The best part about Waterfest isn’t always about the show cars or the drag racing, but the tuners that come to support the event every year.

This year, there were plenty of new parts and tuner cars to check out. Companies like Unitronic, C2 Motorsport, fifteen52, North American Motorsport, Nitto Tire, H2Sport, Ross-Tech and more exhibited fantastic booths. Stay tuned for our full tuner report in the October issue of et. Here is a quick taste of some of our new favorite tuner parts.

One of the most popular products on display was Black Forest Industries’ new side-mount intercoolers for the VW Mk4 1.8T. The stock intercooler on the 1.8T is a major cause of heat soak resulting in lost horsepower. The BFI side-mount uses a 4.5” thick core which reduces intake temps but also doesn’t drop pressure. The intercooler retains the factory location and doesn’t require much labor to install - the perfect modification for the GTI or Jetta owner that doesn’t want to worry about a full front-mount setup.

Making the journey from the West Coast, Kinetic Motorsport introduced the hardware for its newest 1.8T turbo kit. You can buy any part piece by piece or get the whole kit with the 50-trim turbocharger. The expected release date is mid-September for all the hardware. If 1.8T isn’t your engine of choice, Kinetic also introduced turbo kits for the 24v VR6 and Mk4 R32. Both kits use a larger 67-trim turbo and are expected to make between 325-350whp.

If OE Euro parts is what you’re after, you should have stopped by TMTuning’s booth. Filled with rare parts such as S3 engine covers, Euro bumper conversions, R-Line gear and OE lighting, their booth was always packed. One of our favorite products was the Gas Lock shift knob which displays the gear selection on the knob. Other interesting parts included Bora R fog lights and Audi S6 LED daytime running lights.

Spec Clutches came out in full force with a display of their aftermarket clutches and flywheels. Attendees could take a look and weigh the differences between an OE flywheel compared to a lightweight Spec. There was also various clutches on display from street to race stages. Whether you drive a 1.8T, 2.0T or VR6, Spec covers most modern Audi/VW applications with more products coming soon such as their dual clutch assemblies.