4 Benefits of Adding a Cold Air Intake

4 Benefits of Adding a Cold Air Intake

It’s been about 40 years since it became common practice for auto manufacturers to implement intake systems into their vehicles. All of a sudden, it had become undeniable just how beneficial that these air intakes could be. They helped improve performance, they kept the engine running smooth, and they increased fuel economy.
Man installing a intake


In the years since that monumental transition, aftermarket companies have worked hard to perfect this engine enhancing technology, investing millions and millions to develop the cold air intakes. Undoubtedly, these innovations have been spurred by a number of factors, including the spikes in gasoline prices and our natural, inherent love for rigging up our rides. In order for you to better understand your air intake system, we have created a list of how exactly these cold air intakes will help boost your ride. Check it out.

1. Boosts in Acceleration

Depending on your vehicle, cold air intakes can add anywhere between five and 20 horsepower to your ride. Additionally, cold air intakes help boost the engine’s responsiveness to acceleration by offering more air (the colder the air, the more dense) for your combustion, which helps your vehicle reach the desired speed faster.

2. Longer Lasting, More Efficient Filters

Inside of standard vehicles, the stock intakes are usually fitted with disposable paper filters. Without a doubt, these intake filters do the necessary job of catching excess debris, but they DO eventually require replacement. That is where an aftermarket cold air intake comes in.

Cold air intakes feature filters that last much longer than the typical stock ones. In fact, instead of constantly having to replace the filters, aftermarket cold air intakes should just be cleaned every 25,000 to 50,000 miles. In the long run, this will save you a good amount of dough.
K & N intake stystem

3. Greater Fuel Economy

Most engines work off of a mixture of fuel and air that creates an explosion that powers the car. However, if your vehicle is having problems delivering the sufficient amount of air, the vehicle will compensate by burning more fuel.

Typically, stock intakes are more focused on being quiet than fuel efficient. So, by adding an aftermarket cold air intake, you can amp up your vehicles fuel efficiency to a new stratosphere.

4. A Fiery, More Aggressive Sound

This benefit is purely aesthetics. But it still counts for a lot. The bottom line is: with more air comes a more vicious sounding engine. If sound is not your thing, though, don’t worry. There are intakes available that can muffle the sound.
Intake system on a car

Nothing But Upside

Truthfully, there are no real downsides to getting a cold air intake. Some have claimed that cold air intakes can lead to a damaged mass airflow sensor, but K&N has done a ton of testing to prove this false.

Their website says, ”We are aware of the ‘urban myth’ created by a few dealerships that a vehicle’s MAF sensor can be contaminated by K&N filter oil. No evidence has ever been provided to support this myth and years of diagnostic testing by K&N has shown that not only is this allegation not real, it is not even possible.”

So, if you are a true car/truck enthusiast, you should never feel any hesitation to upgrading your ride with a cold air intake. That is, unless, you don’t like better acceleration, sound, filtration, and fuel economy.

By: Tim Snyder
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