GForce

I have a TRD (AEM) cold air intake on my Xa, will removing the AIR BYPASS FILTER filter improve performance?http://www.aempower.com/ViewCategory.aspx?CategoryID=20 I had a K&N cold air filter on the car but it was destroyed when I hit debris on the freeway and Toyota replaced it with the TRD. I thought the car felt alot more powerful with the K&N over the TRD. Maybe because the K&N didn't have this filter or because the tube was allot shorter,I don't know. The sound with the K&N was better also. Any feelings about this? If I remove the filter can I get a coupling to connect the sections of tubing? Thanks

draxcaliber

removing the valve won't do anything except make your xa more susceptible to hydrolocking under wet conditions. the reason why if feels slower is the length of the tube. the longer, the less torque, but the longer means more peak horsepower.

i went from a k&n cai to a trd cai because the support bracket on the k&n kept breaking. i like the trd one much better sound wise. but a cold air intake is a cold air intake. nobody can make one seriously better than anybody else. it is just some piping connecting an air filter to a throttle body. aside from fitment and build quality, they should all yield similar performance gains with minimal perceivable differences.

it is like saying are kumho tires cheaper because they aren't as round good years?

DriverXa

^Word. The cai from K&N is more of a short ram outside of the engine compartment on the xA. The short ram gives better low to mid range power. The TRD with all of the intake tubing is more for high range power. If u want u can remove the bypass valve n lower piping, stick the filter on the top piping and have a warm air short ram intake. U'll get ur low to mid range power back, only thing is that on really hot days u'll experience heatsoak.

GForce

Thanks for the explanation.I'll leave it as it is.