Fact Check: Stop Making These Air Intakes

It’s time for another Banks Fact Check and this time Gale’s looking at air intakes. Air Density is a topic that Gale Banks has professed for over six decades. The volume of the air your engine inhales does not determine its power potential. Air density does. Air density is the amount of air within a given volume and is determined by pressure, temperature, and humidity. The greater the air density, the more power the engine will make. An exposed air filter under the hood is ok as long as the hood is up and it’s able to draw cool dry air. But once the hood is closed, the air it inhales becomes superheated and is far less dense.

00:00 Intro
00:18 Barry from S&B Filters
01:27 Selling Out
02:47 We Bought One
03:17 Gale Banks Inspects Intake
03:37 Physics of Airflow
05:46 We offer a solution
06:39 Moving the battery
08:27 Overcoming stock limitations
08:56 Filter size doesn’t matter
10:50 Conclusion

Fact Check Analysis

An open-air filter may increase the engine’s sound, but it decreases performance. A real “cold air intake” is one that actually draws in cold air from the vehicle’s exterior. The best intake system is one that utilizes the vehicle’s velocity to ram cool ambient air into the inlet of the enclosed airbox. It’s time intake manufacturers stop selling open-air intakes that hurt performance.