Carbonio CAI

Johnnyb

Johnnyb

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Hi,

Im thinking of purchasing a carbonio cold air intake for my 07 S3, but im a bit confused with some reviews i have read about it, in fact most of the reviews seem very positive, but i have also heard that its pointless putting a cold air intake on a turbocharged engine as any cold air will be heated up by the turbo.

Is the S3 an exception? is the turbo far away enough on this particular engine?

I have had the car bluefined and had a diverter valve fitted which has really complimented the remap, the turbo spools up quicker now and i was hoping with the CAI it would improve it even more, and even gain more torque.

Im also under the impression that a CAI works alot better with a chipped car rather than a stock model.

Maybe im wrong, any suggestions would be appreciated

Thanks
 
Johnnyb said:
Hi,

but i have also heard that its pointless putting a cold air intake on a turbocharged engine as any cold air will be heated up by the turbo.

Is the S3 an exception? is the turbo far away enough on this particular engine?
Click to expand...

Hello

yes, as with all turbocharged cars the turbo will cause the inlet air temperature to rise, but this is overcome with the use of a intercooler (already fitted to the S3), that acts like a raidiator and exchanges the heat away from the charged air, cold air is more dence, and contains more oxygen, which inturn equals more power. any other additons that furthur reduce the inlet temperature will lead to a increace in power (providing the fuel is there of course)

as for the cold air intake, I would be cautious, as the K&N type air filter elements are "oiled" filters, this oil can be drawn into the engine, and covers the MAF (mass air flow sensor) in a small layer of oil, causing the MAF to give false readings to the ECU (engine control unit) which can lead to reduced power.

MAF units are not designed to be used with oiled filters

This is only my opinion, and I may be completly wrong, but its worth doing some (non biased) reaserch into this area before you purchase.
 
Personally I'd save the money and put it towards better intercooling or charge cooling. A cold air intake on a turbo car is a little pointless and not a necessity if you want to cool the air entering the cylinders.

How restrictive is the existing intake? Doesn't it also travel over the block on the way in to the turbo? I guess the carbon fibre construction might protect it more from that heat over the stock one.

How much is it?
 
Hi,

Its £165 excluding VAT from awesome GTI, they have always been honest with me and seem to think it would be a good addition to the remap and diverter valve, im not expecting much in the way of increased HP but they do say that i will feel more torque and it also sounds very good apparently.

The MAF sensor is another thing thats worrying me, i might give them a call and ask them about it. I have read reviews on other forums and havent come across a bad one yet, and as the price is reasonable i dont feel too bad about investing in one
 
Hi Johnny,

I've got the Carbon on my 2.T, also purchased from Awesome. Induction kits are always nice to have but the Carbon is what I'd class to be a tart mod more than anything else. Yes, airflow will be a little better but it's not much more than a nice looking piece of carbon fiber. That said, I don't regret getting it. You get a good turbo 'roar' too :)

Re: filters. So long as you don't dip a K&N or Green filter in a bucket of oil you won't have any problems. I'm running a K&N, my wife has a Green and I ran both in my previous cars for years. No problems. Anyway, the Carbonio comes with a foam filter so it's a moot point.
 
rich1068 said:
Hi Johnny,

I've got the Carbon on my 2.T, also purchased from Awesome. Induction kits are always nice to have but the Carbon is what I'd class to be a tart mod more than anything else. Yes, airflow will be a little better but it's not much more than a nice looking piece of carbon fiber. That said, I don't regret getting it. You get a good turbo 'roar' too :)

Re: filters. So long as you don't dip a K&N or Green filter in a bucket of oil you won't have any problems. I'm running a K&N, my wife has a Green and I ran both in my previous cars for years. No problems. Anyway, the Carbonio comes with a foam filter so it's a moot point.
Click to expand...
Hi Rich
Good to see that your still liking the Carbonio
Yes we are the main dealers of Carbonio and as Richard has already said , as long as they are not dripping of oil the MAF will not be damaged in any way
K&N are the market leaders in filters , if there was any issues , I am sure that they would not have that many customers
The Carbonio does not give massive gains , but throttle response will be better and as has been said , the looks and sounds are excellent :rockwoot:
Sarah
 
If it aint broke dont fix it!

I think Audi will have done some research and found the one they supply with the car will be more than enough.

Or if you fancy spending £160 + for a nice noise and looks crack on!!
 
Generally agree with the If it aint broke dont fix it mentality, but things would never evolve unless others tried something different and sometimes found better results !
I'm sure Audi will have done some research but I'm sure that Carbonio will have done research as well (but possibly with different objectives), as they wont have to design an intake that has to meet as many OEM restriction on such as noise that say the Audi OE does, or say possibly water ingress / work in the same extreme climates that say the OE Audi one does ! Hence the Carbonio might have slighty better air flow characteristics than the standard one - Oh and does look better in my eyes !!

Richard
 
Hi,

You could say the same 'if it aint broke then dont try fix it' about the ECU, yet many people go for a remap because it can get more out of the car.

I know the gains, if any, will be nowhere near that of a remap, but the diverter valve i have fitted has impressed me on how it reduces turbo lag and you can definately feel a difference (certainley not the placebo effect), so im sure the intake will compliment the other mods and maybe spool the turbo up even quicker.

While im on here, does anyone know of any other cold air intake manufacturers that would be better than carbonio? and obviously fit the 2.0T engine? K&N always springs to mind
 
Excuse the ignorance but can you elaborate on the diverter valve replacement. There seems to be two parts to the valve on the Forge website. I'm assuming that's what you have.

I have the Carbonio and I find it improves response across the rev band. When I first fitted it I felt as if the turbo lag reduced also. This was post remap however. I'm sure the standard intake would be more than sufficient for a standard car.

BMC also offer a RAM air intake for the S3. I've heard good things about it.

I'm about to have a Milltek turbo back fitted so we'll see what figures I produce afterword. I may do two runs with the Carbonio replaced with the standard intake.

For those of you who say this is a tart mod. To a certain extent you’re correct. There is however a scientific basis for the shape of the intake, which increases intake pressure and subsequently the oxygen available in the engine.
 
Hi,

The diverter valve is from awesome gti, so if you go on their website and go to the engine section of the A3 8P, scroll down and its the forge 'vacuum' diverter valve.

Awesome recommended it to me from alot of feedback they were getting from it, im impressed with it and you can feel a difference, it also does help if your car has been mapped.
 
Excuse my lack of knowledge, but what is a RAM filter?
How does it differ from a CAI?
 
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