It's this type of quality content that keeps me coming back to your channel. I'm not surprised the oem setup is best. When infinity made this car to compete against the Germans, there's no way they would leave ANYTHING on the table.

I just ordered the AFE filters for my stock air box on my 3.0t due to seeing several comparisons about this same topic. Thanks for posting!

This is good stuff! Thanks for testing this out

Great video man! Glad I took your word early on when I had my VQ.

This is good info. I read and researched about aftermarket intakes and I came to the realization that the stock box and silicone hoses with drop in performance dry air filters are the way to go. That’s what I have in my qx50 3.7l. I’am not changing a thing. I seen dyno after dyno that aftermaket intakes lose power.

I agree with you about the factory air box but I took my out because it just takes to much space.

Awesome you were able to do a side by side comparison! I also never intended to run an aftermarket intake on my Q50 but when going through the tuning process with Nick at SOHO they strongly recommended the Takeda intakes. I guess if nothing else they look pretty cool in the engine bay lol!

Great video very helpful! Is there a difference from a performance standpoint between the more popular (at least i believe they are) k&n oiled drop ins vs the afe dry filters?

Great test. 👍🏽

I have a takeda afe cold air intake stage 2 I haven’t put it on yet tho

I have a q50 but spend most my time working on 30+ year old cars. The factory air boxes on old car are often cracked, old, and unavailable. Aftermarket is the only way to go in those cases. Anyway most aftermarket intakes are just hot air intakes and you got to fab up boxes, and piping to get them to work right.

If I am looking to tune in the future you think it would be better just to buy the aFe filters instead of buying an aftermarket intake? I see a lot of tuners recommend an intake for their tune.

@speedculturestudios do you know anyone that is running a dual in 2.5 to a single out 3” single exit borla muffler pared with flow master muffler I’m very close to doing this set up on my 3.7 q50

would be nice if someone made maybe a oem plus intake box, havent seen no one do that yet for the vq37vhr... i would have kept my oem intake but the boxs were in bad shape from prev. owner.

if you put bigger intakes dont you think you need more fuel? whats your opinion on ported upper and lower?

LOL I know the feeling when you spend a bunch of money and the car goes slower than before :-(. I have seen on other videos that the stock airbox is the best option out of all of them.

Great info and data. One thing to consider here is that if your motor is not needing more air, Giving it more will not do anything. Also..was this test on Stock manifold and TB? Larger Intakes will reduce Air velocity with out anything else done to the intake system. So this all makes sense. And it's been seen over and over again on the dynos. This the reason I have not even considered intakes, drop in filter with Z1 tubes and call it day.

I'd like to see some variants on the catback, im looking at basing a 2.5 dual system for my a6 3.0t off yours, ill be running test pipes, but thinking about running either magnaflow or borla pro xs rear mufflers

also i really like the exhaust noise

Great video, love it

Will 3 inch CAI perform a lot better on the 3.0T as compared to the VQ? Trying to fabricate my own intakes

What's the name of your cat back exhaust and what did it run you

Good stuff.... I'll keep my factory boxes with the drop ins

Interesting stuff... I ended up swapping out my stock intake with the aFe Power Takeda intake and haven't noticed any loss in power whatsoever (but no gain either, obviously). The Takeda intake pretty closely resembles the stock intake though. I would've stuck with the stock intake but the plastic is horrendous quality, really brittle, and I just didn't want to deal with it.

did you say what gas octane you were on? 91 or 93/4 ? numbers are good in my eyes. for what the car has been through id stay its pretty stable. stay safe duder!

Would UPT intakes make a difference much longer with better airflow and aren’t getting much heat soak as they come to the front lower grill of the car look into those and make a vid!

You and I both have said over and over again, the factory intake setup on these vq's is 99.9% of the time, the best option.. Even going back to the old SR20's and 1st gen vq's... They put a lot of energy into these intakes.. Same with the v8's.. Saw a 5hp loss with intakes on the q70 5.6.

good video

would u ever though meth /water injection to get intake temps down?

How do I get that big clock on my screen ?

New around here, where is the SCS exhaust? Not finding a lot of info

So what about the z1 intakes because they post dyno results showing improvement? Same with ams

thank u so much bro

Opinions on the UPT 3in long tube intakes?

Hey. So I just got a 2018 3.0 AWD Luxe Q50 with like 20k miles. I’m gonna drive it for a year or two before I go all out and spend 100k on a dream car. So I wanted to know, let’s say I’m willing to spend 2000-2500$ on after market stuff on it. What do you recommend? Can you put together a shopping list for me? Back in the 90s when I had Supra’s and Rx7s and 240s I’d do like exhaust, chip, intake. Do people still kinda follow that model? I spent the last decade in nyc without a car. Feel free to go above 2500$. It’s a soft cap lol. Thank you in advance!!!

Great video thanks for that …. So with the 2.25 test pipes did u get a check engine light and if it did did it go away with the tune

what’s the best drop in filters?

i really like the video and the idea behind it, i just don’t get how admin him self makes more power when the cars he tuned switched from 2.5” to his 3”, but you switched to 3” intakes at soho and the intakes made you lose power, but he makes more power with them… also one thing to consider is most people use e85 with these intakes. since you’re bringing in more air you can make use of more octane, and therefore more advanced timing without detonation. so yes if we’re just adding more air to the mix with 3” intakes but aren’t adding more fuel to the mix then you still could only make the same power or less like we seen. just my thoughts, but overall a great video with good information, and i really like the R&D you do for the community.

the issue with the larger intake tubes , is they slow velocity , with velocity , you lose heat. slower velocity allows more wicking of heat from parts and underhood temps to the actual inlet airflow being its moving slower, so exposed longer .

I wonder how Actual Cold Air Intakes would perform vs the stock air boxes.(Custom made like how freshhkiicks did on his q50) The test you did doesn't really surprise me because even switching to 3" intakes you still have them in the enginebay sucking up all that hot air so of course your going to loose a lil power vs the stock air boxes that's actually designed for cold air direction getting help from the radiator cover.

What was the gain from the 2.25 test pipes ?

Wouldn’t the TB’s be the limiting factor in this situation?

What exhaust do you have ?

Why should you not drive with 3 inch intakes without a tune?

I wouldn't go so far as the worry about mileage nowadays, my 2014 Q50 is at 189,000 made 340 at the rear wheels and never seen the back of a tow truck since I bought it back in 2014

It’s crazy because g37s pick up so much from 3in intake

Channel would boom with a 3.0t modding

Sooo…just boost it, is what you trying to say 😂

Yo I got an idea for you secret weapons 🤔 try them I’m sure we want to see the difference and you should’ve went with that idea other than these… we knew they weren’t good to being with.

Either get admin intakes or keep your stock ones on with some filters no in between

I effing knew it. The stock air boxes are the best. Like I've said, I'm saving that $400 for an air intake for another mod.

This is why admin won't tune a car with short ram

= stay stock oem

I agree and disagree. Do the same video with a G37 admintuning intakes has a proven track record for gains, but they are expensive, and require a tune. I know that he don't got any intake for Q50 your right about short rams nothing new.