Cold Air Intake hogwash

[Whaler27]

Cold air intakes and less restrictive filters are two different animals. Yes, both get more air into the engine. The big question is can the PCM and accompanying sensors compensate for the added air and provide sufficient fuel to create more power? Is the exhaust system capable of handling the increased volumetric efficiency? I don’t know the answers to those questions, but they need to figured out before dumping a bunch of money on these “upgrades”.

The other factor that many miss is the loading rate. Some of the least restrictive filters load to the point of excessive restriction two or three times faster than the OEM paper filters — so if the engine is built to the point where it burns enough fuel to make a difference, one day in the dust can reduce the “easy-breathing” filter to the point where is provides more restriction than the OEM filter that was in the same dust.

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[kah.mun.rah]

IMO a filter is a filter and my Jeep will be traded in, wrecked, or stolen before any long-term advantages or consequences become reality by using one filter vs another. Same goes with the brand of oil I use.

 

[Remorseless]

IMO a filter is a filter and my Jeep will be traded in, wrecked, or stolen before any long-term advantages or consequences become reality by using one filter vs another. Same goes with the brand of oil I use.

Amsoil demands you take that back or be excommunicated

 

[c20040215]

My factory hot air intake works fine for 8 years. It will continue to work fine for another 8.

 

[yokramer]

IMO a filter is a filter and my Jeep will be traded in, wrecked, or stolen before any long-term advantages or consequences become reality by using one filter vs another. Same goes with the brand of oil I use.

I bought the K&N washable no oil filter because Ive always used AEM dry flow filters and the only option was the K&N version. Being able to just blow it out and wash it and slap it back in is nice and the AEM has always made a quality filter.

 

[WXman]

K&N filters are notorious for letting anything and everything pass through. I wouldn't be surprised to find small birds and gravel laying in the airbox. That Project Farm video where he tested air filters was eye opening. I always knew K&N filters were worthless, but man that video was wild. Might as well not even run a filter.

What I've always found funny is that these CAI manufacturers claim "better MPG!" on their advertising. Modern EFI engines are programmed to keep that stoichiometric ratio where it's happy. So IF you increase the volume of air, you will by default increase the volume of fuel. It is impossible to get better MPG with a CAI.

I will admit, they sound good though! I had a CAI on my first P-star engine in my 2012 JKU and it sounded like a souped-up Nissan GTR.

 

[Oletimer]

I had a 79 ford f150 with a 351 Cleveland, Holly double pumper, headers and orange peelers . i ran the passenger side air-conditioning duct thru a over size pipe thru firewall into a cone shaped K &N the engine could suck its own air or I could crank the ac up on high and close the other vents .
you could absolutely feel the difference in the seat of your pants on a hot Florida day. that low humidity cool air made it come alive.

other than that , no cold air intake has done any much for me.

 

[Operative73]

I don't do it for some performance increase which I really don't think there is any. I do it for two reasons, 1 I can clean the filter and re-oil it and put it back in instead of buying new ones 2 when the oil change place or the mechanic sees it they don't even ask me if they want my oil filter replaced.

 

[Terrymo]

I bought the K&N washable no oil filter because Ive always used AEM dry flow filters and the only option was the K&N version. Being able to just blow it out and wash it and slap it back in is nice and the AEM has always made a quality filter.

Being able to open the box of a new OEM filter and slapping it in without blowing it out and washing it is nicer.

 

[Andy@AAV]

I love when a CAI/tuner/exhaust manufacturer shows a dyno graph with X more HP/TQ at or above redline. Usually they don't show the idle to 2k RPM part of the graph where you see the lost HP/TQ where you normally drive.

Using a KN or other oiled filter is great until you have to replace the MAF sensor because it's coated in oil and no longer works.

With the marketability of MPG/HP numbers these days or the cost of missing CAFE numbers all manufacturers will spend the relatively small amount of extra $ to make stock intakes and filters perform at ideal levels.

 

[croppz]

I love when a CAI/tuner/exhaust manufacturer shows a dyno graph with X more HP/TQ at or above redline. Usually they don't show the idle to 2k RPM part of the graph where you see the lost HP/TQ where you normally drive.

Using a KN or other oiled filter is great until you have to replace the MAF sensor because it's coated in oil and no longer works.

With the marketability of MPG/HP numbers these days or the cost of missing CAFE numbers all manufacturers will spend the relatively small amount of extra $ to make stock intakes and filters perform at ideal levels.

This. All of this.

 

[Prot]

You get a performance increase due to your wallet being lighter.

 

[ObiMatt87]

All I will say is that I tried one for a period of time and the primary thing I got was more noise. Perhaps a tiny bit of extra response, but for me it was definitely not worth the drone. This subject has been debated many times on this forum, and the overall consensus has been it is not worth it and really does little that is measurable performance-wise.

 

[Prot]

Something that I don’t think anyone mentioned regarding a snorkel, that actually decreases responsiveness due to excessively long tubing..

 

[alphawolff]

A story I love to tell is back in the 00s a team were racing Mazda RX-8s out on the salt flats. The factory intake is fantastic, and all they could find for improvement was swapping out the air filter for a performance variety. The performance filter consistently dyno'd ~1% HP higher than the factory one. This upgrade barely lasted a season as they suddenly started losing engines to sand ingestion.

Anyway, performance filters allow higher air flow. This means more contaminants can enter the engine. The only real performance upgrade on modern vehicles is upgrading to a "ram air" style intake, and the performance gains are ONLY present near red line. This is simply because you're allowing maximum airflow into the engine at the expense of noise. In many cases you actually LOSE power at normal daily driving RPM levels due to inefficient intake paths.

If you're interested in an intake modification, you should be doing it primarily for the induction sound they generally provide rather than any actual performance benefit. If you drive in harsh conditions avoid it all together. Never use a wet filter; they cause issues for daily driven vehicles due to particle accumulation/oil ingestion.

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