An after-market intake usually made out of metal (the tubing that is)? Is there a reason for this besides looks? It seems that for sheer temperature, plastic would work better because it does not get as hot and does not maintain its temperature as well a metal would.

Sorry if this is a n00b question, but I'm just curious.

 

My guess is to give it a better look other than stock but who knows a metal pipe might help a little.

 

Actually, some aftermarket intakes are made of plastic, but those shiny polished intakes are so much more kewl looking. If you're going to drop a couple of C-notes on a piece of pipe, it had better be shiny!

George

 

I had a ceramic red intake for my wrx, thing was sweet, 10x better than the metal ones

 

cause metal intakes can be shaped without molds by mendrell bending a metal pipe, cost is cheap, plastic requirs molds and the process is more expencive hence so is the intake.

 

Also most intakes are made of aluminum which disperses heat a lot better than plastic thus making it a cold air intake.

 

its not a cold-air intake because its made of aluminum and difuses heat quickly. its a cold air intake when it takes the air from the fender, away from the motor, which is much cooler/colder.

 

you're both right. its aluminum because its disperses heat and called a CAI because of where it draws the air from.

 

i have a question though. say for instance aluminum does disperse heat more quickly then plastic (which it probably does). wouldnt this be a bad thing? i mean, considering the job of a cai is to draw in air from outside of the engine compartment because of the temperature difference, wouldnt the aluminium end up heating up the air in the intake...i mean, heat only travels from hot to cold as i understand. so building an intake out of something that is resistant to the transfer of heat would be ideal...

i dunno, can anyone tell me where the flaw is in my reasoning?

 

Smoothness too... Air Velocity is a big thing when it comes to intakes

 

iceman intakes are made of a thermo plastic.i had one on my civic long ago,but i dont know if they will make anything for the tC

 

JWT pop charger is made out of a plastic tube too.

 

Yeah. . . I thought high heat dispersion meant high conductivity of heat. . . which is bad. . . very bad. Or am I wrong? I made my own intake. I know, it's ghetto, but it's plastic, and it's a short ram.

 

its all about friction and smooth airflow

 

none of you guys/gals put insulation wrap around your intakes? After driving your car for a while, pop your hood and touch the intake, that thing is going to be hot!. I think putting insulation helps this out

 

They should make intakes out of the same material that heatsinks are made of. Those things are amazing, you can hold a small torch to one for a few seconds and it will barely get warm and cool off in seconds.

I doubt that would make them cheap though, hehe.

 

ever put aluminum foil in the oven before? not really easy to heat and cools VERY well...

 

my intake doesnt get hot. i can drive forever and it only gets slightly warm.

 

its gonna do the same job, one degree aint gonna affect you, i highly doubt your turboed, running 20 psi, and worried about 1 degree of heat, ive seen an intake made of pvc piping and do just as good as an aem (metal) intake, and the amount of time that the air is in the tube isnt gonna be enough for the air to gain a substantial amount of heat to affect performance, air is going to be rushing into the engine bay any way, its not like puttin a piece of pipe on a heater in a still room, the heat is constantly being pushed.

 

aluminum is really good when it comes to heat. take a sheet of aluminum foil and put it in the oven at 400 degrees for a while and then take it out. it get cool really fast. which would make sense to make a cai outta al because it has a high heat compacity (correct me if im wrong to use heat compacity). im pretty sure about all that too (im a chemistry major in college right now) but that would be my guess.