Cold air intake!!!

[Cabrtr]

Hello everyone I'm new to the whole Altima forum world. I just recently bought a 2008 Altima Couple 3.5 SE. I've been reading and looking everywhere on which cold air intake to get and most forums I have read "including this one" have said go with a Typhoon K&N. But a couple others have said go with the Apollo universal intake system. I was just wondering if anyone has any helpful information on this. Thanks!

[FADED12]

Basically all intakes r the same it's the filter that's diff. U can get a non name pipe and get a name filter and b fine. Your going to get a lot of opionins some ppl like the loud intake some like not so loud. Off topic sorry just get k&n ull like it!!!

[Cabrtr]

Ok that sounds good. I just ordered my air filter an went with the k&n. thanks a lot for the help.

[FADED12]

Your welcome. Ull enjoy ur intake I'm pleased with mine.

[RicerX]

Not all intakes are created equal. Piping design is just as important as the filter as far as an aftermarket intake is concerned. You want piping that is optimized for that car, so piping diameter cannot be too small or too large. The more bends in the pipe will cause more turbulent airflow, which robs you of power. Piping material such as thin billet aluminum will also absorb more heat than say titanium (but many of us cannot afford that), which leads me to my next point.

Heat is the enemy of air intake setups, which is why a true cold air setup is what many people pursue, but the Altima 3.5 does not have that option, as the Altima's engine bay design is not conducive to a true "cold-air" setup. It has to grab air from inside the engine bay, which is hot and heat soak reduces power.

There are several aftermarket intakes available for the Altima 3.5. The best performing ones are ones with heat-shielding around the filter assembly. The two I have experience with are AEM and R2C. The AEM is more intensive as far as installation goes. The R2C is easier to install.

I haven't seen the K&N intake setup for this car and I cannot recall if it has any heat shielding. If it does, it's a good option. If it does not, then it's not the best. Filtration will be just fine, but there won't be much there for power gains, if any.

[AlexN09]

K&N has a nice heat shield that mates up to the hood surface with a rubber gasket. It also accepts air from the front hood scoop which I would argue is in fact cold fresh air?

Honestly I would not be surprised if our factory setups were not very very close to ideal.

[RicerX]

They are pretty close to ideal, with the exception of crinkle hose and such. Nissan's factory intake setups are very well done as far as maximizing efficiency.

The 370Z is another good case. The only thing about the Z is the Stillen cold air which brings the filters out into the bumper area and they're known to make substantial power gains. For a lot of people, this isn't an ideal setup for a daily driver because who wants to take off the front bumper every time they have to service an air filter? Many get k&n drop in air filters and replace the crinkle hose with smooth silicone hosing and get some extra power there. It would be nice to see someone make some custom hosing for the Altima.

[trevor203]

i have the nismo and i love it. just go for it