The Notorious Cold Air Intake
Alright so it looks like i am starting this blog now, and i figure what better way to do it then by talking about one of the first things people normally do to their cars. Adding a CAI (Cold Air Intake).
Now, this is kind of a controversial subject in the automotive world. Well, really just in the word of 16 year old's who just got their first cars and want to be just like Michael Shumacher. Many people think they give you more power, many people think they are more efficient, and many people think they are pointless and actually cause harm to your engine.
Whether or not a CAI gives you more power than a stock intake isn't really the point of this blog post, but in my opinion it doesn't do anything. If something so simple and cheap did any good it'd come standard on the car from the factory.
Whenever i see someone's car and see that the only mod they have done to it, is slap on a CAI or short ram intake from auto zone or some internet store i kind of just go "ah yeah, CAI... yep yep". It's not that i disapprove, but at the same time i don't think it's a great mod. I will say that i approve of it more than i disapprove of it in MOST cases.
In most cases when a person has a car with the only mod being a CAI, it shows they are into cars, want to work on theirs but don't have the skills or access to the skills. Again, this is in MOST cases. In a case like this, i would actually encourage someone to install a CAI on their car.
But wait, Garrett, you are contradicting the hell out of yourself!
Well you see, with everything in life, any human being needs a sense of accomplishment and reward when trying/learning to do anything. The fact that someone tying to learn how to work on their car can undo two clamps and fit something on their car that they THINK will increase their performance is just that. Having felt good about accomplishing their first car mod, maybe they will be inspired to tackle a task such as an exhaust system? You'd be surprised at how many people don't know how to take off an exhaust manifold, and it IS a tough task for someone who doesn't know much about cars.
But Garrett, how are they getting a sense of reward if you claim a CAI does nothing?
That's simple too. Any power gains a CAI is claiming to give is going to be so insignificant that you aren't going to be able to feel them. But what you will get is a different sound to your car. Most car newbies (and people in general) correlate loudness with quickness. That extra 5 decibels your car now makes, translates to that extra 5hp the CAI box said, to an untrained mind. That to them is a sense of reward and will give them a confident boost to start doing mods that actually do something to their car.
So please. Car newbies. Put on that CAI, and be proud of it. I hope that you feel good about it, and it encourages you to do more work on your car.
As for me... I never have installed a CAI on my car. I never really went through a phase where i didn't have the knowledge or resources about cars. Not trying to act like a cocky jerk, but it's the truth. My first car mod was an engine swap. Can't really get more complex than that for a first mod. My second mod was a custom exhaust system, which was cake compared to the engine swap.
My whole life is a weird situation, and i like to think i never have, and don't have to play by the rules. Maybe that's just the way i am.
