speed.freak

Can someone please tell me why I should buy a AEM intake that costs $300 vs the intakes that they have on Ebay which go for about $30. Are the AEM,injen, and Apexi intakes that much better or is it just the name?

HyBriDcxR

Cause aem put in the r&d time and money to develope their parts. It's not a replica that hopes to do the same thing with no r&d time.

GdmLaz

bro just search around you could get an aem coldair used for less dan 100 anywhere

Marauder

You get what you pay for.

AEM will stand behind their product. They properly engineered it and know it works. The ebay ones are cheap *** copies with sub-standard material.

The ebay ones also aren't emissions legal, and don't expect them to fit as well either.

electronb16si

You get what you pay for on e-bay. Most of those parts end up falling apart or breaking or something. Like Slammed said, just go get a used one from someone for around 100$

Donkey85

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by electronb16si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You get what you pay for on e-bay. Most of those parts end up falling apart or breaking or something. Like Slammed said, just go get a used one from someone for around 100$</TD></TR></TABLE>


Please tell me how a metal tube with a filter on the end is going to fall apart?, its not any different from an aem unit. Some people are just straight up ignorant. An ebay unit is not going to work any worse than a name brand. why pay 200 for something when u can pay 30 to do the same thing.

huntarrr

^ I agree.

An intake tube is an intake tube. An ebay one is not going to fall apart. As long as it fits properly, I don't think there is much difference between the two other than price.

You only gain 3-4whp (generous) in the end anyway. If i could do it over i'd get an ebay one.

EG6 SiR

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Donkey85 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


Please tell me how a metal tube with a filter on the end is going to fall apart?, its not any different from an aem unit. Some people are just straight up ignorant. An ebay unit is not going to work any worse than a name brand. why pay 200 for something when u can pay 30 to do the same thing.</TD></TR></TABLE>


An intake is an intake......I agree with you 100%. The only thing you are paying for in an AEM intake is the AEM sticker and the CARB exempt sticker. Other than that, they pretty much do the same thing. My .02 cents........

eK9aT10pSi

get an ebay intake + k&n filter

QUiKSR20

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Marauder &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You get what you pay for.

AEM will stand behind their product. They properly engineered it and know it works. The ebay ones are cheap *** copies with sub-standard material.

The ebay ones also aren't emissions legal, and don't expect them to fit as well either.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I can understand that comment with maybe like cams or a header.. But an intake? If its the same bends same size etc its going to perform 100% the same. And yes AEM is carb approved and did the reasearch but both are going to perform the same id go with the ebay on for a part like an intake. Nobodys going to check slap a die cut AEM Sticker on it and your set for $35 brand new.

Z Darkside

I have an AEM, I thought about a Ebay but then decided it was probably a piece of crap after reading about others experiences.

Blazin Si

Any K&N on a stick is going to work just as well as an AEM intake. The only thing I like about AEM's intake is they use a K&N 'velocity stack' style filter which probably makes 1 more HP over an Ebay intake.

And the AEM cold air's seem to only make a couple more horses right before you run into the rev limiter. It's always seem to be about peak numbers with AEM, that's probably because that's what sells.

civictildeath

AEM has grooves inside the tubing to give air a swirl like a tornado (or so i heard) but past a design with that there is no difference. its a tube. air filter will make a difference of 0-5 hp

i have ebay intake with no problems

ironlung78

i disagree an ebay intake is really not as good as aem/injen...

on more than one occasion i've seen these intakes break.
examples...
the rubber that holds the tube to the intake manifold dries out and cracks allowing outside air to be sucked into the intake manifold.
the bracket that is welded to the tube that holds it in place breaks off from the vibration of the engine leaving a whole for outside air to be sucked in.
the cone filters are very restrictive and end up falling apart after cleaning them a few times, which ends up in a loss of power...
might be why they call the ebay ones rice!
They look nice, but if you want to jeopardize your engine to save a few bucks go ahead. I dare you to suck some nice sandy air into your intake manifold when that thing decides to go.. Search the boards, buy a used one, just clean the filter b4 you install..

92civicb18b1

uhh, i've had an ebay intake for like 3 years on 4 or 5 different cars.

The **** hasn't let me down.

There is no way in hell (except if I lived in Cali, which would be hell for me cause I like to modify my cars) would I buy any one of those expensive intakes. Some people really don't get it, its a ******* tube, you put a filter on the end and it sucks air. That's all they do, all they will ever do (unless your unlucky enough to have some other foriegn object or water get sucked up). Its a simple concept, it does not require much R&D to make an intake. It called get a ruler measure, cut, weld, stick a filter on the end.

Ok so you say ebay ones break. Well fix it, it costs no more than $5 for a weld. Don't want something that will break? Make one of your own, the **** is still way less than these way over priced things and they still do the exact same thing.

AEM didn't research anything, the designed a tube to fit X car, it worked well, I did the same thing without paying $299, $123, $78, $199, but a simple measly little $30 for the ebay one, then another $18+25 for the real K&N because I decided I wanted to see how mine would perform (yes I made one), uhhm, it's still exactly the same and does the same thing. Theres is just CARB approved.

Thanks, Bye.

don't waste your money on some expensive intake, I don't care what people say, I've had first hand experience with them, it's not worth the money.

BTW, I made my old complete IC charge pipes for less then the cost of an AEM intake, but let me guess if AEM made them it would be better beacause it has a big sticker on it and it's powdercoated?

spock_rocker

its a filter on a stick.. it all does the same thing. **** it

SiYouLater

30 dollar ebay intake tube is as good as AEM's. Ebay

93CX

I've owned 3 eBay CAIs, a one peice, and two two peicers, and none cost over $45.00 shipped. I've also owned a 2.5" AEM CAI one peice.. so I can tell you from experience there is no noticable difference between any of them.

ironlung78

i guess thats the good thing about a message board..
everyone is entitled to there own opinion until it happens to them...

MOVE OVER

i have experience with both... my friend bought the ebay one.. works fine, sounds the same, but the filter is cheaper.. also i spent more money and got the aem cai for the ITR, which was like 215, and aem didnt even send the right length of hose for me to use for the pvc valve, i had to spend like 7 more bucks to get hose!!

but i agree with the other. AEM, Apex-i, J's racing... they all test their products extensively to make sure that they are actually selling u a good quality product that increases power, not just another aftermarket part

DelSolDon

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Donkey85 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


Please tell me how a metal tube with a filter on the end is going to fall apart?, its not any different from an aem unit. Some people are just straight up ignorant. An ebay unit is not going to work any worse than a name brand. why pay 200 for something when u can pay 30 to do the same thing.</TD></TR></TABLE>

my thoughts exactly. i'm running a cut up piece of mandrel bent exhaust pipe i got from jc whitney with a k&n filter on the end. works fine for me. your intake isn't that critical of an area to worry too much about it. main difference is the filter quality.

legron_m

on my previous civic i went ebay on just about everything and it turned out faster than my buddies car who bought the same stuff from the big companies, ebay all the way

DJ_SaNdOz

I've run ebay intakes on my last few cars, I've opted to get a K&N filter, and I've had zero issues w/ the intakes. I don't see how one could break a metal tube, if you can break one, you can break them all, so why spend $300 when you can spend $60ish?

Tech

can't go wrong with $60 odd - if it breaks buy another four of the damn things
still ends up cheaper

GeorgeJetson

Regarless its still a piece of metal with a filter on the end that will give your car a whopping 5 hp max