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which cold air intake is the best?? and if i did add one will it increase my mpg any and does any horsepower come out of these things i was leaning towards the k&n cold air intake or the trd cold air intake i like the look of the urd but im kinda scared of it!! let me know whats the best to go with with the mpg in mind thanks tn..
I have the K&N and to be honest I think intakes just add sound. MAYBE theres a small increase in MPG's and maybe you get an additional 1 HP. But really you wont notice anything but sound, and they look better! I would recommend the TRD, then if you go to the dealer they cant complain about it as much. I wish I had gone with the TRD.
I have a K & N and I love it. At WOT (wide open throttle) it roars! I say URD if you have the $ and want the most power gains. Either TRD or K&N will be good too!
__________________
"You are entitled to your own opinion,
but you are not entitled to your own facts!" Mike Church - Sirius Patriot Ch. 144 XM Ch. 138
The OEM intake it came with is (in most cases) going to be the best - sounds crazy but here's the real deal -
The reasons anyone makes a "cold air intake" are:
1) To sell you something that "looks cool" and makes noise (keywords - sell you something).
2) Because "Fast & Furious" was just such a cool movie and "you gotta be like them, dawg".
3) You'll think your ride is that much better than the next one just like it (they made thousands of em).
Now back to the real deal -
Most "cold air intakes" are misleading to begin with. If the filter is an open element (you can see the filter) and it's under the hood, it is actually a "hot air intake" (in other words - they lie and sell you something). When was the last time you ever felt a cool breeze under the hood of a car/ truck? A true cold air intake has to take in air from an ambient source - aka outside the engine bay. If you want one that bad for the "cool factor", or if your car/ truck doesn't breathe from outside the engine bay, find one that fits that description.
The air that the OEM (the one it came with from the factory, or Original Equipment Manufactured) air intake breathes in is usually from just behind the grille itself, or sometimes from a fenderwell. This "air charge" is actually cold (or ambient temperature air), as hot air will just drop your ignition timing (because of pre-ignition or detonation) as the temperature of the intake air increases, and take all your HP with it.
Let common sense help some on deciding just how good an aftermarket part or system is:
1) Why would the Manufacturer short you on the performance it could have for an extra $100?
2) If you gained MPG with a simple piece of tubing and a "one size fits all" air filter element - wouldn't they do that at the factory that built the vehicle?
3) Who do you think has more money and resources for Research and Development - the company that designed and built the entire vehicle, or the company that made that "cold air intake"?
4) If something you could buy and install yourself would actually add HorsePower and MPG, why would any vehicle manufacturer waste millions designing it the way they did (and lose the edge on the competition)?
Add to that the water protection that a stock OEM air box is designed to provide. Water intrusion is a HUGE concern to prevent damage, and here's the reason, air compresses and water doesn't. If an engine breathes in water, and tries to compress it, it will break in a big way.
Some "cold air intake" kits have a water intrusion valve that is basically a ping-pong ball in a sleeve - good luck trusting an engine to that. I know where they got the R&D on that design, just open up a wet/ dry shopvac and you'll see the same thing. Amazing how brilliant these things are when you dig.
What I've said up above didn't all come out of my head somewhere, I have friends that have owned race teams and auto shops for over 40 years. I worked for a few of them, and they've worked for me on my cars. One of the best improvements you can make in a vehicle is to get the servicing up to date and keep it that way - so you get everything you paid for.
Another "bang for the buck" improvement is installing a K&N drop-in replacement filter, and keeping your tires at the proper inflation. Sounds too easy, and it really is, just make sure you tell whoever changes your oil not to touch the air filter. Sounds like a plug for K&N, but it's just sound advice, I should've bought stock in K&N when I started using their stuff about 25 years ago, and they've worked for me. Missed that boat. :-P
Looking for more performance? It can be found, just be smart and think it all through. And if it sounds too good, it is - check what you hear or read against another source - or 5 of em.
The OEM intake it came with is (in most cases) going to be the best - sounds crazy but here's the real deal -
The reasons anyone makes a "cold air intake" are:
1) To sell you something that "looks cool" and makes noise (keywords - sell you something).
2) Because "Fast & Furious" was just such a cool movie and "you gotta be like them, dawg".
3) You'll think your ride is that much better than the next one just like it (they made thousands of em).
Now back to the real deal -
Most "cold air intakes" are misleading to begin with. If the filter is an open element (you can see the filter) and it's under the hood, it is actually a "hot air intake" (in other words - they lie and sell you something). When was the last time you ever felt a cool breeze under the hood of a car/ truck? A true cold air intake has to take in air from an ambient source - aka outside the engine bay. If you want one that bad for the "cool factor", or if your car/ truck doesn't breathe from outside the engine bay, find one that fits that description.
The air that the OEM (the one it came with from the factory, or Original Equipment Manufactured) air intake breathes in is usually from just behind the grille itself, or sometimes from a fenderwell. This "air charge" is actually cold (or ambient temperature air), as hot air will just drop your ignition timing (because of pre-ignition or detonation) as the temperature of the intake air increases, and take all your HP with it.
Let common sense help some on deciding just how good an aftermarket part or system is:
1) Why would the Manufacturer short you on the performance it could have for an extra $100?
2) If you gained MPG with a simple piece of tubing and a "one size fits all" air filter element - wouldn't they do that at the factory that built the vehicle?
3) Who do you think has more money and resources for Research and Development - the company that designed and built the entire vehicle, or the company that made that "cold air intake"?
4) If something you could buy and install yourself would actually add HorsePower and MPG, why would any vehicle manufacturer waste millions designing it the way they did (and lose the edge on the competition)?
Add to that the water protection that a stock OEM air box is designed to provide. Water intrusion is a HUGE concern to prevent damage, and here's the reason, air compresses and water doesn't. If an engine breathes in water, and tries to compress it, it will break in a big way.
Some "cold air intake" kits have a water intrusion valve that is basically a ping-pong ball in a sleeve - good luck trusting an engine to that. I know where they got the R&D on that design, just open up a wet/ dry shopvac and you'll see the same thing. Amazing how brilliant these things are when you dig.
What I've said up above didn't all come out of my head somewhere, I have friends that have owned race teams and auto shops for over 40 years. I worked for a few of them, and they've worked for me on my cars. One of the best improvements you can make in a vehicle is to get the servicing up to date and keep it that way - so you get everything you paid for.
Another "bang for the buck" improvement is installing a K&N drop-in replacement filter, and keeping your tires at the proper inflation. Sounds too easy, and it really is, just make sure you tell whoever changes your oil not to touch the air filter. Sounds like a plug for K&N, but it's just sound advice, I should've bought stock in K&N when I started using their stuff about 25 years ago, and they've worked for me. Missed that boat. :-P
Looking for more performance? It can be found, just be smart and think it all through. And if it sounds too good, it is - check what you hear or read against another source - or 5 of em.
Great post until you got to the K&N drop in.
With that you lose some credibility.
If the K&N is so good,your same talk about manufacturers and their R&D and the CAI would be the same for the K&N drop ins.
K&N drop-in filters are a better cleaning filter (due to the oil and porousity - or pores of the gauze type media), and they last about as long as the vehicle itself (with a good cleaning and fresh oil about every 25,000 miles). As such, if an OEM shipped their vehicles with a K&N type filter, they'd never be able to sell you another one down the road. (A good friend of mine invented a 250,000 mile spark plug that improved performance in almost everything you installed them in, sold them for 30 years, and yet never got rich from it - go figure - feel free to research Torque Master Spark Plugs - I think he finally stopped making them and closed shop)
A paper element filter will clog within about 3k miles, and at this point air flow falls off (and takes performance and mpg with it). You could install a paper element with a larger surface area, but then you have space constraints to deal with.
Can you imagine the look you'd get suggesting that someone buy a new air filter at every oil change? For verification, how often do you change the furnace filter inside your house (usually paper)? It had better be anywhere from 1 to 3 months, or you have a doormat of dust and pollen supplying the air you breathe. And this example is a much larger filter in a closed environment. There is absolutely no way to get proper air flow through a paper element filter over a long period of time - not enough pores to trap the dirt in and get it out of the air path.
I'm glad you brought that up, I cut my post down to make it seem less like a novel and I should've left all the info in it.
I agree with HwyPilot on intakes. I personally made the mistake of buying a shortram AEM intake for my wifes RSX type s.. BIG mistake! It runs like a champ when its cold, but as soon as the engine bay heats up(or summer temps get to 70+), it is a dog. So my 150 dollar performance upgrade actually made my performance go down in that case. I guess i should of went with the real "cold air Intake" but then the engine would be sucking up water in the rain. I am just going with a K & N drop in for my 07 taco.. peace
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