Newer Performance Air Filters Are Better Than Your Regular Air Filters

A cold-air intake system is one way to increase performance. The motor sucks in oxygen, mixes it with the fuel that comes in to the spark plug area to produce power. If you can increase the amount of airflow in an engine it will work faster thus putting out more exhaust. However, it is much easier to increase exhaust output than increase intake. In simple science, cold air is denser, which allows for more expansion once it enters the engine (warm air doesn’t have as much time in between entering the engine and burning off). Racers have even been known to pour ice on their air filter to help cool off the air that enters. Therefore, a cold-air intake is an excellent choice when you are trying to increase the performance of your vehicle as it is the cheapest and easiest modification to install on your car by yourself. Other, more expensive alternatives, are turbos and superchargers but those cost a lot of money and while you increase your performance it is at the expense of more gas consumption. If you don’t want to upgrade your entire intake system for whatever reason, you can simply exchange your stock air filter with the appropriate performance filter for your car model. The major advantage of doing this is that it is reusable. If you’ve ever had to buy a stock air filter, you know that is a penny-saving tip that is well worth the effort. Instead of having to trash it and buy a new one, as is typical of stock filters, you can just rinse, or sometimes vacuum, your performance filter once it gets dirty. Most of these performance air filters are made out of metal mesh, which allows the intake to breathe better (imagine breathing through a window screen versus a coffee filter). Overall, what you’re most likely to get out of a performance filter is longer engine life, an increase in horsepower and better gas mileage, because gas is burned more efficiently within the motor. In the long run, the $30 that a performance typically costs is well worth it.