Does a cold air intake really change the sound of the car?

[nsphoto]

I read on a manufacturer's web site that the cold air intake will change the sound the engine makes. Is this true? How does it change the sound and why? Is there a way to avoid excessive noise from a cold air intake?

[zipdoa]

epic lulz.

It makes your car sound a little louder and your engine bay gains a 'spirited whisp' when the throttle is blipped.

overrated imo, i'm a lover of stock airboxes (on ze VW and ze AUDI vehicles anyway).

[Mr_ET]

it makes more noise and usually provided a slight power gain.

People install them for looks, the sound difference and of course the power gains.

The reason they gain power is because they offer less flow restrictions than the stock airbox as that was engineered to make the car quieter so it usually has additional resonators and the piping isn't as smooth. The filter is also usually enclosed whereas the CAI has an exposed filter which also generates more noise.

Honestly though man, I could see someone asking this question in 1996 but in 2009 that mod is fairly mainstream...

[rc2002]

Waste of money. You'll gain slight power in the top end, but you'll lose it in the low end where it's most usable.

There's a lot more cabin noise when you load up your engine at low rpm. The manufacturer of your car spent time designing intakes to minimize this noise - why replace it with a cheap piece of pipe and an oiled filter?

The oil from the filter gets drawn into the intake too. So you're coating the inside of your throttle body, intake manifold with oil, and burning some of it up in your engine. It could gum up your MAF sensor too if your car has one.

[89s1]

Originally posted by richardchan2002
Waste of money. You'll gain slight power in the top end, but you'll lose it in the low end where it's most usable.

There's a lot more cabin noise when you load up your engine at low rpm. The manufacturer of your car spent time designing intakes to minimize this noise - why replace it with a cheap piece of pipe and an oiled filter?

The oil from the filter gets drawn into the intake too. So you're coating the inside of your throttle body, intake manifold with oil, and burning some of it up in your engine. It could gum up your MAF sensor too if your car has one.

This reply is such horseshit.

Not only do you sound like a total wet blanket (yeah yeah, you're too old to mod cars we get it grandpa. Let the kids have some fun would ya')

But also, 95% of cold air intakes don't lose any power down low. You sound like a ricer from the 90's saying that.

[benyl]

CAI don't lose power down low.

Bigger diameter exhaust does.

Unless you have a fart can exhaust, most engine noise you hear in a car is from the intake. That is why, when you take away the resonator, it gets even louder.

[Toma]

Cold air kit can certainly lose power down low.. depends on the car, and the kits design. Seen them lose power EVERYWHERE as well..... have also seen kits advertised at 20 whp gain 1.5 hp.

Re the noise.... most factory systems have some sort of helmholtz resonator designed to quiet down induction noise.... the extra noise has nothing to do with more air being drawn in.

[Mibz]

I put a SRI in because I was fucking sick of unscrewing 10 bolts to access anything underneath my stock air box. Couldn't give a shit if I lost or gained 5 hp, I'm a happier man now.

[nsphoto]

Wow, a lot of varied opinions on CAI results. Ok, I don't want more cabin noise. Seems the 5 hp gain wouldn't be worth it.

[Pollywog]

Originally posted by nsphoto
Wow, a lot of varied opinions on CAI results. Ok, I don't want more cabin noise. Seems the 5 hp gain wouldn't be worth it.

It isn't a drastic change in sound, and if anything its only really noticeable, volume-wise, when full throttle and higher rpm range. But if you can't handle a little more noise to begin with, why even get the CAI? Thats a lot of money for a little benefit.

[Hatchback Hero]

Originally posted by Toma
have also seen kits advertised at 20 whp gain 1.5 hp.

That is because there is no replacement for displacement:thumbsup:

As far as the noise it's very subtle... Very very very subtle. Inside your car your not gonna hear it over the common road noise or a radio.

On the bright side most filters if not all for CAI don't need to be replaced like a conventional filter.

[rc2002]

Originally posted by Pollywog

It isn't a drastic change in sound, and if anything its only really noticeable, volume-wise, when full throttle and higher rpm range.

WOT and high rpm is already loud so relatively speaking it's not as loud. But at WOT and low rpm, it's a huge difference.



Originally posted by Hatchback Hero

As far as the noise it's very subtle... Very very very subtle. Inside your car your not gonna hear it over the common road noise or a radio.

On the bright side most filters if not all for CAI don't need to be replaced like a conventional filter.

It's quite subjective. I don't think the noise is subtle at all. It all depends on your car and on how sensitive you are to noise. I've ridden with some people who don't even notice when their car squeaks and rattles.

Even though they don't need replacing, they need cleaning and recharging (oiling).

[crez]

I don't know what some of you drive, but pretty much all intakes at WOT make substantially more noise in all vehicles i've owned or ridden in.

[jjmac]

Just installed my CAI (converted to short ram for now) and I don't notice much cabin noise difference, I hear the swoosh sound at around 3000rpm (when my windows are down) and a more aggressive low tone exhaust sound, maybe due to my air resonator being gone. Over all I'm happy with my purchase, just like what Mibz said, I was also sick of the hassle of cleaning my stock air box.