What is better for this and what are the pros cons?
Aftercooler vs intercooler and this is a daily driven car.

 

for a daily driver, i would go with an IC.

 

You need to have methanol injection up there too! Of your choices, intercooler for sure.

 

get the paxton intercooler if at all possible. I had one and made 400whp/400wtq on 8psi with a vortech s trim on stock motor...It also looks killer

 

intercooler is much cheaper than an aftercooler but I do like my setup though.

 

Intercooler seems like the better choice. Do brand names perform that much better opposed to DYI kits from ebay?

 

Intercooler FTW. A bar/plate intercooler is safest, easiest way to keep the IATs down especially for a DD. Once the water in the aftercooler gets hot, then its not really doing you any good. If it was a weekend racer, then I'd say either meth or an aftercooler and bring a few bags of ice with you to the track. There are a few guys on here that have had good success with the DIY kits on ebay. From what I've seen they may require a little modification, but will end up saving you a lot of money.

 

From my experience with Vortech, I have noticed that if you run a conservative boost level with a decent safe tune, you will not have to intercool it. If you end up going with a V3 Si-trim, the efficiency is even greater, than the earlier S-trim, so this may be even a better choice for applications not running an after/intercooler. Obviously, if you can run a cooler, there is a greater potential for making more power. It seems the battle of A/W vs. A/A cooler will go on forever with supporters and detractors for both. Personallly I prefer the air to water cooler for the street because of the lower pressure drop and more immediate boost response. Heat soak has not been an issue for me. If you want to get a non-cooled kit now to save a few bucks, you can do that and always buy a cooler later.

 

water will remain at a fairly constant heat level that is the point - which allows more boost and timing= more power. My aftercooler added approximately40 more rearwheel hp to my car.

 

most A/A 3 core intercoolers add about the same, or more. hell, meth gave me 40RWHP when i added that way back in the day.