i was looking at cold air intakes and the one i was shooting for was the alta, anyway at close to $300 its pretty pricey. I was looking through ebay to see if there were any cheap alta cai's, didnt find any, but what did catch my eye was a array of cai's that were only about $50 including shipping. I know these are off brand, but aside from the heat shield that alta has they do not seem to be lacking anywhere else, can someone fill me in on the pro's and con's of these cheap intakes. Any other advice is appreciated as well. Thanks in advance.

 

Hey. Some of those cheap intakes on ebay don't come with new tubbing for the intake to the throttle body. U have to use the stock tubbing. The other after market intakes have new tubbing that is smoother and doesn't have ripples in it like the stock one. And the after market tubbing it more heat resistant making it a Cold Air Intake (CAI). Some also come with a better more heat resistant box or shroud around the intake too. The ebay intakes might have cheap filters too. I have the Alta CIA and I love it; worth the money to me. Hope this helps.

 

Actually, the ones you see on ebay are a great deal. As for stock tubing, most aftermarket CAI setups utilize the stock tubing, as it's quite a good design. Keep in mind that most aren't truly "cold" air intakes (CAI), as there is a large amount of airflow that has been heated from engine with these setups... though some heat shield materials withstand heat better than others. That said, there has been much debate here on NAM as to how much or how little difference there is in the power produced from hot air intakes versus cold air intakes. Use the search feature at the top of this forum, as there's plenty of good reading on the subject. Just for fun, I've been experimenting with different intakes. I have installed a modified stock air box with an Alta foam panel air filter, a BMP Design, the Alta CAI and a $20 personal design hot air intake (much like the ones on ebay). The Alta has an impressive sound and is reported to have slightly higher gains than the BMP (2-3 hp), but I just didn't like it's noise. While I decided on the BMP for several reasons, I suggest two things: 1. with considerable modification, the stock air box is one of the truest "cold" air intakes and 2. with a good air filter, the "ebay" setup is very comparable to the expensive aftermarket intakes. It just needs a better source of cool air, so consider larger holes in the partition. All intakes provide similar gains, so look at Pilo, Helix, Mini Madness, M7, K&N and others as well. But for pure "best bang for your buck" go for the ebay. In fact, build your own. Either way, you'll have fun. And isn't what the Mini Cooper is all about?

Cheers!

 

+1 on bhardy's quote

 

As I do agree with Bhardy that the stock tubbing is a good design, it's still made of plastic; the Alta intake tubbing is made of silicon which is substantually more heat resistant than ABS plastic. Futhermore improving on the Cold Air aspect. You can purchase just the silicon tubbing if you want it and then put your own aftermarket filter on it. Also you can do a search on here and read up on Hot air intakes that pretty much eliminate the intake tube; connecting the air filter directly to the throttle body. It's up to you which direction you want to go. Just remember, you get what you pay for.