K&N 69-3517TS vs. AEM 21-702C Cold Air Intakes

[Striker_VII]

Originally Posted by SkyPilot

Moved to: DURATEC Ti-VCT Performance

Most of us guys around here are running the Steeda or FSWERKS intake.

Personally I love my Steeda intake. its a beautiful piece with a nice growl to it.

I was wondering if there was a spefic reasons why everyone seems to lean throw these rather than others? Is it price?

[FocusBoy58]

The AEM CAI is by far my favorite Intake. My dyno numbers were with that Intake and So far I have had absolutely no issues with it.

If you are going to do it why not get a true Cold air and Modify the Left front fake vent and make it fuctional so you have a true Cold air Intake instead of just a short ram. Because I can tell you right now. My car on the Highway on a 100 degree day will be getting the nice air from outside instead of the hot air from under the hood.

Either way they are all great in their own way.

Steeda I believe makes a good kit they just need to supply a hose to get rid of the wrinkle pipe behind their set up.

Fswerks very similar just uses the factory MAF

K&N is my favorite Short ram complete replacement of all factory components. If they had steedas MAF housing and that Kit I would buy that in a heartbeat.

AEM is a true CAI and offers the benefits of CAI. If you slot out the left fake grille those benefits are much more noticable especially at speed. At the same time a True CAI also has it's own faults. If you slot the grille you have to worry about deep water past that there is no other negatives.

Hope this helps.

[OPsDad]

Originally Posted by FocusBoy58

The AEM CAI is by far my favorite Intake. My dyno numbers were with that Intake and So far I have had absolutely no issues with it.

...

AEM is a true CAI and offers the benefits of CAI. If you slot out the left fake grille those benefits are much more noticable especially at speed. At the same time a True CAI also has it's own faults. If you slot the grille you have to worry about deep water past that there is no other negatives.

Hope this helps.

AEM is NOT an "oil" type filter, is that correct? Might be the solution I'm looking for!

[FocusBoy58]

Originally Posted by OPsDad

AEM is NOT an "oil" type filter, is that correct? Might be the solution I'm looking for!

It looked like a dry Filter Element to me.

[Focus2.0SEL]

How are these running in the cold winter months?

[Dracoheart]

I like the AEM but number one concern is how does the AEM intake handle rain conditions. I drive my car about 30 miles to and from work 5 days out of the week. Around here when it rains it is heavy and puddles everywhere. I am just afraid of sucking up some water and not having a nice day trying to explain to my dealership how water got into my engine.

[FocusBoy58]

Originally Posted by Dracoheart

I like the AEM but number one concern is how does the AEM intake handle rain conditions. I drive my car about 30 miles to and from work 5 days out of the week. Around here when it rains it is heavy and puddles everywhere. I am just afraid of sucking up some water and not having a nice day trying to explain to my dealership how water got into my engine.

I have had zero issues in rain and snow. I also modified my intake to get air from the front grille. Without Modifications that intake is never exposed to water and so far with mods it still has not been exposed to water.

[TheDriver916]

I went K&N for three reasons; for one it had awesome and honest hp gains, two it's very likely that it will eventually be smog legal in CA, and three it's a nice alternative to a true CAI. I don't want to run a true CAI because I drive up to 400 miles a day for work. So puddles are very common and I'd rather be safe then sorry.

[Focus2.0SEL]

Originally Posted by TheDriver916

I went K&N for three reasons; for one it had awesome and honest hp gains, two it's very likely that it will eventually be smog legal in CA, and three it's a nice alternative to a true CAI. I don't want to run a true CAI because I drive up to 400 miles a day for work. So puddles are very common and I'd rather be safe then sorry.

Are they going to legalize the K&N soon? I live in ME, but the state adopted CA's emission standards, no smog checks though.

[TheDriver916]

Originally Posted by Focus2.0SEL

Are they going to legalize the K&N soon? I live in ME, but the state adopted CA's emission standards, no smog checks though.

I can't say if it would be soon but I know that K&N makes an effort to have 50 state legal products. It just costs them about $10,000 to get it certified smog legal.