re: Cold air intakes on cars

Waste of money in most cases

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As a gearhead I love the...throttle response that comes with installing a cold air intake

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but I know that it’s honestly a waste of money

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awesome

Most cars will see a small benefit, but not all. Stock intakes are designed for emissions and sound deadening. A properly designed cai can give you a little bump in response and power. A tune with a CAI will give you a bigger bump.

Not all cars will see an appreciable difference and some cars will have a well designed stock intake to the point that an after market cai may even be a performance downgrade.

The stock intake system on my car is good enough that most aftermarket solutions don't make any noticeable difference. Just changed mine to a higher quality filter.

Mine was modified when I purchased it. It sounded awesome and I think performance was a little better. I couldn’t stand to look at the ugly job the previous owner did on it so I took it to the Audi dealership and had them switch it back to stock. I do like the exhaust mod that was done so I let that be.

You even jet car?

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Keep the turbos in range. Doesn't rob engine performance. Most twin turbos have no problem with go. Certain ones are going to use technology to spin up without exhaust. Thanks F1.

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Or a single twin scroll. That’s what many are using now OEM.

Also, now that nearly every vehicle has a drive by wire throttle body, they make plug and play devices that adjust the sensitivity of the throttle. Supposed to basically eliminate turbo lag. No power gain obviously, purely a throttle response adjustment.

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Prefer supercharger. No turbo lag. Press pedal. Go

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Turbo lag on modern (performance) cars is basically non-existent and it is "free" horsepower with none of the huge parasitic losses from a blower.

I loved the CAI I put on my 2011 WRX. Heard every breath the turbo took, had slightly more midrange and about 200 rpm sooner turbo spool. Not much in the way of tangible gains, but it was there. The sound alone was worth it, honestly.

I am not really familiar with this...I thought all cars had some form of tubing that draws air from the grill, etc. to ensure the air is ambient temp. Am I missing something?