Which CAI Should I Buy?

Buy a blow off / bypass valve aftermarket, make sure its 100% recirculating for no ill effects on your car. Stock intake is fine until you upgrade your turbo

do NOT buy a CAI its pointless, I agree with what he said ^

A 100% recirculating valve won't make any noise, and may in fact be a bit quieter than stock even. On the other hand, your car is meant to run with a recirc valve so it'll run properly.

You could get an intake if you want but it'll very likely throw off your MAF sensor's calibration.

you can buy an AEM one used for under $100

I have all the "bad stuff" on my car...lol

BOV + Intake

you can buy an AEM one used for under $100

 

I have all the "bad stuff" on my car...lol

 

BOV + Intake

have you noticed any differences?

a tune is not a tune up. a tune is a calibration of the ecu for specific mods done in relation to your engine. putting a non-oem turbo on the car requires a tune, downpipe as well, there are some(few) mods for the engine that don't require a tune but an intake is not one of them...a catback exhaust is. replacing the turbo with an original model doesn't require a retune. though, getting a custom tune with a 100% stock car has great benefits and is a very worthwhile upgrade. cobb accessport is available with these stage 1 and 2 maps that you can flash yourself and go, but a custom tune is better overall than those but require you to bring it to a subaru tuner shop.

don't always trust dealers or mechanics to install things correctly or fully. there very well may be a boost or vac leak now because they mounted the intercooler wrong or the throttle body hoses inverted itself. in my experienced opinion, leave the intake stock, the bpv stock (if its not leaking or faulty) and do a boost leak test and then see if the car feels better. if not, then a stage 1 tune is not a bad idea.

All of what has been said here is true.

You can't buy a decent CAI for much less than $200. Note: I said decent.

A/M intake = new tune

Stock intake is more than adequete until you go above 350HP (change turbo, etc)

Decent aftermarket BOV = $160+. A BOV is not a single part you decide to upgrade without other supporting mods. Doesn't matter if you VTA or 100% recirculation... it's going to require fiddeling and adjustment .

The woosh sound from an A/M intake is very different from the VTA sound of a BOV. Alone, neither will do anything for a stock vehicle and will likely introduce other problems without a supporting tune.

Save your money and get a tune... This is the single best advice made here, and will yield the most satisfaction for you as the car's driver.

a tune is not a tune up. a tune is a calibration of the ecu for specific mods done in relation to your engine. putting a non-oem turbo on the car requires a tune, downpipe as well, there are some(few) mods for the engine that don't require a tune but an intake is not one of them...a catback exhaust is. replacing the turbo with an original model doesn't require a retune. though, getting a custom tune with a 100% stock car has great benefits and is a very worthwhile upgrade. cobb accessport is available with these stage 1 and 2 maps that you can flash yourself and go, but a custom tune is better overall than those but require you to bring it to a subaru tuner shop.

 

don't always trust dealers or mechanics to install things correctly or fully. there very well may be a boost or vac leak now because they mounted the intercooler wrong or the throttle body hoses inverted itself. in my experienced opinion, leave the intake stock, the bpv stock (if its not leaking or faulty) and do a boost leak test and then see if the car feels better. if not, then a stage 1 tune is not a bad idea.

Sweet. Thank you, that was very helpful. What's the ballpark figure on the cost of a stage 1 tune?

All of what has been said here is true.

 

You can't buy a decent CAI for much less than $200. Note: I said decent.

A/M intake = new tune

Stock intake is more than adequete until you go above 350HP (change turbo, etc)

Decent aftermarket BOV = $160+. A BOV is not a single part you decide to upgrade without other supporting mods. Doesn't matter if you VTA or 100% recirculation... it's going to require fiddeling and adjustment .

 

The woosh sound from an A/M intake is very different from the VTA sound of a BOV. Alone, neither will do anything for a stock vehicle and will likely introduce other problems without a supporting tune.

 

Save your money and get a tune... This is the single best advice made here, and will yield the most satisfaction for you as the car's driver.

I definitely know the difference between the BOV and the intake sound. Only reason I mentioned something about it, is because somebody on another forum said that he/she didn't recommend a A/M BOV, but instead get an intake and then you can hear the stock BOV better, beause the stock intake has some baffles in it or something like that. I'm probably just going to leave the car completely stock, and just tune it like you guys are saying.

Seriously dude, not trying to be rude or anything but IMO, you shouldn't be modding your car before learning a little about how they work. That's just my $o.02

I know how a car engine works.......what makes you think I don't know anything about these cars? What has given you the impression? Because I don't know the forum lingo???

That's not forum lingo dude. You tell me you know how these engines work yet you confuse the meaning of "Tune" with "Tune Up". I'm no expert in these cars, reason why I haven't modded it. Not all engines work the same.

The reason I asked THAT question is because I've NEVER HEARD of tuning a car that doesn't have massive mods done to it. So EXCUSE me.....I think I'll be fine without your advice. Seems like everybody else is helpful though. So thank you to everybody else who is helping me out and answering my "stupid" questions. Maybe instead of bein rude about my questions, you could be helpful and just answer them. I wonder what kind of questions you asked when you first bought a turbo subaru. My guess is quite a bit..........but I'm sure everybody else answered your questions and that's HOW YOU LEARNED THESE THINGS. That's my .02 cents....get over it

I'm running the KS Tech short CAI and Perrin diverter valve and I can hear the psssshh when I shift. The intake does require rescaling your MAF, but anyone with a laptop and a Tactrix cable can do that.

Thank you, that's kinda what I was talking about. So instead of buying a cheap CAI, I'm gonna wait til I can buy a nicer one, and then tune it. So for now I'll research on how to tune these cars using my laptop. Great advice, thank you.

Here's the answer everyone should have given you instead of spoon feeding you the answers.

There's a feature called SEARCH use it! All of your concerns have been answered on this site.