K&N or AEM?

[CanadaKid]

Everyone,

I know this has probably been discussed before but I can't seem to find a solid concrete answer.

What is a better intake system AEM or the K&N? Are there any major difference between manufacturers?

Any help would be great!

[Sith LL_Coupe]

There's absolutely no difference between the two as far as performance, or most of the intakes available for that sake for the Altima Coupe. The one difference is the price. The K&N is by far the most expensive Intake for the A/C. $100 more to be exact than the AEM. Some people may debate that the heat shields offered on these two intakes is better than the other ones, but no evidence/dyno results prove that.

[maxentropy]

I'm going with injen for the better sound because honestly the performance is not really going to change from intake to intake.

[SHIFT_confucius]

Performance aside I went the K&N route. To me the shield along with the OEM air intake looks more like a custom fit item instead of the filter just hanging out on the side of the engine.

[PHENOMenalVinyl]

There's absolutely no difference between the two as far as performance, or most of the intakes available for that sake for the Altima Coupe. The one difference is the price. The K&N is by far the most expensive Intake for the A/C. $100 more to be exact than the AEM. Some people may debate that the heat shields offered on these two intakes is better than the other ones, but no evidence/dyno results prove that.

imo get the cheaper one......its just an intake and they dont make a CAI so u mine as well just get the cheaper one

[rcboy514]

perfomance will be pretty much the same on either the k&n and the AEM, so I went with the one that looked better.

[LinkNuc]

Which ever you like better, you aren't going to see any real gains, so just go with what you like better esthetically

[Ricko]

Buy the K&N from Stillen. You will be happy, I was

[crayzitalian3]

like some of the guys said, AEM and K&N are both the same basically, it's just how much money you are willing to spend

[anthonyle2002]

I live in CA and apparently we have stricter laws. Is the K&N legal in CA??? I don't want to have to take it off everytime I need a smog check.....

[dldjros69]

I live in CA and apparently we have stricter laws. Is the K&N legal in CA??? I don't want to have to take it off everytime I need a smog check.....

Ill be honest with you im not sure what the cali law is, or if intakes are legal or not. I know when i got an intake for my 2002 dodge neon it came with a carb exempt sticker.

But one thing i can tell you is that i just passed a smog inspection with the intake installed.

[NJAltcoupe812]

I thought k&n was 50 state street legal

[dimitrinassis001]

You should also check if the heat shield is req. In Ontario you legally have to have the intake boxed off from the rest of the engine bay. I have never heard of anyone getting a ticket but my dealer told me by law its req.

[anthonyle2002]

So in terms of performance what would be best, getting one of these WAI or sticking to the stock box but getting a high flow K&N filter? ]

lots of warm air _____ normal air

a. <b. >c. =d. other (please specify) hahaha

[bunda4th]

Well, whatever intake you get it will not give you any type of gain unless you can get lots of cold air into it.

Most people get the intake for the louder engine sound when at higher rpm. I have the fujita intake and I am pretty sure I see no gain at all but it sounds cool lol.

[LinkNuc]

Again, go with what you like to the eye and ear, you're not going to see or feel any gains...we've had this discussion before...

http://www.nicoclub.com/articles/dyno-game.shtml

I had a typhoon on my Z, I too had the placebo, but came back to reality

also on my Titan, no placebo, just loved the sound.....it ROARED

[Sentientbydesign]

I'm going to give you a few reasons to go with the AEM over the K&N.

-The boxes in design on the AEM is actually pretty nifty. I was impressed and an intake hasn't impressed me since I saw this:

(Gruppe M CF 350z intake).

-The K&N intake flows better when clean, BUT at the cost of filtration. Once it gets dirty, it filters better, BUT doesn't flow as well. ALSO, it is VERY common to have the filter oil evaporate and redeposit (I don't care what independent BS K&N did for testing. It happens).

-The AEM has a Dry-Flow synthetic media reusable filter. I have used this on my I30 and my wife has one on her AEM CAI. They don't "cake" like the K&Ns do, so a quick tap or brush can get most of the large debris out. Washing is very straight forward.

I HATE that my care came with a K&N drop-in and have been contemplating doing a custom short ram CAI for my G.

[Sentientbydesign]

So in terms of performance what would be best, getting one of these WAI or sticking to the stock box but getting a high flow K&N filter? ]

lots of warm air _____ normal air

a. <b. >c. =d. other (please specify) hahaha

The WAI has one very imporant place where it's beneficial over a CAI. That's in very cold weather. I believe optimum air temperature for an Internal Combustion Engine is around 76 degrees F (don't quote me, just what I seem to remember). If the ambient temp is 35 degrees, then the engine heat can actually bring the intake air charge closer to the optimum temperature.

A perfect example is my old I30. I have a DIY WAI on it. On a hot SoCal summer day, that car was slower than all hell. During a cold winter night, it would put most other cars to shame.

[dldjros69]

The K&N intake flows better when clean, BUT at the cost of filtration. Once it gets dirty, it filters better, BUT doesn't flow as well.

I have the K&N for my 2.5, and i also have a filter wrap. The filter wrap and the filter look like the day i bought it. (i was one of the first to purchase these when they were released.)

Nissan did a good job on designing the engine bay. The engine/engine bay still looks new, except for some dust.