Thoughts on cold air intakes please - Worth it or not?

[Yorkshire_Z4M40i]

I've finally decided I'm going to start upgrading my Z a bit, and amongst other things (some cosmetic and some mechanical), one of the first things I had planned was a new cold air intake.

I am currently eyeing up ones from MST (around £280 to £300), aFe (around £500) and Eventuri (around £1300), but I'm struggling to figure out the differences, that warrant the wide price range between the three. There doesn't seem to be much in it between the three performance wise, so I'm struggling to see the reason of the Eventuris price tag, other than maybe what it is actually made from. I was thinking of going for the aFe one to sort of split the difference, although I'm now starting to think the MST one will be just as good probably.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the three choices available please? Also keen to hear people's thoughts on changing intakes out generally too please. Ta

 

[Argyll Andy]

Raven’s the only one I know running an Eventuri, the others I don’t know about

https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1872034#p1872034

 

[Yorkshire_Z4M40i]

Raven’s the only one I know running an Eventuri, the others I don’t know about

https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1872034#p1872034

Cheers Andy... I remember Raven mentioning this before now actually. I probably should have put links to all three on this post too.

https://www.mlperformance.co.uk/products/mst-performance-bmw-toyota-b58-cold-air-intake-system-a90-supra-g29-z4?_pos=10&_sid=122713609&_ss=r

https://www.mlperformance.co.uk/products/afe-bmw-toyota-b58-i6-takeda-momentum-cold-air-intake-system-g29-z4-m40i-a90-gr-supra?_pos=1&_sid=6991c13ce&_ss=r

https://www.evolveautomotive.com/eventuri-carbon-fibre-intake-system-bmw-g29-z4-m40i-b58/

 

[Argyll Andy]

Raven’s the only one I know running an Eventuri, the others I don’t know about

https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1872034#p1872034

Cheers Andy... I remember Raven mentioning this before now actually. I probably should have put links to all three on this post too.

https://www.mlperformance.co.uk/products/mst-performance-bmw-toyota-b58-cold-air-intake-system-a90-supra-g29-z4?_pos=10&_sid=122713609&_ss=r

https://www.mlperformance.co.uk/products/afe-bmw-toyota-b58-i6-takeda-momentum-cold-air-intake-system-g29-z4-m40i-a90-gr-supra?_pos=1&_sid=6991c13ce&_ss=r

https://www.mlperformance.co.uk/products/eventuri-bmw-b48-g29-z4-black-carbon-intake-system?_pos=3&_psq=Eventuri+g29&_ss=e&_v=1.0

Going by that the aFe looks like it gives slightly better gains across the range.

As a slight aside the eventuri linked is the the 2.0 B48, I couldn’t see a B58 available on the site, I think the B58 ones are dearer

 

[Yorkshire_Z4M40i]

Raven’s the only one I know running an Eventuri, the others I don’t know about

https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1872034#p1872034

Cheers Andy... I remember Raven mentioning this before now actually. I probably should have put links to all three on this post too.

https://www.mlperformance.co.uk/products/mst-performance-bmw-toyota-b58-cold-air-intake-system-a90-supra-g29-z4?_pos=10&_sid=122713609&_ss=r

https://www.mlperformance.co.uk/products/afe-bmw-toyota-b58-i6-takeda-momentum-cold-air-intake-system-g29-z4-m40i-a90-gr-supra?_pos=1&_sid=6991c13ce&_ss=r

https://www.mlperformance.co.uk/products/eventuri-bmw-b48-g29-z4-black-carbon-intake-system?_pos=3&_psq=Eventuri+g29&_ss=e&_v=1.0

Going by that the aFe looks like it gives slightly better gains across the range.

As a slight aside the eventuri linked is the the 2.0 B48, I couldn’t see a B58 available on the site, I think the B58 ones are dearer

Sorry was half asleep last night and didn't notice the Eventuri version was the wrong one! I think they have sold out of the B58 G29 Z4 one in that site at the min, as I cannot find it now either. Link below to Evolves actual site though, with the right version

https://www.evolveautomotive.com/eventuri-carbon-fibre-intake-system-bmw-g29-z4-m40i-b58/

 

[B21]

I would think it will be pretty much a complete waste of time power wise..

Even the E89 had well designed air intakes..

I spent a very long time looking at this and the conclusion was that any car that hadn’t been been heavily modded..eg bigger turbos it does zippo performance wise..

Of course if you like the cosmetic look or changes to the induction noise then go for it..on most of these designs the air filters are inferior in their filtering performance…

 

[tiglon]

Search the internet and you will find people have spent millions of hours arguing about whether various different kinds of intakes increase power slightly, reduce power slightly, or do nothing at all.

You probably pay more for the Eventuri one because it looks a bit nicer and you get to tell people you have an Eventuri intake. Also you feel better about life because you bought the most expensive thing.

If you want the intake noise, buy one (any will probably do just fine). If you're convinced that it will produce extra power, buy whichever one convinces you the most, and you will likely feel the extra power (whether it exists or not). If you're hopeful that it will produce more power, then it's probably not worth bothering.

I'm thinking of buying the cheapest blue one I can find for my E89, because I like blue and it might sound nice. The only thing that worries me is the quality of the filters themselves and whether filtration has been sacrificed for a bit more air. The extra 10bhp that may or may not exist is not in any way useful to me (other mods will get more power for similar money), and I'd probably prefer my engine to last a bit longer rather than be a bit noisier, given that it's already quite noisy when I want it to be.

 

[Yorkshire_Z4M40i]

I would think it will be pretty much a complete waste of time power wise..

Even the E89 had well designed air intakes..

I spent a very long time looking at this and the conclusion was that any car that hadn’t been been heavily modded..eg bigger turbos it does zippo performance wise..

Of course if you like the cosmetic look or changes to the induction noise then go for it..on most of these designs the air filters are inferior in their filtering performance…

Was mainly for the noise side of things... I'm also very sceptical about power gains, unless like you say, other more serious mods are in place. Air flow wise though, most of these aftermarket ones claim to outflow and filter the stock intake - Do you reckon that is BS though?

 

[Yorkshire_Z4M40i]

Search the internet and you will find people have spent millions of hours arguing about whether various different kinds of intakes increase power slightly, reduce power slightly, or do nothing at all.

You probably pay more for the Eventuri one because it looks a bit nicer and you get to tell people you have an Eventuri intake. Also you feel better about life because you bought the most expensive thing.

If you want the intake noise, buy one (any will probably do just fine). If you're convinced that it will produce extra power, buy whichever one convinces you the most, and you will likely feel the extra power (whether it exists or not). If you're hopeful that it will produce more power, then it's probably not worth bothering.

I'm thinking of buying the cheapest blue one I can find for my E89, because I like blue and it might sound nice. The only thing that worries me is the quality of the filters themselves and whether filtration has been sacrificed for a bit more air. The extra 10bhp that may or may not exist is not in any way useful to me (other mods will get more power for similar money), and I'd probably prefer my engine to last a bit longer rather than be a bit noisier, given that it's already quite noisy when I want it to be.

Yeah after one mainly for noise and the supposed better flow of air into the turbo, which in theory should prolong turbo/engine life a little under heavy (right foot) use. I'm firmly in the sceptical camp performance wise, despite the aledged Dyno stats that are put forward to suggest otherwise. Then I guess there is the looks side of things, but I dont often pop the bonnet and stare at the engine, as that kinda thing doesn't really do it for me. It's a nice to have upside though I guess.

 

[tiglon]

Might be worth buying one of the more reasonably priced ones and trying it out. If you don't like it you can just stick it on eBay.

 

[B21]

I would think it will be pretty much a complete waste of time power wise..

Even the E89 had well designed air intakes..

I spent a very long time looking at this and the conclusion was that any car that hadn’t been been heavily modded..eg bigger turbos it does zippo performance wise..

Of course if you like the cosmetic look or changes to the induction noise then go for it..on most of these designs the air filters are inferior in their filtering performance…

Was mainly for the noise side of things... I'm also very sceptical about power gains, unless like you say, other more serious mods are in place. Air flow wise though, most of these aftermarket ones claim to outflow and filter the stock intake - Do you reckon that is BS though?

I've looked in detail at these for both the N20 and N54 powered E89s.

A summed/averaged/distillation is

Turbo'd cars generally the benefits of either cool air or warm air are offset by the much much larger rise in air intake temperatures caused by boost and then the associated performance of the intercooler.

One of the reasons why the G29 can run harder is that is had a very good liquid to air intercooler as opposed to E89 air to air intercoolers.

At speed the air flowing through the engine bay swamps any issues about hot air with DCIs

Conversely ram type improvements only really impact above 100-120 mph so unlikely to see anything this side of 100-200 kmph dash

I've yet to see a 'k+n' type filter perform better than a full cartridge filter when taking dust filtering into account. The Jeep world for example has gonne 360 and now most use a stock air box with a decent filter..Fram, Mahle etc

It is was so easy as a manky wanky piece of tubing why wouldn't BMW do it in the first place?

When I tried on a dyno the difference between stock system and effectively open no filters no tubing was around 7bhp in 400bhp..4nm in 650 and actually the mid range was a bit more ragged..

The induction noise change is a personal issue..I find it unbecoming and chavy in a G29 class car..but each to their own..

Once you go well above the stock power then maybe but as the 35i/35is it ran ok at 300-340 bhp and there was no real issue at 400 bhp..the main issue was the turbos were just running out of puff..

Unfortunately I don't have a simple graph because we changed several things and were more interested in MHD V10 vs V9

 

[raven]

I've finally decided I'm going to start upgrading my Z a bit, and amongst other things (some cosmetic and some mechanical), one of the first things I had planned was a new cold air intake.

I am currently eyeing up ones from MST (around £280 to £300), aFe (around £500) and Eventuri (around £1300), but I'm struggling to figure out the differences, that warrant the wide price range between the three. There doesn't seem to be much in it between the three performance wise, so I'm struggling to see the reason of the Eventuris price tag, other than maybe what it is actually made from. I was thinking of going for the aFe one to sort of split the difference, although I'm now starting to think the MST one will be just as good probably.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the three choices available please? Also keen to hear people's thoughts on changing intakes out generally too please. Ta

I have measurement from the eventuri, before and after


The diversion z4 has the first intake, but I don't know if they measured the difference

Noise wise there is not that much difference in my opinion, but my exhaust is a bit loud
I mainly added it for the carbon look, I'm guessing that's where most of the price difference goes to as well .