okay first of all ive been thinking of putting a cold air intake, hearing from a friend that its good for improving your car‘s mpg. bur everyone seems to have different opinions on a cold air intake. some say it does improve your mpg, some say it doesnt. so can someone please clarify this for me?and yes im gonna ask it XD but what do they mean buy air in and air out? i do know it has something to do with the flow of air in your car but im still not 100% suredoes changing your exhaust system have anything to do with it? thanks
A cold air intake may help your gas mileage depending on how you drive. Most people put cold air intake on for the extra power that it gives by letting more air in. The extra air coming in allows the car to dump more gas in giving more power. If you are light on the gas thus can result in a gain in mpg. This will also change the sound of the car, normally makes it louder with a deeper tone. Air in is the air that is coming into the engine through the intake.air out is leaving through the exhaust. Changing the exhaust, normally pipe size, can change the way the car sounds or give the car more power.
If a cold air intake improves MPG it is due to the less restrictive nature of the filter compared to the stock airbox filter on your car. For the most part MPG improvements will be negligible. If you were to get a CAI, I would get it for the sound. That's basically the only reason I got mine. It give your car a throatier sound at wide open throttle.
The cold air intake that comes stock on pretty much every car made since 1990 improves your fuel economy by preheating the intake air with air from around the exhaust when the engine is cold, reducing the warm-up time when your engine gets about half the normal fuel economy. Every aftermarket CAI, all relics of the 1960s and 1970s, are inferior. Loss of fuel economy is the most common complaint for aftermarket CAIs. Reduced air restriction is a thoroughly obsolete concept. In the days of carburetors low restriction air filters were important because any air filter restriction acted like a choke, richening the mixture and wasting gas. Fuel injected cars, like all those sold in the US since 1996, are not affected by air filter restriction except at wide open throttle and very high rpm, in which case the power can be reduced less than you can detect. Air filter restriction does not affect fuel economy in modern cars at all.
