After having the Short Ram on my car, then making a short ram CAI with parts from the original intake, then testing a friends TL with AEM CAI. Now Just finish installing the comptech high flow filter with the stock air box with no under the bumper resonator. The comptech high flow filter is by far the best. Easy to install, great deep sound, the coldest of all, less chance of water induction than a CAI, and last but not least the cheapest.

This was all said on my personal opinion, taste, and experience with the products.

Temperature:
I was not able to test the temperature of the air going in the intake, but I touch the intake next to the throttle body to feel how hot it was with each one of the intakes, the stock plastic seem to be the coldest, it doesn't mean that the air on the metal AEM intake was hot inside because it was hot on the outside of the metal, but in common sense if the outside is hot, the air will take the heat from the metal as a heat transfer. Hummm?? The short ram was the hottest of all. Another thing because the K&N filter drags air from 360 degrees and the hole were the CAI pipe goes trough it still drags some air from the engine bay, making it not as cold as you might think. With the Stock air box and no resonator about 90% of the air is drag from the outside rather than the engine bay, since the air box covers part of the hole, and the air opening is looking done vertically instead of dragging air from 360 degrees angle.

Sound:
The short ram is way to loud, plus whistle noises, and a pinch noise at idle. My custom CAI with short ram, took the idle pinch noise out, made the super loud noise into a deeper sound, the whistle noise was lower a bit. The AEM CAI performs the same as my custom CAI, but had the whistle noise. The stock air box with high-low filter and no resonator under bumper has the best deeper sound of all in my opinion, no too loud, but loud enough to enjoy the sound. Also no whistle or pinch noises.

Water:
The stock air box plain stock still gets air from the engine bay, so there is almost no chance of water induction. Same for the short ram. The CAI both AEM and Custom, have a high probability of water induction. The stock air box sits on the metal frame of the car next to the battery with the opening for air looking down in a vertical way, still possible to induce water, but a lot more unlikely than CAI.

Installation:
I won't write about how to install any of these intakes, but I will say the easiest one to install is the Air box with comptech high flow filter. No need to remove anything other than the bottom resonator box. Note: On the 99' TL I will suggest the you remove the two hoses that connect to the air box, very hot anti-freeze travels trough there to a small radiator that heats up the air under very cold temperatures. Other than that is a simple installation. All Intakes were simple to install, just some simpler or less time consuming than the others.


Looks:
The short ram was the best looking one. The worse looking one was the custom CAI follow by the AEM CAI. The stock air box, just looks "stock".

Horse Power:
NO dyno's. The short ram felt like the least HP gain, but more than plain stock air box. Both CAI's and the air box with high flow filter, felt the same HP. Like I said NO Dyno's.

Price:
Stock = Free 'pay when bought car'
Short Ram = Around $145.00
AEM CAI = Around $200.00 plus by-pass valve $45
Stock with Comptech high flow filter = $59.00

In conclusion. I don't work for AEM, Comptech or any other intake manufacturer. Again this is all base on my personal opinion, taste, and experience with the products.

Thanks, I hope this helps a lot of people on making their decision when buying an Intake.

 

Just a few things:

<li> The short ram does get water on the filter. There is a gap between the hood and the fender that water can and will drip through when it rains, when washing your car etc. It drips right on to the short ram filter. I'm pretty sure it would drip on top of the stock air box as well as the CAI pipes/filter. However, this little bit of water makes no difference - you're only going to have problems if the filter is completely submerged (extremely unlikely).

<li> You might want to check out this mod. I think it will provide much more air flow to your intake, no matter what you are running.

 

is that "deep" sound from the stock/no resonator/comptech high-flow a *ricey* sound, or what??

I can't be havin that now...

maybe the aem is worth it just for the cool whistling sound...

 

ricey is the noise from the short ram. But then again a friend of mine likes it......he is a little rice boy by the way. Deep is just that is not loud......just a deeper sound than stock.

A few friends found the whistling sound cool.....so is all a matter of opinion.

As for NATE's mod......that is very helpful. Great job nate. I like it. I will do it to my car when it comes out of the shop.

 

Nice info. Quite thorough. How do you remove the stock resonator though?

 

Take off the drivers side front wheel, pull off the inner fender well clips and pull the inner fender well plastuc trim down, remove the box..it's two bolts.
Ed

 

Hey Ed....Where'd you get that info........:p

 

do you have to remove the orginal air filter before taking out the resonator....

 

There is not sequence of removal. The resonator is just a box connected to the air box (where the filter goes in). One of the disadvantages is that the resonator box redirects the pipe back to the engine bay thus inducting hot air. Another recommendation is to cut the plastic where the fog lights would go and put a metal mesh so more air can flow to the empty area inside the bumper.