Cold Air Intakes on V6's - anyone bought one?

[ViperMan]

First of all, I'm well-aware that cold-air-intakes, or "CAI's", don't really add any power or improve fuel economy, despite all their claims.  BUT they do make the car SOUND cooler, which is basically what I'm after.

I can buy a K&N intake for the V6 SE Challenger for $280+, or I can get an el-cheapo polished aluminum setup with blue silicon hoses and a super-cheap filter (which I'd replace with a K&N) for $40 on eBay...

Has anyone purchased the el-cheapo on Ebay for these cars?  I ran a similar CAI in my Stratus for 6-7 years and the worse that happened was a bracket rusted off after maybe 4 years...  This one appears pretty simple, and of course I suscribe to the theory that I could buy 3 of them for less than one K&N setup...  But still wanted to see if anyone had any unusually bad expriences with them...  Here's a link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLUE-FILTER-DODGE-300-CHALLENGER-3-5L-COLD-AIR-INTAKE-FILTER-05-10-/170899849990?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Make%3ADodge%7CEngine+-+Liter_Display%3A3.5L&hash=item27ca6cc306&vxp=mtr

And just as a reminder, I'm replacing the crap filter that this includes with a real K&N filter - same thing I did on my Stratus.

Thanks!

ViperMan

[burdar]

I'm running a cheap ram air intake on my Durango.  I think the E-bay company was "Chrome Intakes".  I did fab up an extra bracket because the system moved around more than I liked.  The air filter housing is starting to rust but it's been on there for 5 years.  The Durango really sounds mean when you step on it.

I think I paid $135 for the CAI on my Stratus.  It was made by DreamSpeed.  That one had an aluminum bracket welded to the lower tube that bent and broke.  Once that happened I had to convert it to the ram air setup. 

The more expensive systems will most likely have better mounting brackets.  The cheap systems might not come with any.  For what they are, I'd never spend a lot of money on one.  The cheap one on the Durango works for me. 

[ViperMan]

I'm running a cheap ram air intake on my Durango.  I think the E-bay company was "Chrome Intakes".  I did fab up an extra bracket because the system moved around more than I liked.  The air filter housing is starting to rust but it's been on there for 5 years.  The Durango really sounds mean when you step on it.

I think I paid $135 for the CAI on my Stratus.  It was made by DreamSpeed.  That one had an aluminum bracket welded to the lower tube that bent and broke.  Once that happened I had to convert it to the ram air setup. 

The more expensive systems will most likely have better mounting brackets.  The cheap systems might not come with any.  For what they are, I'd never spend a lot of money on one.  The cheap one on the Durango works for me. 

LOL - that's exactly what happened to my Dreamspeed.  I eventually got rid of it entirely and bought a $60 setup on Ebay.  It's bracket broke as well and I too converted to "short ram."

Actually the biggest problem with the dreamspeeds was the glue separating on the filter and your f&@king filter would fall off!  I sucked a leaf up mine which got stuck against the mass-airflow sensor and the car ran TERRIBLE until I figured out what happened.

I do think Dreamspeed eventually went out of business, and I recall something about him owing a TON of people a TON of money and being wanted by the cops for a bit... 

But anyways yeah I'm thinking the Mopar/K&N setups, though they look cool, are a total waste of money.  I'll buy this one on Ebay, slap a Mopar sticker on it, and the wife will love it. 

[burdar]

I hated the red tube connectors on the DreamSpeed intake.  I bought some black ones that looked much better.  Right before I was about to leave home for the 06 Mopar Nats, I popped the hood on the Stratus to check the oil.  It was 5:00 in the morning.  I saw my air filter in two pieces.  I had to duct tape it back together.  I checked it a few times throughout the weekend and it held.

 

[hpe600rt]

go with the cheaper one if you just want it to sound differnt.