Best Portable Tire Inflators for Your Car or Truck Improve airflow and gain a little performance with these air intake systems and filters. Injen IS Series Cold Air IntakeInjen IS Series Cold Air Intakefrom $144 BUY NOWBest for Honda/Acura/NissanPopular in the Japanese compact tuning scene, Injen offers a wide range of cold air intake systems designed to isolate your air filter from the heat of the engine compartment. Their aluminum plumbing is all mandrel-bent, and they are proud to say their systems are manufactured right here in the U.S.More: Best Aftermarket Car Alarm and Security Systems aFe Momentum Cold Air Intake KitaFe Momentum Cold Air Intake Kitfrom $375 BUY NOWBest for Trucks and SUVsThis high-flow intake system from aFe seems to get great praise from the truck and SUV sect. Its custom-formed factory-style airbox and plumbing make installation a snap, and thanks to a 47-percent increase in airflow, there are reasonable horsepower and torque gains to be had as well.

10 Powerful Car Battery Chargers (Because You Never Know When You'll Need One) 12 Best New Spoilers for Your Sports Car 11 Big Brake Kits to Help You Stop on a Dime 13 Great Performance Mufflers to Get the Most Out of Your Carair purifying plants for smoke The Best New Carbon Fiber Parts and Accessories for Lightweight Styleair purifier reviews uv The Best Performance Tires as Seen on Your Favorite Sports Carsbest air purifier china 12 Best Fog Lights for Your Car or Truck 11 Lightweight Racing Seats for Your Sports Car Auto Parts A to Z: A Beginner's Guide to What Makes Your Car Tick Complete and Comprehensive Turbo Kits for Your Car or Truck 13 Best Coilover Suspension Kits for Your German Sports Sedan

Published Are you looking to soup up your car, make it more powerful, or simply help it run more efficiently? There are plenty of aftermarket products you can buy that will help you make the desired modifications to your vehicle. One that is particularly worth knowing about is the cold air intake.The cold air intake is somewhat unique among aftermarket products. Compared to most, it is both fairly inexpensive and also fairly easy to install. But is it worth the time and the money? We’ll explain what it does and how might it impact the operation of your vehicle. Your car already has a factory-installed air intake system, but sometimes it can get clogged. Think of this like a common cold, which clogs your sinuses and makes it difficult for you to breath. Of course, if you tried to run 5K in this state, it probably wouldn’t work very well. Along the same lines, trying to run your car while the air intake system is clogged can lead to problems and decreased functionality.Cold air intakes address this problem.

Think of it like the world’s most amazing cold medicine. It breaks down those clogs and allows your car to “breath” normally again and run as intended.When you install a cold air intake, you move the air filter outside of the engine compartment so that cool air can be sucked into the engine for combustion. This cool air is denser with oxygen, which means there is more fuel for combustion and more power for your vehicle. Your cold air intake also makes for freer airflow and less hot air building up in the engine compartment.There are other benefits, too. An aftermarket cold air intake removes the need for a box to encompass the air filter, replacing it with smoother intake tubes. This allows the engine to have an uninterrupted air flow.But will a cold air intake enhance the performance of your vehicle? The short answer is yes, although the way in which your engine performance improves may vary. Improved horsepower and fuel efficiency are both possible, though not guaranteed; it just depends on your vehicle, the aftermarket product and the way that you drive.

However, an aftermarket cold air intake can’t help but improve airflow and general vehicle performance.It is important to note that cold air intakes are strictly aftermarket products. For assistance installing or maintaining an aftermarket product of any kind, you’ll likely need to like your local Meineke Car Care Center. A trusted technician can help you make the decision of whether or not to invest in a cold air intake.Car-X Tire & Auto Or Request An Appointment Online Cold air intakes are like a breath of fresh air that will get your engine pumping. You car receives cold filtered air delivered right to your throttle, boosting your vehicle’s performance with more horsepower, torque and fuel economy. Your Car-X Man is a cold air intake expert. When you call on Car-X to install your cold air intake, you can relax in comfort knowing that they have the knowledge and experience to do the job professionally. In fact, our certified technicians bring over three decades of experience with them in complete auto repair on most cars, vans, SUVs and light trucks, both foreign and domestic.

The best cold air intakes can achieve fuel savings of up to 4 miles per gallon and a gain of 16 horsepower to the wheels of most V6 cars. Your Car-X Man can make sure you’re getting the cold air intake system that gets the best results for your year, make and model vehicle. If it’s performance you want, it’s performance you get at Car-X. So stop by today or schedule an appointment online and give your mean machine more power with a cold air intake system. And breathe easy knowing that you got it installed at Car-X. For expert custom car care…”Don’t Worry. . .Call The Car-X Man!” Coupons accepted at this address: My Vehicle is Broken My Vehicle Needs MaintenanceThere are two main types of intake systems available for a car or truck. There is the short ram intake and the cold air intake. We always get the question of which is better, which makes more power, which is easier to install, and which sounds the best. Of course, this varies for every car and every different setup, but we'll tackle this question below and hopefully this article can help you better understand the differences between each setup, and the pros and cons to each as well.

A cold air intake is designed to drawn in as much cold air as possible, giving it the name cold air intake. Some people also call it a cool air intake, because it's design is such that it places the air filter as far away from the heat of the engine as possible. A cold air intake usually is placed in the fender of a car, under one of the sides of the engine, or somewhere behind the engine depending on the engine design and fitment possibilities. Due to the intake having more piping, the cold air is usually more expensive, and more difficult to install. Part of the cost is also the research and development that goes into each intake to make sure that the intake performs properly. Since this intake has more piping length and bends, the manufacture needs to be sure that the air/fuel ratio remains in safe levels, which takes a lot of testing and development. Another key take away is that since the air filter is farther away from the heat of the engine, your car is less likely to be affected when your radiator fan flips on.

On some setups, the intake is near the radiator fan, so when the fan turns on and blows heat away from the radiator, it might blow the air right into your intake, causing poor performance. A short ram intake is the most popular type of intake on the market. This intake is designed to simply replace your factory intake with a new smooth pipe and an open element air filter. Due to this, the cost is less than a cold air, and also is much easier to install. Since the intake is in the same location as your factory intake system, it's design allows for engine heat to have an easier path into your intake system, creating less horsepower and torque than an equivalent cold air intake. In the picture on the right, you see a short ram intake setup on a BMW M5. This car is a dual intake setup, so this particular intake kit comes with two pipes and two air filters. Some people also like the short ram intake better due to the looks of the kit since the air filters are in the engine bay. Why doesn't my car have the option for a cold air intake?

When a manufacture builds an intake for a car, they typically test all available options. In their testing, sometimes the cold air intake either doesn't add more power over a short ram, or doesn't add enough to justify a price difference. In rare cases, a cold air might decrease power due to the maf sensor or another intake design that doesn't work well with your particular vehicle. In these cases, the manufacture will only have a short ram intake available. Some intakes come with a heat shield. Is this worth it?If a heat shield is available for your aftermarket intake system, we recommend to get it. Usually this allows a short ram intake to make more power, since it blocks off some engine heat from reaching your open element air filter. I have seen intake scoops, do these help? How about ram air? These help as long as the design is executed well. You'll see some race cars have intake scoops that scoop air from the bottom of the car, or the front of the bumper routing into the air filter.

This allows more cool air to reach your air filter which creates more power. A ram air works about the same way. A true ram air forces air direct into your air filter, which gives your car more power since it essentially turns your intake into a cold air intake. In the picture on the right, you can see how the air filters are surrounded by a shroud. When the hood closes, it seals this shroud, creating a blocked off ram intake. Are short ram intakes with an air box worth it? Some manufactures have intakes that include an aftermarket performance air box. This typically has much higher flow than the stock air box and allows your air filter to get more air. These are good for engine bays that don't allow for a heat shield, and have a problem of the radiator fan circulating hot air around the engine compartment. What is heat soak? Heat soak is when your intake piping becomes so hot, the piping heats up the air going into your engine, decreasing engine performance. A good intake system is built from material such as aluminum that doesn't allow the piping to get hot enough to hurt performance.

Why are some intakes so much cheaper than others? Is there really a difference? Many people think that an intake is an intake, and you should get one that is cheap since they all perform the same. This is far from the truth. Over the years, we have seen many people use cheap short ram intakes or cheap cold air intakes that actually hurt horsepower. Their design is simply a pipe with a cheap filter, and since it has no testing, the design doesn't ensure that your air/fuel mixture remains in the proper range to allow your car to take advantage of the extra air flow, and instead this sends your computer into defense mode and it pulls back timing which hurts your performance. A quality intake is more expensive because the manufacture invests lots of time and money to ensure that when you put the intake on your car, the design, size of the piping, length of the piping, thickness of the metal, and the quality of the air filter is good enough to put their name on it. The air filter is a key component.

It requires a good design because it's supposed to allow more air flow, but capture as much or more dirt from entering your engine. It's actually difficult to allow more air flow, but catch dust and dirt particles. Cheap intakes allow many more particles through that overtime can damage your engine, clog your sensors, and cause many other problems. Why are some intakes smog legal but others are not? Some manufactures make it an effort to have their intake tested by CARB (California Air Resources Board) to have it certified as smog legal. This is an expensive test, so not everyone does it. Smog legal intakes come with a sticker so that law enforcement knows your intake is smog legal, and you do not have a problem during smog time.Do I need an air-bypass valve? Hydro lock is usually not an issue, but it can happen in some rare cases. Hydro-lock occurs when your cold air intake gets submerged in water, and your engine intakes water, causing engine damage. This can and has happened in the past, but it's usually an extreme case.

An air bypass valve installs in the middle of your cold air intake, so if this happens to you, the higher pressure of the air coming into the air bypass valve wouldn't allow water to enter your engine. Some cold air intakes also convert into a short ram intake, so if you are worried about hydro-lock, we recommend to switch to a short ram intake during raining season or other conditions that may cause your air filter to be submerged in water, or water splashed up on your air filter. I want a supercharger, turbo or nitrous. Which intake should I get now? If you are going to go forced induction later, we recommend to wait on the intake. Just about every supercharger or turbo setup requires a different intake due to differences in the location of your throttle body, or other changes. A turbo setup is completely different, and you would need a special intake that comes with your turbo kit since it changes all of your intake plumbing and requires your intake to connect directly to the turbo.