Opinions on Steel VS Titanium Valve Spring Retainers

[VT_4G63]

I've read through various threads on here (which are pretty old at this point), along with others pertaining to other platforms in other forums and I haven't really been able to get a straight answer as to when steel or titanium valve spring retainers should be used.

Obviously titanium retainers are lighter than steel and are able to be revved higher, but are they less strong or more prone to wear?

I've read that steel retainers are better suited to a daily driven vehicle and titanium retainers are more geared toward high-revving track vehicles, but I'm not sure if this was or is still the case.

I'm currently building the head in the 7-Bolt engine in my Spyder GST and have been going back and forth as to what retainers to run. I plan on driving the car a lot (but not a daily) and it won't see the track. I have a set of BC valve springs with steel retainers and was going to run those, but am wondering if I should have opted for titanium retainers instead.

Please let me know your opinions/thoughts on the steel vs. titanium valve spring retainer debate.

 

[92AWDHX40]

You probably won't find a straight answer it'll come down to you really..

 

[jdxnc]

I only personally have experience with steel but also have a relatively high revving setup.

I started out with Kiggly steel street springs/retainers but as my setup grew I was advised by Kiggly Racing as an option to upgrading to the High pressure variant which is the same spring but with Ti retainers and a shim under the seat that I could simply add the shim and the lack of the Ti retainer would be very minimal and ok for my setup. I'm running out to 8800-9000 on my built 2.0L without issue.

Of course it will also be dependent on what cams you have and the boost level you intend to run.

 

[donniekak]

We rarely float valves because of rpm. We float valves from exhaust back pressure.

I ran some shimmed bc springs with stock retainers out to 9200 regularly. I had no issues until I put on a smaller turbo and tried to crank it up. With the smaller 30r it would float valves around 30psi. The larger turbo in a larger exhaust housing was fine at 40psi.

I try to always use steel retainers in a street car. I’ve seen more than a few titanium retainers get the locks pulled straight through them if they aren’t replaced every so often.

 

[jed344]

I do not recall ever having an issue with either on anything from stock to bc, to all 3 kiggly options. Think the ones with TI right now all have kiggly high pressure or more for springs. We started to tulip factory valves on one with high pressures before an issue with the keepers. So for most I wouldn’t worry about steel. The car we had valve issues was stock valves with 150k miles with a 10:1 6466 at 40+psi banging limiter at 9250. So we learned then about stock valve limits. Most springs and especially kiggly high or race only our head guy makes sure he gets installed height correct as I have seen issues with that being wrong doing damage.

 

[DSMPT]

There are pros, cons and preferences, so it depends how you want. But if you would stay with the stock cams ~ common 264~272 range cams and would like to lighten the valvetrain components, going with the EVO8+ stock beehive springs and duralumin retainers would be one of the best ways and probably the cheapest and lightest way.
The EVO8+ stock duralumin retainer is even lighter than common aftermarket Ti retainers. A EVO 8+ retainer weights only 3.9g~4.0g while a common aftermarket Ti retainer usually weights somewhere between 7g~10g and pre EVO 7 retainer weights approx 14.5g. And the EVO 8+ beehive spring is about 15g lighter than pre EVO 7 spring.