Cold air intake

[Rebman24]

Has anyone upgraded their cold air intake/filter? I heard it makes your truck sound better and gives a little more hp and better mileage.... Is this true?

 

[CMil527]

Gains are minimal but every bit helps... make 'er breath better they say so at minimum i've run exhaust and intake for 30 years now. I've run K&N and S&B through the years and have never had a complaint. Vararam gets positive reviews as well as the Mopar kit.

 

[SteelCityRags]

I have the MOPAR kit on mine. I was kinda surprised that it didn’t give it as much as growl as K&N had in the past. Laying the hammer down does give it more growl though.

MPG stayed roughly the same


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[hoodac78]

I put a K&N CAI on my first Ram, a 2010 Sport. To be honest, I didn't notice any improvement to engine performance, or mileage. One thing I will say is that replacing the rubber portion of the stock intake with the hard plastic one provided by K&N made that Hemi LOUD in the cabin when you stomped on the gas, or were even just accelerating from a stop light. Due to the fact I didn't see any marked improvements, and it made my pockets about 220 bucks lighter (at the time), I won't be putting one in this truck. To be honest, I'm a little older now, and I do enjoy the nice quiet cabin when I'm driving down the road

 

[mikeru82]

The stock intake is a factory designed cold air intake. It's designed to flow well, but it's also designed to be quiet. Aftermarket intakes are usually just designed to flow well. A lot of people buy them because they like how they look. Aftermarket intakes all claim to increase fuel economy and power. But in my experience with them (AEM, K&N, or AFE), all they really do is change the sound and remove cash from my wallet LOL. I have no experience with an OTR CAI such as Vararam, or with the Mopar ram air intake, so I'm not making any claims for or against them. But my advice would be to stick with the stock setup if your reason for looking at them is for fuel economy or power increases.

 

[UnloosedChewtoy]

The stock intake is a factory designed cold air intake. It's designed to flow well, but it's also designed to be quiet. Aftermarket intakes are usually just designed to flow well. A lot of people buy them because they like how they look. Aftermarket intakes all claim to increase fuel economy and power. But in my experience with them (AEM, K&N, or AFE), all they really do is change the sound and remove cash from my wallet LOL. I have no experience with an OTR CAI such as Vararam, or with the Mopar ram air intake, so I'm not making any claims for or against them. But my advice would be to stick with the stock setup if your reason for looking at them is for fuel economy or power increases.

Agreed. I have the Mopar intake on mine, but have bought K&N, Volant, and S&B in the past for other vehicles. Some may give you a 5 HP increase or a bit more at high RPMs, but you aren't going to feel that. The slight increase in acceleration is nice, and the part you may feel, but its only slight (unless your old filter was really, really dirty).

I bought the Mopar kit for the looks and the slight acceleration increase. It is a good bang for your buck? Probably not, but I knew that going in. The slight increase in engine growl at WOT is an added perk.

One thing is for sure... if you are dead set on it, stay away from oiled filters. Look at any real test involving dust or other particles, and you'll see that oiled filters (like the original K&N) are made more for race day than they are every-day driving. They let tons of crap through, despite what they may claim on the box. Stick with dry filters for every day use, of which I believe most name-brand CAI kits have an option for now-a-days. Its the only way you can get the Mopar Airflow kit.

 

[User_34235]

I had a Spectre CAI on a previous vehicle and didn't notice much of any change. I thought about getting one for the RAM and got good deal on a new one but now I am second guessing the choice...lol.
You guys make some great points.

 

[MValdez]

Swapped out the stock intake for the AFe stage 2 CAI and my and my truck LOST "PEP" . I have a 19' longhorn 5.7 hemi and off the line my truck was quicker with the stock intake. I did not mind at all for what I lost in acceleration I gained with the aggressive sound with the AFE cai and Magnaflow exhaust.

 

[kdoublep]

Had a K&N on my 1998 LS1 Ram Air Trans Am for 20 years. Sounded and looked great, but no performance gains.

Hellwig sway bar would be a better place to spend money if on a budget. Actual performance recognized from what I've read.