LT Motorsports (Treadstone) FMIC Review

[projectTVMK7]

After searching for weeks on which FMIC to buy, I decided to purchase the LT Motorsports FMIC based on the fact that it is supposed to be a full bolt-on affair without needing to drill into the front bumper support. The performance also didn't seem too far off from other FMIC concerning IATs and pressure drop.

A couple pictures of the intercooler as received:

The install was pretty straightforward, but I ran into a few fitment issues.
*NOTE* I applaud LT Motorsports for being super responsive and trying to help me with the fitment problems, but I just want to report these issues to help anyone else who may run into these problems while installing this intercooler.

I had everything installed loose before tightening down all the bolts and clamps, but I still encountered the issues in the pictures below.

One of the mounting holes in both the driver and passenger side brackets do not line up with the stock screw hole. I had to enlarge the mounting hole on the brackets to make it line up.

My second issue is that the intercooler sits too close to the front bumper support and the corners of the intercooler rub against it. I ended up trimming a small area of the front bumper support to avoid any contact between the corners of the intercooler.
I followed suggestions from LT Motorsports to push the intercooler back a bit, but one corner of the intercooler still makes contact with the bumper support.

My final issue is that there is very little room for error in this install because of the size of the intercooler. I had to make multiple adjustments to the intercooler position for the front bumper to fit back on. I ended up removing and installing the front bumper so many times that I can do it my sleep lol

Here are a few datalogs with the intercooler installed. I ran these pulls in 3rd gear back to back.
Mods: stock intake with AFE drop in filter, CTS downpipe, LT Motorsports FMIC, MAPerformance stage 2 OTS map, 91 oct

Run 1
Run 2
Run 3

UPDATE: Final thoughts after getting some feedback from other owners of this FMIC: Quality product and great customer service from LT Motorsports, but be aware of a couple of potential fitment issues for 2017 or newer cars.

 

[Stija]

Do you have any data logs from before this install to compare with old ic performance?

Personally I am not impressed with what I see. I have a top mount on a diff car and I see min deltas of 2-4F constantly on a 65F day. With heat soak I can bring it within 10F by rowing thru 2 and 3 gears.

On a day like today 60F I rolled on hwy at +6F over ambient out of boost.

 

[projectTVMK7]

Do you have any data logs from before this install to compare with old ic performance?

I should have taken some datalogs of the stock IC before I installed this, but unfortunately I did not.

 

[Stija]

I should have taken some datalogs of the stock IC before I installed this, but unfortunately I did not.

Yea I didn’t either. Wish I had. Then I’d know how much the 800$ I spent really improved things. Too eager to install and tune lol

 

[MyGolfMk7]

Final thoughts: Quality product and great customer service from LT Motorsports, but fitment issues keep it from being a must buy.

The only tweaking I needed to do with this FMIC was to also modify the holes in the brackets. I didn't encounter any of the other fitment issues.

 

[projectTVMK7]

The only tweaking I needed to do with this FMIC was to also modify the holes in the brackets. I didn't encounter any of the other fitment issues.

It might just be my car, but I spent a lot of time making adjustments to the intercooler to try to get it to sit correctly and never got the desired position.

 

[billbadass]

it's super interesting to me that all the FMICs I see don't outperform the logs I've seen from the IE and APR stock location intercoolers.

 

[El_bigote_AJ]

it's super interesting to me that all the FMICs I see don't outperform the logs I've seen from the IE and APR stock location intercoolers.

Why is that interesting? Lol. It’s really not even surprising, I have this kit and as a consumer and I’m sure even the designers of front mounts one of the fundamental reasons for a front mount kits is the install factor, you’re literally only getting the advantage of being in front of a 1” ac condenser core VS stock location when not considering the easier install factor. Also the personal preference of some that it just looks cool being visible.

Not even using a log as reference stock location aftermarket intercoolers have the Ability of Being constructed with larger cores of course they will perform better in regarded to lower IAT... pushing the core towards the front of the car 5-6 inches won’t make up for that.

 

[El_bigote_AJ]

I have this kit and didn’t encounter either of the issues during install. From the time of getting the car on stands and putting the wheels back on the ground it took all of 2.5 hours working alone. I wonder if the Mount holes are not in the same location, Ie: their drilling JIG shifted.

when it was much hotter out my IATs were 8-12 over Ambient above 5k but I’ve noticed now with it being in the 50s out the logs are showing 20 over ambient above 5k ??‍

 

[swcrow]

it's super interesting to me that all the FMICs I see don't outperform the logs I've seen from the IE and APR stock location intercoolers.

Just curious, but what FMIC true logs have you seen? This isn't too stir up yet another FMIC vs stock convo, but I'm interested in which FMIC logs you've seen proving otherwise

 

[Mk7gtifl]

In the Florida brutal summer I wrote down IATs before and after installing this intercooler every day when I went to lunch using the highs and lows on the access-port, registered after driving around 15 minutes grabbing my lunch and turning turning back to work with the AC on, the ambient with the stock intercooler used to creep to the mid 160s and the lowest I saw on over 20 lbs of boost coming back was 134 degrees but mostly around 140, after the install with similar ambient (100 degrees) after driving 15 minutes the IATs went to low150s so a difference about 12 degrees constantly when park after a 15 minutes drive, that tells me that not being sandwiched the iats will be lowered when you run the car back on, I saw IATs getting to 115s at boost, again this is with ambient reading between 100 and 102s. In the other hand after my commute in the afternoon the lowest IATs were around 19 over ambient. Overall it’s been between 15 to 25 better than the stock, might not be the best but I take it, bot needing to take the whole front apart I can take not being as efficient, btw I didn’t have any issues on the install whatsoever, maybe this was done on a Monday. I will say this is a great intercooler for a stage 2 and even an is38, but if you are looking for over 400 hp you should get a better option.

 

[jimlloyd40]

Just curious, but what FMIC true logs have you seen? This isn't too stir up yet another FMIC vs stock convo, but I'm interested in which FMIC logs you've seen proving otherwise

Here's a link to some IC tests. Just click on hardware and he tested some different ones.

http://mygolfmk7.com/mk7-gti-turbochargers/

 

[swcrow]

Here's a link to some IC tests. Just click on hardware and he tested some different ones.

http://mygolfmk7.com/mk7-gti-turbochargers/

Thanks! So according to his testing, only slightly less efficient in certain situations

 

[projectTVMK7]

I may have found the reason why I had fitment issues with this intercooler. According to this thread Baun FMIC install guide, the AC condenser for 2017 and newer GTI's are different from the older models. This revised version of the AC condenser may be the reason why one of the mounting bracket holes don't line up and why the intercooler is making contact with the front bumper support.

Anyone else with 2017 or newer cars that had fitment issues with the LT Motorsports FMIC?

On the bright side, the performance of the intercooler has been good and it looks cool

 

[El_bigote_AJ]

2019, no issues with the bracket mounting holes. yeah i love the look of it and prefer the way the treadstone inlet and outlet are at the bottom and keep the pipes hidden from a straight on view.