargers are made to be reliable and very easy to install. TRD superchargers are belt driven from the crank, delivering more torque and horsepower from idle to redline. Unlike laggy exhaust-driven turbochargers, Toyota superchargers give you immediate throttle response.
Aftermarket Toyota Supercharger Companies
Since TRD builds a highly dependable unit, the aftermarket for superchargers on newer Toyota’s is very limited, but many drivers do prefer to certain types of units over others. For example, centrifugal-type superchargers offer a quieter ride, but are less dependable due to bearing wear. They are also mainly used on normal compression engines and do not have low-RPM boost. Up until 2008 The Scion had a centrifugal TRD supercharger, but production has been stopped.
Another reason it’s hard to find aftermarket vendors that sell superchargers for toyotas is because many tuners opt for turbo charging their rides. The biggest monster on the block is the Supra which can be pushed to over 1,000 horses with a twin Turbo. You will not be able to find a toyota supercharger for a Supra.
The best place to look for a Toyota supercharger is at the Toyota dealer for newer applications. For older models you have many choices. Ebay, Craigslist, Tuner forums all have great information about how to get a late model supercharger or TRD supercharger.