Cooling Mist versus Snow Performance

mituc

mituc

Greenie N00B Member
Greenie Member
I need a WMI kit for my CX7 and initially I wanted to get another Cooling Mist Stage2+CMGS as I have in my 3MPS. But the Cooling Mist site seems to be on its way out, Stratified doesn't list these kits any more but they list Snow Performance.
The equivalent for what I have on my gen1 speed3 would be a Snow Performance stage2 or 2.5 but I wonder how reliable these kits are. I never had an issue with the CM kit in the last 4 years so I'm in the market for something similar install-and-forget-you-have-it.

Did anyone have the chance to evaluate these kits and can throw some info in here?

TIA!
 
I have not ran either of those, but I looked into all of them very in-depth and recently installed the AEM kit. Really nice all around.

I think overall these kits are very similar and all will do well with a good install

the CMGS is kinda neat in how it learns the pump amperage or whatever and uses that as a failsafe measure

Both snow and AEM don't have a real failsafe mechanism, other than some basics like electrical short etc. Both have add on flowmeters and stuff, but they add some of their own issues...

Snow stage 2 controller is intended to be mounted somewhere in the engine bay, set and forget. 2.5 serves as the controller and a boost/wmi gauge. AEM has a controller with knobs and intended to be store inside like the glove compartment.

Snow stage 2 and AEM have multi input controller which just lets you tap into MAF or existing MAP sensor etc. Stage 2.5 and normal AEM kit you have to run a vac line to the controller.

I feel like I'm rambling a bit, but I think the biggest diff is in the controllers... all use quality components that will work well and last assuming it's a solid install. I got the multi input AEM so I just could just tap into my existing MAP signal and I could better correlate datalog MAP sensor data vs when pump is kicking in etc. I also didn't want a gauge as a controller....set, forget, store in glove box. It does have the option for an external LED which can be nice to make sure it's coming as expected and will flash if there's any error codes or tank is low, etc.

Interesting observation on CM though... I think that was strat's favorite kit for a long time. I wonder if they are indeed on their way out or what happened there.
 
CMGS while cool on paper, didn't work so great in the real world in my experience.

It stores a table for pump amps vs rpm, but to fill that table you have to either A - use the auto learn feature which will NEVER FILL THE TABLE, or B - fill each flow range manually. The problem with filling the table manually is that you have to run the system at various flow rates, but your car can't just be turned off as that'll fuck with the pump amps/voltage. If I had a dyno then I could've done a better job at filling the table at various RPMs, instead I had to settle with revving the piss out of my car in neutral in my driveway while my neighbors looked at me like I'm a fucking asshole. The result? The system would work great until upper RPMs and then it would read over_current and turn itself off. Great job for a failsafe to kick in and halt flow right?

The new new new Snow controller is damn near an exact copy of the CMGS, being that it is a voltage/amp based monitoring system. Seeing as it's from Snow, I'm sure it'll just stop working and require you to fuck around with it to adjust it correctly and while you're doing that, whatever knob will strip out and Snow will be like "you'll have to purchase a new piece of shit from us guy."

Fuck Snow. Seriously. All of their products are straight junk. Nozzles are stupidly designed and every single one I owned, clogged. At least CoolingMist had nice nozzles that never clogged and their tech support guy returned my emails the same day.

If I were doing a methanol setup again, I would keep it as simple as possible. Boost referenced hobbs switch, pump, solenoid, nozzle, and AN fittings for lines, done.
 
aaronc7 said:
Let us know what you decide on..... I just can't leave things alone and been thinking about a cheap system for the ST
Click to expand...

I am still thinking but most probably I will go with a Snow Performance stage2 (the 2.5 would be a similar product with the CM stage2, but I decided I don't want any gauges in the cabin this time). Stage1 is more of an on/off controller and I don't want that: it's hard to tune the MAF for it and if the system is triggered by hitting the activation boost pressure I'd like it to spray just a bit, not full.

A Devil's Own stage2 kit with a DVC-30 controller may work as well.
 
i used aquamist, its pretty neat with its failsafe. but i have to sell it lol
my frined had the snow performance vc30 or something, boost gauge controller, its works....... "okay" then its gonna have some random issue like it wont max spray at certain set psi we dont know why, and even with snow flow sensor, that thing, OMG, went thru two of those, first one just failed, second one is shorting inside????? and before he had the new controller of snow he had the knob stage 2 controller boost reference that will just stop spraying, he went thru 2 of those and when it broke, ask snow performance for replacement and told him they wont replace it and just buy the new controller. which he did and hence it broke....
by the way the wiring is legit clean with all fuse and soldered/protected, tested continuity in each wire, check all grounds but in the end the snow products are just not as great, stick with labonte or aquamist. we had build motor so we handled when it started leaning out but with stock engine it wont last
 
I don't want to sound like a broken record, but definitely give AEM an honest look. I didn't even consider them a serious contender (maybe they were late to the game?), but the more i looked into, the more I like it. Haven't found a single thing I don't like about it yet. It's actually fairly cheap and I don't think you're going to really get a much better kit until you go up to aquamist and 2x the cost.
 
aaronc7 said:
I don't want to sound like a broken record, but definitely give AEM an honest look.
Click to expand...
I tuned a guy in New Zeeland and he had an AEM controller. He had to replace it eventually because it was leaking inside. Once he replaced it the fuelling became more predictive and we managed to extract 400hp from his BNR S3 powered stock block, but to be honest these controllers which tend to forget how much is full duty cycle or totally stop spraying randomly are not something that I'm after. On my car (a CX7) I'm going to use it for a slight power increase, bot the other car I want to use on is a stock block which we want to push to 410-420bhp so we're going to rely on the fuelling a lot.

Ok, this is going to be a hard one with Cooling Mist going off of the market...
 
If you are willing to go used, you might be able to snag an HFS-4 from an EVO or WRX part out for a decent price. I am running the CMGS, and like the controller better than the Devil's Own I had before it. I have a NIB HFS-4v3 awaiting my next vehicle.

The issues I have read about for Snow is from melting controllers, the MPG-MAX controllers.

If you compare the Aquamist to the AEM and Coolingmist for what they come with, and not just the base price, you might find that the Aquamist isn't as expensive as it seems.
 
I'm kind of set to go with AEM V2 boost based.
The system is relatively simple, they have 1 gallon tanks which is convenient for what I want to do, and so on.
 
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