Can anyone explain to me what

Bar and plate obviously uses a bar and plate style cooling system which tends to direct air through the intercooler. These i/c's are said to have very good cooling properties, but are down on flow. You can identify these by the large angled plates on the front of the cooler. Tube and fin (what a majority of people use) look like a radiator or an air-con condenser (I don't know how many times I have been asked why my radiator is sitting in line with the bumper!), use small tubes to transport the air, and thin alloy fins for cooling. These i/c's are probably not as efficient as a bar and plate in regards to cooling, but flow (cfm) a lot more. All this of course, dpends of the initial design of the unit.

Feel free to correct me/add to my comments....anyone?

Might give you a bit of an idea anyway.

Leigh

Another advantage of tube and fin is that they get better air flow through the core on the outside (if that makes any sense). This is handy if you're cooler is in front of the radiator as it doesn't block as much air from the radiator.

And they are also much cheaper