I've had the Stainless DDM cold air intake on my 2003 S for about six months now and thought I'd post my thoughts on it. Some are good, Mostly not so good though.

I purchased the intake from Way Motor Works and was very happy with the customer service I received. I placed the order online and they contacted me over the phone to go over the purchases I had made and recommended a different combo of parts which actually reduced the cost of my overall order. Upon receiving the intake the quality looked very good. How the intake bolted to the car was fine. I ran into several issues other issues. First the cover bolts and weld nuts they screw into are both stainless. That sounds great until just taking the bolts out caused them to gaul and lock the bolts in place. I was able to free all but one with some patience and penetrating fluid. The last one is stuck a 1/2 turn from tight forever. I now also have to pivot the cover on this bolt to access to the filter. The other issue is the tube the filter and intake tube attaches to. There is no bead on the filter side. If you are not careful tightening the filter down it just pops off the end of the tube. On the intake side the tube is ~1/8" too large and makes getting the intake on a bear. It honestly took longer to get this tube on then to install the rest of the intake. One last little niggle is the tab that holds the battery terminal. The tab is a bit too small and the terminal just sort of hangs on it. It doesn't lock in place like the factory tab did.

Once it was installed I was happy with it for several months. The supercharger whine is just awesome and it makes a nice seat of the pants difference in power.

About a month ago I started getting a funny noise when starting from a stop. It sounded a bit like the exhaust squeaking/moving. After a few attempts at tracking down the noise I figured out it was from the intake. The welds that hold the metal tube in the intake failed. Now the tube that connects the filter to the intake tube is floating. When I take off it moves in the intake housing and makes the noise I'm hearing.

So overall I'm not all that thrilled with this intake. I may just be an outlier since I don't read much about them having issues on here.

 

I have had mine for about a month now, also from Way Motor Works. I ran into the same problems with the intake tube. In the install instructions it did say to heat the rubber intake tube so it can be stretched over the metal pipe of the CAI. At first I didn't read the instructions and was having a very hard time with it, but once I pulled out the heat gun it became a lot easier.

I am just now hoping that down the road I don't have the same welds break on mine. I hope that DDMWorks or WMW will replace it for you under warranty.

 

I am interested to hear anyone else's experience with it, since I am on the fence about getting it installed.

 

I've had mine for more than year now without any problems. It is a daily driver.

 

I just looked at the one on the vehicle I just purchased, really to clean the filter. I noticed that as I reinstalled the filter over the tube, the tube is basically smooth and does not have a swag to "grip" the filter when the hose clamp is tightened. It is very easy to bump the filter off the tube since filter oil residue will easily get on both surfaces. It is common practice (look at a radiator tube) to have an offset in the connection tube for the hose. Does sound nice, though.

 

Maybe the OP just got a lemon

 

I will be following this thread, was recently looking at doing a DDM or a Craven.

 

We have two in the family, a '03 MCS has had the intake for about 18 months no issues, the '02 MCS has had one for about 8 months again no issues.

I would definitely get back to DDM with your issues and see what response you get. I would expect a replacement if your CAI was installed correctly and used not abused. Not quite sure how you would abuse one but who knows?

 

I've had mine for over a year, and no problems yet. I don't believe that the CAI suffers from a lot of engine movement, so the fact that the CAI was getting enough jiggle to split the welds means probably that the part might be defective (assuming that it was installed correctly).

I'm happy with mine, generally, though. I do agree that the clip for the battery terminal is not built perfectly (still fine), and the filter clamp onto the air stack is also very slippery-- always takes me forever to clamp on...

One last thing small design query i have is why DDM wouldn't make a filter that is even wider (so it fills the box more) and LONGER (so it sticks into the cavity). Therefore, it could stick out through to where there is more cold air (below the cowls). I've read somewhere that someone has replaced the foam element with a K+N one, but i wonder if that one is any longer or bigger.

 

Since it's less than a year old we should not have a problem warranting it. Just contact me on Monday and we'll get it going. Been using them for years and never had a problem. The SS screw problem I've seen from people not getting them started straight, or not starting all the screws before tightening down the first one.

 

The screws seized up when I was taking the cover off, so no screw misalignment issues.

I'm actually going to repair it myself. The plan is to make a new tube with a reduced outlet to fit the rubber intake better and a lip to hold the filter on.

 

Way; Gotta love your customer service.

Banzairx7: If you end up welding in a new tube I'd add a weld bead around the lip to help keep the filter on.

Not sure how similar they all end up being but these were the same frustrating issues I've had with my Alta (minus the tube becoming free). My intake side was huge compared to the stock tube, although I added the Alta intake tube (ugh on fitment there too!!) My filter side doesn't have a lip either so I had a heck of a time fitting the clamp and filter on just right to get it "tight enough" without the filter falling off. Had it on for a couple weeks now and I've been checking every fill up to make sure the filter hasn't popped off.

 

I have this intake and highly recommend it. Not sure what happened with the welds on yours but mine is pretty darn solid.

Kudos to Way for stepping up with the warranty support.

 

I have the DDM intake on my car since march 2011 and didn't had any issues with the installation. I have no problem recommanding this intake. Also, it's never a bad thing to put a bit of anti-seize on bolts that will be removed some day.

 

Best install I've made on my mini so far (2005 MCS)

 

I'd definitely contact DDM if you have issues. I live near there and get all of the work on my car done there. Class act group of folks, they'll take care of you.

 

So do I! They really are great guys and their service is top notch. I went there because of how close they are (right across the highway haha) and I stayed because they are great at what they do!

 

I bought mine direct from Dave at DDM 3 years ago and other than struggling to install the tube all went well. I love it, the whine is great,seat of the pants is great,it looks great. Also, Dave even called a week or so after i rec'd it to see how it went,classy guy. Would buy another if occasion arose.
Bill

 

does this intake throw some of the codes on the ecu off aka messing with the MAF sensor?

 

Not that I know of. Mine didn't throw any codes.

 

Not for me. That's strange. Why would an intake do that?

 

I have this intake, it's the BEST on the market, only a close second would be the daveF modified box.

the screw cant magically cross thread itself on the way out. if Way is offering to exchange it, I'd take that instead of modifying it, that's really not a smart move for an intake. It is known that the intake tube can be hard to seat on the outside of the box, but a little work goes a long way.

 

did ddm change your intake? im having this problem now i thought im hearing my suspension rattling or that i have a loose exhaust insulator in the headers

 

I just repaired it myself. It took less than hour. I did add some weld bead to hold the filter on and now the filter is nice and secure.

To ggdac- The screws did not cross thread they gauled. That is when two metals of the same material cold weld themselves together. It is very common with stainless hardware. DDM should be putting anti-seize on the screws to prevent it at minimum. Using different grades of stainless hardware would help too. Say use 304 for the nuts and 316 for the screws.

I really want to stress that for being the best intake on the market it has a lot of short comings. Why do we tolerate this? Why does everyone stick up for it? Many of the replies here agree with intake tube size being too big and the filter falling off. They then go on to say it's fine. Really? The changes needed are pretty minor in the scheme of things. As long as people keep on touting it as the best there is I guess they have no reason to do anything about it. I've never seen an auto community so blindly follow the herd as mini owners seem to do.

 

I bought mine used and have zero issues with it. I do have an Alta hose from the box to the throttle body but have not experienced any issues at all. Maybe I just got a really good one by comparison?

It was mentioned several times to contact them and if you did not, imho, you did not give them a fair chance to make it right, which is just as important as a quality product. It could have been one that missed QC or something. Not defending just pointing out my observations. I don't know jack about grades of steel so I'll take your word that it is a design flaw and pick up some anti-seize.