Are you planning on upgrading your air intake to cone type air filter? If yes, then this blog post is the perfect content for you!
Why? Because I’ll tell you every bit of information about aftermarket intakes, its advantages and its disadvantages straight from my own experience.
So before you invest on upgrading your air intake system with performance intakes, you better read this post till the end to learn more.
How Air Intake System Work?
Before I delve into cone type aftermarket air filters, you should learn first how air intake system works. Otherwise, you would never understand every word that I am about to share to you!
In order for the engine to produce power, it needs air to create combustion along with fuel. Hence most production car engines are called “internal combustion engine”.
So engineers must find a way for air to enter the engine. This is where the air intake system comes in.
Air intake system has one purpose and that is to scoop air into the engine’s combustion chamber. There, air and fuel will mix resulting in a combustion process. That is the first stroke of a 4-stroke engine. The last being the exhaust where the air exits the atmosphere.
So in Layman’s term, air intake system sucks air to help the engine run and produce power.
Modern Air intake system is consist of air scoop (or snorkel in trucks and SUVs) which is a part of air intake filter housing or intake resonator (sound deadening device), a MAF sensor that calculates how much air enters the engine, the throttle body and lastly, the intake manifold.
To get a deeper understanding of these components, read my previous post regarding air intake system here.
The subject of this post is about aftermarket cone type air filters. As mentioned above, stock air intake system has air filter that is enclosed in an air intake box.
This filter’s function is to simply filter any debris, dust and many other particles in entering the engine. The question is, will upgrading to an aftermarket cone type air filter makes any difference? Is this upgrade truly worth it?
Why People Upgrade to Aftermarket Cone Type Air Filters?
Stock air filter can do the job just fine, but it doesn’t bring out the best performance of your engine. This is one reason why people use aftermarket intakes – to get that additional power.
As mentioned earlier, your engine requires air and fuel to produce combustion. To get more power, all you need to do is to increase the air entering the engine and aftermarket filters can provide that need.
Okay, cone type air filter isn’t just the sole type of aftermarket intakes that you can choose from. Other aftermarket intakes available for you are drop-in air filters (a same size of your car’s stock filter but is not made of paper element and is reusable for lifetime usage), mushroom and cone type air filters.
Mushroom and cone types varies only with their size but both have the same function. For example, if your engine compartment has less space for a cone type, then a vertical-shaped mushroom filter is your best choice.
Aftermarket Cone Type Air Filter Increases Horsepower
How does aftermarket cone type air filter increase engine power?
Stock air filter provide a lot of restriction which inhibits the potential power production of an engine. Aftermarket intakes on the other hand such as cone type air filters, has less restriction when it comes to sucking air. This means that your engine can get more air into the combustion chamber.
The more air, the more power your engine provides.
Other car enthusiasts even hide their cone type air filter away from the engine or they packed it with heat shield to prevent exposure to high temperature inside the engine compartment. This is called “cold air intake”.
Why? Colder air is much more dense, and dense air means more oxygen that is being thrown and burned inside the engine which results to more power!
It Improves Fuel Economy
One of the myths that people believe is that, aftermarket intakes will increase fuel consumption as the engine gets more air. The more air means more fuel are being injected and burned, thus resulting to poor fuel economy.
Well, this isn’t the case actually. In contrast, having more air into the engine brings positive impact on fuel consumption. How?
As mentioned above, aftermarket intakes are not restrictive compared to stock paper-based air filters. Using cone type air filters enables your engine to easily suck more air, reducing stress to your engine. This means you exponentially gain more fuel economy!
I experienced this myself when I upgraded the air intake of my Hyundai Accent diesel engine.
The only time your engine will consume more fuel is when your always driving your pedal hard. In simplest explanation, the fuel economy you get depends on the way you drive your vehicle (throttle response).
Lasts a Lifetime
Okay, maybe not a lifetime but it surely last a lot longer than stock filters.
Aftermarket intakes can be cleaned and reused multiple times as long as you do it regularly, the filter can last a car’s lifetime.
Paper element filters only has 10 or 20 thousand mileage limit and once you reach that distance, you have to replace them with a new one. If you are an environmentalist like me, this would be an added waste that is poured into the environment and you surely want to avoid that as much as possible.
So you’re actually helping the environment when you use aftermarket intakes.
Looks Better and Sounds Better
Again the stock filter is situated inside a filter box with a rubber pipe that goes directly into the throttle body or turbocharger. For most car geeks, that is an ugly site to behold especially if you love performance.
Why? Performance and beauty is a perfect match!
Aftermarket intakes have cooler designs and are available in different colors that can match your style and personality. Plus, the hose is then swapped with either a stainless steel or aluminum pipe for better air flow.
Cold air intake does require a longer pipe as you need to place the filter further away from the engine’s heat. In contrast, “short-ram intake” is your alternative if you like the air to have shorter travel from the filter to the throttle body. So the choice is yours!
Another reason why people upgrade their intakes is the sound improvement these mod creates. Aftermarket cone type air filters can give you that sucking or growling sound that you can easily here inside the cockpit. That adds some excitement and aggressiveness to your driving style.
Aftermarket Cone Type Air Filter Disadvantages
With the benefits mentioned above, is there even a single disadvantage for this upgrade?
Aside from the additional expenses this upgrade requires, there are of course disadvantages that you need to know. Here are some that might not suit your taste.
The Sound May be Too Loud for Some People
As mentioned above, swapping your stock air filter and using aftermarket intakes will dramatically alter the way your engine sound especially when you are driving on a high rev range.
Some are even complaining with the idle growling noise that can even be heard inside the car. Imagine the trauma you are going to get with that additional noise from this upgrade.
So why this filter produce more noise than the stock set up? Well, most engine has a component called “intake resonator” which the primary function is to dampen or cancel the sound wave that the engine’s intake produce.
Upgrading to aftermarket intake will automatically delete the resonator (some engine designs lets you retain the resonator) which in turn result to a louder engine sound.
Small Particles May Enter the Engine
Another interesting issue surrounding this modification is the myth that it can damage your turbo (if your engine is turbocharged) or the engine itself (for naturally aspirated engine).
Since you are not using paper element filter which offers greater restriction, small debris and dust particles can now easily enter your engine which can result to damage.
While this is possible, for me the probability is slim to none and here are my reasons why.
First, aftermarket cone type filters are washable. This means that cleaning your filter can dramatically decrease the chances of any small debris entering the engine.
Second, there are air filter protective covers available in the market. This cover protects your filter from dust, oil and are even water-proof. This way, you can be sure that your engine only gets air, nothing else.
Check out Amazon for some of the best filter covers that fits your aftermarket intake.
Summary
So is it worth upgrading your stock air intake system? Well, for me it’s a big YES!
First off, you won’t contemplate on upgrading your air filter if you are not curious about its performance benefits and the prestige and aesthetics it would provide to your engine. Admit it, this upgrade is totally enticing.
Add the additional horses it can bring to your engine and you have to perfect reason to upgrade to aftermarket cone type air filters.
Well of course, we probably have different preferences when it comes to this upgrade.
But if you are not completely convinced, then just compare the facts above and decide from there. After all, the possible cons can be outweighed by the benefits it provides.
If you are interested in upgrading your air intake filter, then I suggest you only buy the best quality performance filters that are available in the market.
These filters have quality filtering properties without sacrificing high-flow of air. Plus, they sound much better compared to cheap aftermarket cone type filters.
Visit Amazon and Choose the Best Filter Brand for your car.
Below is my DIY aftermarket intake install video on my Hyundai Accent CRDI. The video is in Tagalog but has English subtitle. Enjoy!
