Intake Problem

I have an off brand CAI and it seems to work pretty fine to me. I've beaten people who actually have AEM CAI, so I guess it really just comes down to drivers skills

thats true to some extent, that you are buying the label, but there IS a performance difference. its a fact. i say go all-out and only put the best on your car.

Yeah i agree with weenie. I am sure that AEM puts more time and money into R&D than some ebay company would.

both my brother and i did a homeade cai with a dryer hose... he drives a 4th gen accord... both cars saw about a 3 tenth improvement in the quarter mile... we paid 4 dollars for the dryer hose...

its really preference...looks, price, etc. you get what you pay for

i actually didnt believe in the hype before about performance..
but i put together some homemaders before, and the performance is just not the same, tube length and diameter all drastically effect how the cylinders are filled with air, and if its not a design that is precisely designed and tested, you're not getting
what you could... homemade is cool if you dont want to spend the money, but from now on i am only putting namebrand shit.. well... the good stuff, AEM, Spoon, and so forth

one other key thing, what the intake is actually made out of. My friend got a cheap knock off of an AEM cai, I touched it one time after he had driven it -- I burned my damn hand. My AEM is made out of a metal that stays cold. Obviously the heated metal of the knock off is a BAD thing seeing how an intake is supposed to stay cold.