What is your favorite cold air intake brand?
No secrets here - a cold air intake draws colder air in from outside of the engine compartment where the air is much warmer. Note: Most cars do this already from the factory.
cooler intake charge is denser, detected by your vehicle's mass airflow sensor. cooler intake, denser charge, more oxygen, thus more fuel injected. fuel economy will go down, contrary to popular misconception. fuel consumption will go UP. intake temp can be measured using an OBD-II sensor, or using a scangauge-II which will provide the actualy intake charge temp as measured by the onboard computer. temp is measured in Kelvin (as with any chemical reaction), which is 273 + the temp in celsius. average intake temperature is approx 80 degrees celsius with a stock intake, or 353Kelvin (353K). using an cold-air intake might reduce the temp of the intake charge by 20-30K.; more perhaps if it is winter and the outside air is very cold. by rough estimates, this reduction in the intake charge temp by 5-10%, would increase power by 5-10% and likewise INCREASE fuel consumption at any rpm at any given time, by the same 5-10%. you can't increase power, AND increase fuel economy. increased power means increased fuel consumption. for the average person, don't install the cold air intake. if you need the added performance, and are willing to suffer the increased fuel use, go ahead I installed the cold air intake on my RSX-S. Fuel consumption has risen. My mechanic wanted to install a CAI on my track-miata. I track it a few times a year, but run it as a commuter much of the rest of the year, so i passed on the CAI. This is a chemical reaction. So much mis-information on this topic. ask any university chemistry or engineering professor, and they will concur with the above.
It replaces your vehicle's stock air intake with one that captures air from outside the engine compartment and feeds it to the engine, by the use of a duct, adding horsepower as well as better fuel economy. They also usually have some proprietary filter that is designed to work better than the stock filter. KN seems to be the most popular brand but there are others that are just as good. They should all work reasonably well because they are just different variations of the same system (and it's not really all that technical what it does).
