Do Performance Car Air Filters Filter As Well

I am interested in cars and practise my ain repairs where I can. I like to share any knowledge I take to aid other people where possible.

Get ready to wheeeeeelspin!! — Get prepare to wheeeeeelspin!!

Brum Brum. Squeeeal. Waheeeey!

At some indicate when owning a performance motorcar, or if y'all're young, a irksome machine that you'd similar to squeeze more operation from, the question comes upwards. How tin can I become more power out of this thing? How can I burn down people off at the lights and generally feel like more of a boss, while alluring the attention of cute women?

Well, ane of the means that yous can exercise this (at least this is what the marketing people tell yous) is to fit a performance air filter or a total consecration kit—a M&N or Pipercross, or something that looks like that but is unbranded, which yous can get on eBay. Hey, you tin can always put a K&N badge on the back of your motorcar and become the respect of the rest of the barry boy racers, so information technology'southward all good.

What's the difference between an induction kit and an air filter?

An induction kit unremarkably comes with pipework, the idea being that you'll have the filter, which is commonly cone shaped, situated somewhere it can suck in cold air, unremarkably at the front of the bumper or somewhere else close to air catamenia. A filter without the induction kit is normally simply put in place of the airbox and sits in the engine bay. Or there is the other type, the driblet in filter, which is made of foam/gauze and sits in the air box, in the place of the standard paper version.

Do performance air filters actually work?

And so, exercise these performance air filters piece of work? The marketing bumph tells you that they volition. I call back when I was a young man with a low-powered car and my friend told me that his friend had told him that you could get an extra 40bhp out of your engine with performance spark plugs and a K&N filter. Patently, I soiled myself on the spot; that would have meant 50% more than performance from my beggarly engine for practically no money. What a bargain. So I got the plugs and filter.

The motorcar was a lot noisier. Was it faster though?

How do they work? What is an engine?

These filters work on a adequately simple principle. Engine power is created from fuel and air being mixed. If you put more of both in, and then you'll get more powwwwwwwwwer. So the idea is, go a filter that doesn't restrict the air menstruum (or is at least less restrictive). The engine volition then suck in air easier, the engine direction system will provide more fuel and then the ability volition follow. Yeehah!

So, what'due south the problem? Is there one?

Later driving cars with and without performance filters and noticing that the ones with the performance filters were louder, I thought I'd do some reading. These filters do let a bit more air through. A scrap, anyway; in an independent real-world test, the peak performing air filter on the market place, the G&North filter let through 0.14% more air than a standard paper filter.

From a performance perspective, this isn't bang-up. Merely the airflow into the engine is only part of the story with an induction kit. The noise from the engine is definitely increased and that is pretty expert for well-nigh people that want to really hear something going on when they press the loud pedal!

Hot air? Cold air? What'south the difference?

The downside is that a lot of these filters come in a cone shape and require you to remove the factory air box. Because of this, they then suck air in direct from the engine bay, which is hot. As y'all will no doubt remember from your physics lessons, air expands every bit it heats up, which means hot air contains less oxygen than cold air.

Less oxygen is not what you want from your air, as this means that the air is less combustible. Common cold, loftier-oxygen air is what your engine craves and is the reason that turbocharged engines use intercoolers; you need to get that air cold before your engine gulps it down if you want to excerpt maximum power from it.

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Here's the conclusion.

Although there is a lot of skilful marketing bumph out there, a lot of it is only that. If it's outright performance you're after, your first step should not be a performance air filter/consecration kit; instead, you should focus on either losing some weight from the machine or getting a remap. Or both! With an induction kit, although it won't brand you faster, you will become a louder/better racket every bit you lot can really hear the engine breathe, which is, of course, desirable for a lot of people.

My advice is just to keep your paper filter regularly changed and not worry virtually a high-menstruation filter. If you want to fit one for the racket and you're later performance then brand certain you don't exit the cone air filter exposed and instead fit a fully shielded consecration kit to ensure that the air that goes in is as cold as possible.

If you don't shield it, you will become more airflow at high speed, but off the line, it can really be a chip slower down to heat soak, the engine heating upwardly the air nether the bonnet, which is then sucked in by the filter when you kickoff moving. That is non cleared until you've been driving for a few seconds, then initially, your car volition actually brand a fleck less power if your intake is non shielded correctly. You don't want this!

Remapping is definitely a solution that volition become you more power than just replacing the air filter for an induction kit. That is something for another article though.

Thanks for reading. Please leave any comments below.

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author'south cognition. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does non substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business concern, financial, legal, or technical matters.