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Review of the Airaid Intake
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Joined: Aug 2012
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Review of the Airaid Intake
I have used cone filters and cold air intakes on most of my personal vehicles for the past 20 years – that’s nine vehicles and counting. Most were either homemade or K&N products, but all employed oiled cone filters of much greater airflow capacity than the stock factory intakes. It is just something I do to my vehicles as an old gear head. Some intakes gave very noticeable results, some all I could tell was the noise increase. Fine with me.
One thing I have learned is that with recent vehicles (since about 2004) it can be quite difficult to find power increases with simple bolt on parts. Twenty years ago about any intake improvement you did gave a clear increase in power, but today that isn’t always so – regardless of what advertisement dyno sheets may say. Some independent testing has even shown decreases in power after adding an intake – due to either turbulence past the sensors or to the PCM adapting to the new airflow. Selling hotrod parts is a business, and like any other business claims are made which are simply BS. The eBay 60-horsepower chips are an example. The challenge to choose parts which actually increase power is made more difficult by glowing “reviews” made by consumers who don’t want to be seen as stupid for buying a part which did nothing. Too, many less-sophisticated consumers equate noise with power. Anyway, the following is a no-BS review of the Airaid product. I chose the Airaid because it had an ample sized filter and looked to be reasonably well designed. I didn’t want a lot of intake noise, and the current $50 rebate sealed the deal.
My Durango R/T is new with just 500 miles on the clock, so measuring mpg and power improvements would be clouded by the engine and driveline breaking in period. I decided to use measurements which are easy to get and are independent of engine condition. The install went well, the instructions are very clear and complete – even someone installing a CAI for the first time should find it easy. Before I even opened the hood I screwed the sheet metal panels together and installed the rubber bumper. This way as soon as I had the factory intake out I could stick in the new one.
I won’t go through all the steps since the instructions are so good, and including a photo would silly since they all look alike. But one thing I did not do was to disconnect the battery. I wondered why Airaid recommended this, and there were only two reasons I could come up with. One, safety when working under the hood, but nothing you will touch is anywhere near a live electrical circuit. Do you disconnect the battery when changing the spark plugs?
The second reason would be to re-set the factory PCM. After the reset the computer needs to re-learn ‘everything’, so the truck would feel different as the PCM is learning. Would the unsuspecting consumer mistake this difference for an improvement in power due to the new intake? You be the judge.
Once the install was done I checked all fasteners for tightness (I had forgotten to re-tighten one hose clamp), slammed the hood and drove off. At first the truck seemed as before, with no clear change in sound or power. After 20 miles I put in my remote temperature sensor, laying the thermocouple directly on the side of the filter surface.
The results were about as expected, with some differences. One, the temperature of the engine bay is hotter than my past vehicles, even when in motion. On my 2000 Dakota and 2000 Intrepid for example the temperature by the fenders dropped off quite a bit, but not so the Durango. But what about with the Airaid?
Some have expressed doubts that the Airaid would provide cold air to the throttle body since it is not sealed. The thermocouple on the filter element indicated that on an 85* day moving at 45 mph the temperature was 97*. At speeds under 35 mph the temperature was higher, around 103* with the Airaid. Not bad, for several reasons.
The factory intake at 40 mph measured five degrees higher than ambient, but worse is the restrictive factory air inlet (snorkel) used by the Airaid. Shades of the 1970s when round air filters were the norm and air was pulled through tiny snorkels and then had to travel half way around the world to get to the entire filter surface. Not only is the cross sectional area of the factory inlet smaller than the TB, but the two 90* direction changes increase the total restriction greatly - meaning less air to the engine and less potential for power. The Airaid circumvents this lack of air by allowing some engine compartment air to be used to supply all the air the filter can pass. This is not a bad compromise, and is similar to some other CAIs available.
At WOT and 45 mph the intake air temperature rose to 107*, a clear indication that the factory snorkel was not up to the job of supplying enough air. No surprise since the math had already said so. This is where some fully enclosed intake air boxes may restrict air due to their snorkel. The longer the snorkel the more the restriction to airflow. Choke off the engine and who cares if the air is 10* colder or not?
Okay, how much more power?? My butt dyno said not much, but realize it is not calibrated. Even a “real” dyno comparison is wrought with error - I don’t trust 90% of them. But given the fact that the filter will pass more air than the engine can use, and that the temperature of that air is far lower than the engine compartment, this is about all we can hope for. The Airaid met all my expectations regarding install, sound (not much louder than stock) and the potential for power improvement. I am very happy with it.
One last comment. Airaid sells two different filters, the SynthaFlow and the SynthaMax. The former is oiled, the latter is not. But that is not the whole picture, the SynthaMax only flows 2/3rds as much air as the SynthaFlow does. So you are giving up much of the improvement in air handling of the new intake versus the factory intake. The SynthaMax doesn’t need oil and it appears to filter a bit better, so you have two definite choices. One is performance; the other is convenience and perhaps a bit more protection. The choice is yours.
One thing I have learned is that with recent vehicles (since about 2004) it can be quite difficult to find power increases with simple bolt on parts. Twenty years ago about any intake improvement you did gave a clear increase in power, but today that isn’t always so – regardless of what advertisement dyno sheets may say. Some independent testing has even shown decreases in power after adding an intake – due to either turbulence past the sensors or to the PCM adapting to the new airflow. Selling hotrod parts is a business, and like any other business claims are made which are simply BS. The eBay 60-horsepower chips are an example. The challenge to choose parts which actually increase power is made more difficult by glowing “reviews” made by consumers who don’t want to be seen as stupid for buying a part which did nothing. Too, many less-sophisticated consumers equate noise with power. Anyway, the following is a no-BS review of the Airaid product. I chose the Airaid because it had an ample sized filter and looked to be reasonably well designed. I didn’t want a lot of intake noise, and the current $50 rebate sealed the deal.
My Durango R/T is new with just 500 miles on the clock, so measuring mpg and power improvements would be clouded by the engine and driveline breaking in period. I decided to use measurements which are easy to get and are independent of engine condition. The install went well, the instructions are very clear and complete – even someone installing a CAI for the first time should find it easy. Before I even opened the hood I screwed the sheet metal panels together and installed the rubber bumper. This way as soon as I had the factory intake out I could stick in the new one.
I won’t go through all the steps since the instructions are so good, and including a photo would silly since they all look alike. But one thing I did not do was to disconnect the battery. I wondered why Airaid recommended this, and there were only two reasons I could come up with. One, safety when working under the hood, but nothing you will touch is anywhere near a live electrical circuit. Do you disconnect the battery when changing the spark plugs?
The second reason would be to re-set the factory PCM. After the reset the computer needs to re-learn ‘everything’, so the truck would feel different as the PCM is learning. Would the unsuspecting consumer mistake this difference for an improvement in power due to the new intake? You be the judge.
Once the install was done I checked all fasteners for tightness (I had forgotten to re-tighten one hose clamp), slammed the hood and drove off. At first the truck seemed as before, with no clear change in sound or power. After 20 miles I put in my remote temperature sensor, laying the thermocouple directly on the side of the filter surface.
The results were about as expected, with some differences. One, the temperature of the engine bay is hotter than my past vehicles, even when in motion. On my 2000 Dakota and 2000 Intrepid for example the temperature by the fenders dropped off quite a bit, but not so the Durango. But what about with the Airaid?
Some have expressed doubts that the Airaid would provide cold air to the throttle body since it is not sealed. The thermocouple on the filter element indicated that on an 85* day moving at 45 mph the temperature was 97*. At speeds under 35 mph the temperature was higher, around 103* with the Airaid. Not bad, for several reasons.
The factory intake at 40 mph measured five degrees higher than ambient, but worse is the restrictive factory air inlet (snorkel) used by the Airaid. Shades of the 1970s when round air filters were the norm and air was pulled through tiny snorkels and then had to travel half way around the world to get to the entire filter surface. Not only is the cross sectional area of the factory inlet smaller than the TB, but the two 90* direction changes increase the total restriction greatly - meaning less air to the engine and less potential for power. The Airaid circumvents this lack of air by allowing some engine compartment air to be used to supply all the air the filter can pass. This is not a bad compromise, and is similar to some other CAIs available.
At WOT and 45 mph the intake air temperature rose to 107*, a clear indication that the factory snorkel was not up to the job of supplying enough air. No surprise since the math had already said so. This is where some fully enclosed intake air boxes may restrict air due to their snorkel. The longer the snorkel the more the restriction to airflow. Choke off the engine and who cares if the air is 10* colder or not?
Okay, how much more power?? My butt dyno said not much, but realize it is not calibrated. Even a “real” dyno comparison is wrought with error - I don’t trust 90% of them. But given the fact that the filter will pass more air than the engine can use, and that the temperature of that air is far lower than the engine compartment, this is about all we can hope for. The Airaid met all my expectations regarding install, sound (not much louder than stock) and the potential for power improvement. I am very happy with it.
One last comment. Airaid sells two different filters, the SynthaFlow and the SynthaMax. The former is oiled, the latter is not. But that is not the whole picture, the SynthaMax only flows 2/3rds as much air as the SynthaFlow does. So you are giving up much of the improvement in air handling of the new intake versus the factory intake. The SynthaMax doesn’t need oil and it appears to filter a bit better, so you have two definite choices. One is performance; the other is convenience and perhaps a bit more protection. The choice is yours.
Very much appreciated.
Champion
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,560
Likes: 1
From: Old Bridge,NJ
Gotcha... not a fan of the airraid kit using that factory intake pipe!