Thanks for the replyA general statement. It’s a misnomer. Most of these aftermarket CAIs actually aren’t “colder” because the insulating material is not as thick as the stock one. Or the box is made of metal. Second an oiled filter is not always better. Where do you think that oil could be going? In your intake. Breathe better? Maybe but unless you are also doing a full exhaust long tube headers and no catalytic converters an aftermarket intake isn’t really doing anything for you. Also by “breathing better” then that means the filter then must be more porous to let more air through, and then also thereby letting more dirt through? There are tons of threads on this topic on forums out there. I don’t have the actual studies in front of me, but many will tell you that they don’t really do much for you other than increase the sucking sound of your engine. If the GM engineers thought you needed a better intake so that your engine didn’t have suck as hard to get air, then wouldn’t they not have designed it? You could argue that the CAI gets better MPG. But does it? More air in = more fuel in does it not? On my last vehicle I got great gas mileage with a tune on a stock engine. After bolt ons and tune my mileage went down, but was still pretty good… just my thought. I think they’re a waste of money unless you’re going to go with full bolt ons.
I hear ya, some folks think they are going to get HUGE increases. The reality is that unless you have additional supporting mods...you most likely wont see/feel it. My first mod on my BMW F10 M5 was a Project Gamma (scoop located dual filter) intake. Which for those, it was mostly for slight "hp increase", but more so to hear the BOV sound when shifting. Added on a Soul exhaust...tune...and yes,m my gas mileage did not get better bahahah . Driving the M5 "spirited", I was seeing around 10mpg....but it is what it is. Have already looked at the current CAI on the market for the AT4 but have also looked at the actual setup of it in my engine bay. Now I have an idea brewing