Understand that the front bumper needs to be removed in order to install the CAI. Do you also need to remove the bumper to access the air filter for cleaning and re-oiling?

 

remove the bumper to get access to the last bolt that holds the resonator box that needs to be removed. maintenance of the filter should be straightforward from the top in the engine bay. i just installed on today. not bad but time consuming when you're getting to know your car.

 

Once the intake is installed you cannot access the filter from the top. You will need to either remove the bumper or remove the clips and bolt at the front of the plastic fender well and pull it back.

 

me thinks 99WDP is right. i stand corrected.

 

Personally, unless you're off roading alot I wouldn't recommending cleaning the filter too often. K&N states that having the filter dirty actually helps it filter out the finer particles. I clean mine once a yr. I think that's all it needs.

 

That could be true about a dirty filter filtering out more dirt particles than a clean one, however, performance wise that would not be too good! By having a dirty filter it will be more restricive, therefore, less air will flow through. And since you bought the intake for performance, i would suggest you clean it up whenever it gets dirty (i usually clean it twice a year).

 

The front bumper doesn't need to be removed to install the CAI. Just remove the front two clips holding the inner fender to the wheel lip of the fender. Remove the 2 clips that secure the fender liner to the front bumper and splash shield. Then remove the 10mm bolt that secures the liner to the front leading edge of the fender. The inner fender will flip back far enough to reach the front bolt of the resonator chamber with a 10mm wrench. The complete installation took me about 30 minutes.

 

Doesn't take long when you install many of them!

 

That's exactly what my friend (j83) did when he installed my AEM CAI.

 

yea, same. i just kinda undid one side and pushed it out of the way. only took around 1.5 hours, but it was missing a rubber mount, so it took maybe 20 mins to make another one out of oem parts.

 

Surely any dirty filter will tend to trap smaller particles due to the clogged filter element, but that will also reduce overall air-flow. Oiling the filter will allow a clean filter to trap those fine particles. I've got a short ram in my 4Runner and without any off-road driving I'm having to clean it at least twice a year. Didn't want to install a CAI and have to deal with removing the bumper everytime to service the filter. Maybe this is why some chose the Short Ram instead...makes sense to me too!

 

actually, couldn't you just take off the second piece of the CAI? and then pull up the filter through the hole? or is it not big enough to get the filter through? cause then you could just take off the bolt holding down the second pipe, pull it up high enough to access the top of the filter, take off the filter, then, um, cut it in half or something to get it out? i dunno.

 

Yeah, it is too big to fit through. It has to come out the way it went in. From the bottom.

 

Hey Adam,
You always have a way with words.
BTW, what you do behind closed doors is your business.