I had an Alta 15% pulley and Alta CAI put on my 06 MCSCa. Right now I HATE the car. I have had CAIs put on cars before, but now, it sounds like a cat screaching loudly and the car cuts out in wierd places.

I went back and made the service guy ride with me. I said, this doesn't sound right. He said, oh, it's suppose to sound that way. I was expecting it to sound like it did before, just barely louder. NO!!!!! It's unappealing.

I went from absolutely loving my car to never wanting to drive it again. As I type this, my other half is driving it to figure out if there is any remedy besides going back to stock. I loved how quiet it was before and was prepared for a little more noice, but dang, this thing is horribly loud now in an awful way.

Tell me what your car sounds like after the same upgrades. I'm ready to go back to stock.

 

I don't remember mine sounding different, but my HAI is pretty loud...

 

Just put the stock intake back and you should be fine.
I was thinking about putting in a CAI but after hearing you complain about how loud it is, maybe I'll give it a second thought.
It's really that loud?

 

The ALTA CAI sound is not for everyone.

 

Loud would be fine if it was still in Mini sound arena. Personally, I think it's very whiney, not like sucking in more area, more sickly. I LOVE my CAI on my Suburban and other cars I've done it to.

 

Hmmm Maybe stock is not so bad. Perhaps a K&N drop-in or the JCW Intake?

 

I have the 15% pulley and K&N CAI , which whines louder than stock, but not like the Alta. I love the sound of mine!

 

I hear the alta cai does make things alot louder. I have a drop in foam and I just installed the 15% pulley today. I absoutely LOVE it. The pulley does add noise, as whine seems more deeper and exhaust note is louder also.

My car is totally stock drivetrain wise, and this is the first powermod I've done since I got the car (Aug/04)

 

Other half just got back and thinks it sounds fine until it's about 6000rpms. Ughhhh, I think I need to go back. If it was throaty, that would be one thing.

 

I had the Dinan from Stock and when I went to the Alta is was really dissapointed at the sound but i liked the power. I went to the WMS and I am very happy again..... pull the Alta and you should be much happier...it is not for everyone...... possibly buy the closed top option for the Alta... that should help

 

Sounds to me like you just didn't do any homework. I have done the same thing in the past and have paid for it twice. That sound ain't all that bad, you will learn to love it. As others have said in the past....turn up your radio so you don't hear the intake

 

I did do my homework. I just expected from the way everyone said they loved the sound, that it wasn't a whine. I turned up the radio, believe me.

 

The Alta, like most aftermarket intakes, accentuates the supercharger whine, and intake "sucking" sound. This is especially due to the fact that there's now that hole in the back of the air box, to get air out of the driver's side cowl vent. The sound is normal for Alta CAI's. The pulley much less to do with this... I personally love the jet-engine supercharger whine noise. I researched CAI's, and knew that the Alta was perfect for me. I therefore have no regrets.

Anyways,

The quickest and easiest remedy to this is to go back to the stock air box, (again, leave the pulley on). But if you still want more air flow, (which most NAM posters would agree with), consider a drop-in panel filter with the stock box. K&N, Alta, and others make these drop-in panel filters for use with the stock box. This should fix the undesireable sound issue for you.

 

Try a BMP Pro Mini intake. I really like mine. It uses a K&N type reusable cone filter with a stainless steel shroud. A little more noise but rather pleasant IMHO.

 

One other option that nobody seems to have considered is to swap the Alta CAI for the JCW airbox. The JCW airbox provides more airflow than the stock airbox, so you should not end up starving the s/c with the 15% pulley.

 

Hey, you're not happy.
Pull that thing off and put the stocker back on. The supercharger whines quite a bit and the stock intake is what muffles the sound. If you don't like what you hear: that's your taste. At least you took a chance. Too bad it ended up sour.
MINI's are meant to be fun and enjoyable. You should love getting in and motoring regardless of the destination.

dan

 

OK well I have a solution that will save you looking into other intakes and not go back to stock, put the stock heat shield in with the ALTA CAI, this will give you a little more noise and take away a little HP but I think it is much closer to what you are looking for. I have the ALTA and I love it, but I also know that the ALTA is most certainly not for everyone, but if you bought it you need not ditch it right away, this could save you some $$ if you like in and if you don't then you lost some time to learn a little bit, ethier way its cheaper than buying a new intake and is still better than stock for preformance gains.

 

Also give it some milage and the ALta will quiet down as the whistle from ait going over the TB will quiet down when the filter has dome dust in there, thats just the nature of foam filters.

 

That will make it a little bit less whiney?

I had an SRT 4 and loved the sound of the extra air which sounded more like a wind sound. I expected something similiar. This is more like a Corolla trying hard to get up to 60 mph (labored). I will look into the heat shield idea. Thank you for the thoughts!!!!

 

There are a number of threads on the whistling sound the Alta makes. If you are looking for quiet with the performance balance try the JCW CAI or DINAN.

 

The car has a roots blower on it, thats what they sound like. Ever hear an '03-'04 Cobra? its twice as loud and twice as cool! The louder whine should just show you how restrictive the stock air box actually is. Not many people complain about their blower actually sounding more like a blower...

 

No offense, but its a SuperCharger..... They Whine, its what they do, its what they've done for years. Every heard of a Kenny Belle hi boost kit Supercharger on a Mustang Cobra? It whines to all hell, but its great, because its making HP.

If you don't like the sound of a Supercharger then you simply bought the wrong car....

You might want to trade up to an 08 MCS with the Turbo as soon as their availible.

I have a stock pulley with HAI, my Autox buddies say its incredibly loud when they're working the course. Inside the car i barely notice a difference unless i have the windows down and i'm paying attention and i mostly only hear a bit of off throttle hiss which i love.

 

Damn you! Posted the same thing at almost the same time

 

It should at the least dull the whine, the aerodunamics of the MINI dictate that the majority of intake air in the MCS comes through the cowl the stock heat shield lets enough air through but blocks and slows a large portion of that. But by leaving in your CAI you can still get more air to flow through than the stock box would. Also if its too quiet then you could slowly enlarge the whole until it gets to where you want it. I really hope this works out for as the MINI is a very fun car and it should always be that way.

 

Or get a used JCW airbox with a K&N cone in it for least noise with good-as-any air flow.