What is a Cold Air Intake?

Of all of the possible performance modifications that one can make to a car, perhaps one of the most popular, and certainly one of the easiest is known as a cold air intake. Cold air intakes can be purchased, in some cases, for under a hundred dollars, and they are readily available from any number of part manufacturers for almost all types of vehicles. However, despite the immense popularity that these have, especially among the import auto crowd, painfully few people know what a cold air intake actually does for a car, and how that tube and filter can add a couple horsepower to your vehicle.

In order to understand the cold air intake, it is first necessary to understand a little bit about your engine and car as a whole. As most know, a car engine works by creating combustion, based on a certain percentage of air and fuel being combined in the engine combustion chambers. So, if you wanted to increase the power of an engine, you only need to create more explosions in a bigger space right? Well, kind of, but not exactly. Of course, larger engines do have more space for internal combustion, and thus create far more displacement, in most cases, than smaller engines. But, most fail to understand that adding air and fuel into an engine in any random order does not necessarily make an engine any more powerful. In fact, if a car is not receiving the right ratio of air to fuel, the entire cycle can be thrown off, and the power of the car can be lowered. However, there is a solution to this problem, and it is known as a cold air intake.

In almost any car, the air intake is the most restrictive part of the performance system, designed to work in limited space and usually designed to be fairly quite during normal vehicle operation, the factory air intakes actually do very little when it comes to the performance aspect of your car. Here's where a cold air intake comes in, basically getting more air to your engine in a shorter space of time. Almost all cold air intakes look the same, and their function is primarily the same too, and generally, one can expect a cold air intake to be a fairly large, cone shaped filter connected to a metal tube which replaces the stock air box. Of course, since so many different companies make intakes, one can expect to find an intake in almost any style, shape or color desired. Some manufacturers even create intake tubes out of carbon fiber or Kevlar. Although the actual performance benefits of these materials are very much in debate, it does produce an attractive appearance for the engine bay. Of course, one can expect to pay a lot more for these materials than one would for a traditional intake.

There are several reasons that this strangely shaped tube and filter actually add power to your car. By taking in air that is not located directly next to the engine, the engine is being fed cooler air. This is important primarily because colder air is more compressed, and is also far more efficient in creating combustion. Although a "true" cold air intake would have to be placed completely outside the engine bay for a maximum amount of cold air, as in some high performance race cars, doing so usually requires a good deal of vehicle modification, and is simply not effective for a car with a small engine, such as a four or even six cylinder motor.

However, air intakes also provide a few more important functions, and there are a couple more reasons that they increase the power in a car. Namely, the air is transferred to the engine faster, the interior of the intake is much smoother than the factory, and the diameter of the air filter is larger. All of this together means that your engine is getting a lot more cleaner air in a much shorter period of time.

All of this sounds great, an inexpensive product, performance gains, and easy installation, but stay away from the school of thought that preaches the cold air intake. In fact, intakes can sometimes do more harm than good to your vehicle, and they also introduce a few quirks into one's driving style.

A cold air intake has no way to prevent water from getting into your engine. And, "hydrolock", as this is commonly called, can literally destroy an engine, and it can happen from something as simple as driving in the rain with a cold air intake. Although it is not very common, potential buyers of an intake should realize that it is a possibility, and one that should be considered. Another factor that may make some question the cold air intake is the increased noise that comes with it. Because the factory box is optimized for a quite ride, most drivers do not notice the sound their car makes while pulling in air. After the intake is installed, regular driving noise becomes a lot louder, and one can expect to hear a whistle during normal driving, from the sound of the air being forced into the engine. Some even wonder if a cold air intake adds noticeable perform gains, certainly the idea is there, but depending on the car, adding more air may not be much different from what is going on straight from the factory box. Meaning that a cold air intake may not actually provide any noticeable performance gains, and one should generally not expect to get more than four or five additional horsepower out of it anyway. Also remember that even a modification such as a cold air intake should have a retuning to accompany it. Whenever something is done to change the normal driving conditions of the vehicle, the vehicle itself should be tuned to accommodate for that change. Failure to tune the car can result in getting little or no additional performance, and may drastically shorten the life of your engine.

Overall, one must be careful about the decision to put an intake on a vehicle. While it can definitely help in some cases, it may hurt in others. Just remember to use intelligence and common sense when it comes to modifying your car. With a little thought, you will help extend the life of your vehicle and also save yourself from a heft amount of headaches down the road.