I have a bog stnadrd mk4 golf and was reading a bit of autoexpress regular e-mail which had something about airfilters in it. It talked about them and how people usually don't bother as they as considered boy racery
Yes. Either replacing the existing paper filter element or chopping the airbox out for an "induction kit."
The majority of induction kits suck in hot air. Hot air isn't a good thing for an engine for efficiency, power and fuel consumption. Their claimed power increase... take with a pinch of salt. They're more about the noise.
Replacement panel filters maintain the existing and manufacturer-optimised (or compromised) induction system. These are typically manaufactured to be quiet (although some are tuned to make a certain noise).
You need to inform your insurance company.
In my opinion, yes to the panel element, no to the induction kit.
Depending on the car, a replacement panel filter may reduce the noise.
Induction kits (i.e. a dodgy looking cone with some silverised "cold air feeds") are noisier.
I've some articles on replacing my old machines' paper air filter with the K & N oil and foam type.
Well I wouldn't bother with an induction kit costing hundreds of pounds. The thing that looks like a giant bucket with fins! They suck in hot air from the engine bay and DECREASE performance. The ones with a pipe you stick near the front of the car are no different to using a replacement filter element. Replacing an air filter will make no difference to performance unless the old one was clogged up and years old. If you never want to change again you can buy a replacement panel filter that just goes in the original housing. K&N ones are meant to last for 100,000miles and cost in the region of £60. You will not notice any difference in acceleration or power and there will be no extra noise.
On it's own the air filter has no effect, you would need to change the diameter of the pipe going to the air filter housing, change the inlet and outlet manifolds and also use a better exhaust system, maybe an uprated fuel pump. It will cost you in the region of £1500+ for that lot before fitting. Then another £400+ for an engine management chip. Even then it will not do much - not unless it is a diesel. It's certainly not worth the money for increased fuel consumption and higher insurance costs as you will need to declare it.
Boy racers are a strange lot! They lower their cars with springs that are not designed for the car, so it bangs up and down, makes it unstable and adjusts the suspension geometry outside the manufacturers standard. They fit a huge growling rear silencer for no apparent reason, put giant air filters on, glue giant body kits over their cars and all seem to wear baseball caps and cheap tracksuits. They usually listen to gangster rap music, smoke pot and ALL of them seem to have cars with tiny little engines.
1200cc seems massive to them. See more of them on
Thanks for that, has proved very helpful. Still not sure whether to bother or not. Having had a read about it whats the deal with green air filters ? I've seen some specifically for my car and they are about £30 why so dear ? Any good ?
cheers
Dear?
What's a tank of fuel? A replacement pair of tyres? A pollen filter? Wiper blades? Or a paper element?
I didn't write that these funky filters are washable. You don't replace them unless you've covered a million miles in the case of K & N.
A million miles.
It may be quieter. It may be noisier. That depends on the specifics. For our Ka it made it quieter by removing a higher pitched hissing noise at higher engine speeds. On the Honda is "enhanced" the high lift profile snarl a little and quietened it down at slower engine speeds.
Er, no.
You don't need to buy a new ECU. You can recode the existing one. Many off the shelf units cost less than this.
Again that depends on specifics. My NA chip tuned Ka...
...cost no more as a modification but improved the mid range sufficient to reduce the need to change down and this may have helped fuel consumption.
Something made ~5% difference. It may have been little fairies of course.
Oh and it knocked a second off the quarter mile time.
Not all suspension kits do this, bucko.
Some untruths here. Do you have a chip on the shoulder? Or two?
I'm not particularly a boy racer. You're running wheels down a well worn road and it's getting a little tired.
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