Bought a cheap cold air intake on Amazon and was shocked it actually worked

I was pretty skeptical about dropping $60 on a no name cold air intake off Amazon for my 2015 F150. Figured it'd be junk or mess up my engine. But I watched a couple real reviews on YouTube where guys dyno tested it and they got like 8 more horsepower. So I said whatever and ordered it. Took me about 45 minutes to install in my driveway, everything lined up right. After a week of driving around town here in Phoenix I noticed the throttle response felt snappier and gas mileage went up maybe 1.5 mpg. Not bad for the price. Has anyone else tried those budget intakes or did I just get lucky?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_hayden1mo ago

That placebo effect is doing some HEAVY lifting for you. Those cheap intakes are basically just a tube and a filter that pulls in HOT engine bay air instead of the cold air from the fender well like your factory box does. The factory intake on a 2015 F150 is already a cold air setup, Ford spent millions engineering it, and you swapped it for some no-name pipe made of thin metal that heat soaks in about five seconds. You probably lost power in real world conditions, not gained it. Those YouTube dyno videos you saw were likely cherry picked or the guy bolted it on a dyno with the hood open and a fan blowing, not replicating actual stop and go driving in Phoenix traffic. The gas mileage improvement is almost certainly from you driving gentler because you think you got more power, it's called the Hawthorn effect. Spend $60 on a K&N drop in filter for your stock box next time, you will actually get that result for real.

jesse9941mo ago

Preach, @the_hayden. Spot on.

nancy47514d ago

Wait, did I just have my mind changed by a forum post? I was dead set on getting one of those cheap intakes for my old Ram, figured louder equals faster. But you broke it down in a way that actually makes sense, especially the part about hot air from the engine bay. I never thought about how my factory box was pulling from the fender well, guess Ford did know what they were doing after all. Makes me feel dumb for falling for all those YouTube videos, especially the ones with the dyno numbers. Guess I'll just stick with a drop in filter and save myself the hassle.