I did as much research as could for my 2009, and I'm still kind of this way and that way. I'm not sure what I should do. As for the overall decision on the type i'm leaning toward Cold Air. But what is the the good route to go? Is it best to buy a brand name straight up for a costly price, or go ebay on the pipe and buy a brand filter?

After all I'm learning that a metal pipe is a metal pipe, but really is it? What about fitment, placement, and what about the MAF sensor? What about pricing compared to quality? Let's also take into consideration HP/TQ Gain. I also hear that a race land pipe is a good decision.

I'm late on tuning a tc, and i'm sort of lucky to have so many of you try and experiment already with all the different choices. So what do you guys think?

 

A lot will argue that a pipe is a pipe, regardless of what brand it is, and i would agree to a certain extent.

There are brands are there that are "well known" for lack of a better term, for having your Check Engine Light on.

Some brands have smaller piping, some have bigger.

Some can be converted to short ram.

Hp gain to the wheel is going to be minimal despite the numbers that some claim, but you definitely will hear more out of the motor at 3k rpm thats for sure.

I myself bought an Injen Cold Air that can be converted to a short ram as well, and I will be using the short ram when it gets here in the mail later this week.

A lot of people around here have the raceland CAI, I have heard nothing but good things about it. Cant beat that price for a new system with a warranty.

 

Good God there is so much on this. Someone posts about asking about CAI's/SRI's everyday (although you seem some what intelligent about it compared to others)
Search.
You will see that CAI's/SRI's really have little impact on our cars. Idk if on others they make a difference, but for ours they make a big whooshing sound and that's about it. I have the Injen Intake. Big ____in' huge waste of money. Its a pipe with a filter. Buy the raceland and if you feel like being a big spender buy the AEM dryflow filter. I have a SRI because I have an open engine bay underneath and I don't wanna suck up water and hydrolock it.
But seriously please search. This topic was covered 457,453,454,567 times already.

 

No need to make 2 threads that are nearly completely similar. https://www.scionlife.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=200511

Just keep the other one going. All of which you ask/want to know has been discussed in great length. Just buy any intake YOU like, the gain in power isn't truly noticeable, and each intake gains about the same.