Kei
Member
some noob questions guys, as none of my friends are really car enthusiasts so I'll just ask you guys
So been thinking about changing the airfilter to a cone filter and/or changing the back box and muffler, will this improve performance/improve the grunt of the car (sound wise)?
The A/C doesn't seem to be cooling, the compressor works but the air going in doesn't seem to be as chilly, I was told that I need to refill some gas tank but I better get a second opinion before pulling the trigger?
Cone filters don't tend to make any difference to the performance. They certainly add a fair amount of noise and they can be reused for life provided it doesn't get damaged.
The disadvantages are:
-poorer filtration in the case of cotton gauze
-standard positioning can mean that the air it sucks in is hot from under the bonnet and repositioning it lower runs the risk of it picking up water
-Oiled filters will end up coating the platinum wire in a MAF based car. On MAP based cars this isn't a problem. (MAF is an air mass meter that sits just after the intake, MAP is a air pressure sensor that lives somewhere after the turbo on forced induction cars.)
Changing the backbox is a complete and total waste of time as it yields virtually no gain as the biggest restriction in the exhaust system on pretty much all cars lies pre cat not post cat. Increasing the diameter of the downpipe whilst not the route to noise nirvana is the route to releasing a lot more power and potentially increasing the life of the turbo as exhaust gas temperatures will fall.
Question is do you want mods that actually make the car more powerful or ones that merely make it sound fast?
The air con system has a refrigerant gas that can escape over time. Usual service routine for air con is every two years for a re-gas and de-bug. There should be a valve somewhere under the bonnet and a labell with R134a and some warnings about it being a pressurized system.
Got some new tyres put on yesterday. Chose some Goodyear Eagle F1 assymetric 2's to replace the ageing michelin pilot sport 2's. They seem very good so far, nice and quiet and grippy. The whole car really needs a good clean now.

