For my riding style, Pro-X or WSM. What do I actually NEED?

[gt2003]

I've got two 2002 GTI LE's and I'm replacing the top end on both of them after we bought them with water damaged cylinders. I'm planning to send off the used cylinders that I buy to fullboreonline and have them bore and hone the cylinders and fit pistons to them. I hear and read SO MANY differing opinions on what pistons will work/are best/will fail or not fail etc. What I THINK I've read is that provided I have a stock motor and use the ski's for casual/fun riding then I can go with the WSM's (I'll splurge and go with the platinum coated ones). But, i've also had other people say go with the Pro-X pistons no matter what or you'll be sorry. So, here are my questions:

1. Has anyone here had any personally witnessed failures of the WSM's when used in the above application, stock motor, casual riding etc?

2. Is it at all beneficial to go with the Pro-X pistons if I'm not going to use the ski's for racing/super hard riding conditions? I mean, I can spend the $80 extra bucks per ski on them if they really are that beneficial but obviously, with having to redo both ski's, I'd rather not if it's not necessary.

3. I'm going to rent a needle bearing removal tool to remove the current pistons. Since the new ones will have caged bearings (right?), will I need this tool to replace them or not?

I think that's all the questions for now. I'll post more if I think of something. Thanks in advance. I used the search function but didn't find anything that answered these questions.

 

[Dennis]

I've overhauled alot of seadoo engines over the last 15 years and have used the same machine shop for boring. The guy that does the boring says that the PRO X pistons are of superior quality over others because that they have such a uniform size coming out of the factory. Each new piston has to be measured before the cylinder can be bored.
PRO X is all I ever use and I don't engine problems later. They're worth every penny of the extra money. Good luck.
P.S. I don't think the piston kits come with new bearings. The new bearings will be caged and you don't need a tool to install them.

 

[brandon32689]

im going to do a top end on my skis over the winter just cause compression is getting ready for it and i am thinking about using the same thing,

 

[Kozerxp]

I have a 2000 xp and I did the top end just before last season and already logged about 30hrs on it and have not had and problems with WSM pistons I put in it really comes down to the machine shop if they bore the cyl wrong (to big to tight) it don't matter what piston is installed it's gonna fail and I ride my ski like I stole it so in my opinion save the money or spend it on other upgrades you wanted to do

 

[Minnetonka4me]

Its the uniform size thing...a bore guy can count on them being the same every time vs. WSM that need to be measured every time and matched to the cyl. Otherwise they are basically the same.

 

[gt2003]

Thanks for the input. I'm going to pack and ship my cylinders to them this weekend. I ordered the WSM platinum coated pistons and rented the circlip install tool for the new pistons and the needle pin bearing removal tool to get the old ones off so I'm not chasing needle bearings for the next week!

My old pistons (2002 GTI LE's) have quite a bit of carbon build up on them. What causes this?