Review: AFE Cold Air Intake System E9X ///M3 GAINS w/ an Indepedent Dyno!

[XunXunDCT]

First I'd like to thank Alan at **********s.com for hooking me up with this great product from AFE and I'm excited to finally share with the rest of the M3post community the long awaited independent dyno and I hope you are all as excited as I am

Please excuse the low quality pics as I took them with the camera on my phone.



First Impressions:
When I opened the box, it was packed very well, bagged well, and in excellent shape.

Alan at **********s.com also gave me a free T-Shirt with the product which is always a plus! I decided to go with the black system as it does blend better with other engine components and has that OEM look but at the same time it is clearly distinguishable from the stock airbox.





To my surprise the intake system came pre-packaged with both the oiled and dry filters giving us the consumer the choice to use each application as we please. One main advantage is that if you do decide to "recharge" or re-oil your oiled filter you can just temporarily pop in the dry filter with ease.



Installation:
The installation was a breeze, and the instructions that came with the kit are very easy to follow and include pictures in color. After studying the instructions for about five minutes I knew exactly what I was supposed to be doing with everything and the install went smooth. But overall it's one of the easiest installs you could ever do. It also looks fantastic in the engine bay!






Start Up:
The car started up fine after the install without any error codes at all. I still had the hood open from the install and my windows were down so I noticed right off the bat the difference in sound. It definitely sounds like the car is breathing better with the AFE intake installed.

Sound/Performance:
After letting the car warm up I decided to do some spirited driving around town. Yet again, right off the beat, I noticed that the throttle response has improved substantially. With some heavier pulls and WOT's, and launch controls I definitely felt the increase horsepower and added torque between 2-4.5k RPM that the M3 definitely needs! I haven't smiled this much driving my car since I first brought my baby home!

The sound is absolutely great, very deep, and will make your engine roar. It will definitely put a smile on your face, guaranteed. Revving the car you can really hear the intake go to work, with an aggressive roar as the throttle opens. Performance wise, obviously there is an automatic increase in both horsepower and torque (I did do an independent dyno to prove this) and the throttle response really is a lot better. Though this could be my imagination, the car seems to pull a good bit better through the mid range. My gas milage has also gone up 0.4 MPG's since I put it in.

I didn't get a chance to record a video for a sound clip but here's one from youtube!

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Dyno Chart:
Please take into consideration that the stock dyno was done on a very cold rainy day and the dyno with the afe intake was done on a normal socal day.



Dyno Completed at SP Engineering with 200+ miles driven on the aFe Intake to allow the ECU to adapt.




Results:12.9 Horsepower gain and 2 Ft./lbs of torque gain

A big to **********s.com and AFE for providing such a great product and offering their 100% support!!!

I would definitely recommend this product to everyone here in community.

- Will

[Eugene-TAIWAN]

nice review and I do hope this really works out for you man.

I don't know much about the AFE products and heard a lot of bad things of heat soak.

but as long it works for you!!!! Your the winner

enjoy your beast

[awei130]

Great review Wilson, it was definitely informational and I'm sure the community will appreciate it!!!

I'm glad to see that you are happy with the product and its even better that your independent dyno showed gains as promised.

Let's set up a day and go to the canyons sometime soon! We will document it and make some videos this time too!!

[McLuVan]

do you have a japanese navi?!

[ModBargains.com]

Thanks for the great review, I'm glad to see that you are so happy with this product Will and the most important part is that AFE's product has been proven to show gains contrary to the popular belief that it shows a loss.

[ihyln]

We are missing information about how many dyno runs, was it averaged or did you just take the highest? If you ask me the numbers are within normal deviation values and nothing to write home about.

[SV Concepts II]

Thanks for the review.

Glad you like the product!

[SV Concepts]

Great writeup!!! Good work Alan************ for creating another satisfied aFe customer!!!
May I have permission to use your Dyno on our website?

Thanks
JL

[MMMorish]

Nice write up.

What angels and head lights do you have?

[Mr.Bimmer]

13rwhp is an incredible amount of horsepower for just an intake, especially on a car like this. that is awesome, nice job. Was the dyno with the dry or oil'd filter? Wondering...if one simply just changes out the OE filter and puts an AFE dry filter in, is the rwhp gains would be similar? I prefer dry to oil'd for my own personal reasons. Were the dynos done on the same day?

[MJE M3]

I have the same setup and agree the sound coming out of this system is absolutely hypnotic. I noticed the increase in torque and HP at the low RPM range and happy to see the independent dyno results verified AFE’s claims. Enjoy

[XunXunDCT]

Originally Posted by McLuVan

do you have a japanese navi?!

Sorry for the confusion and to clarify I do not have a japanese navi. As stated in my review I did not get a chance to get a video of the intake on the car so I posted up something from youtube which is a pretty good representation of the sound of the intake.

Originally Posted by **********s.com

Thanks for the great review, I'm glad to see that you are so happy with this product Will and the most important part is that AFE's product has been proven to show gains contrary to the popular belief that it shows a loss.

Thanks for all your help and support these few weeks you definitely have a customer for life!

Thumbs up to the entire **********s team !!!!!!

Originally Posted by MMMorish

Nice write up.

What angels and head lights do you have?

I'm using the BLU LED angel eyes from **********s.com

Originally Posted by ihyln

We are missing information about how many dyno runs, was it averaged or did you just take the highest? If you ask me the numbers are within normal deviation values and nothing to write home about.

Originally Posted by Mr.Bimmer

13rwhp is an incredible amount of horsepower for just an intake, especially on a car like this. that is awesome, nice job. Was the dyno with the dry or oil'd filter? Wondering...if one simply just changes out the OE filter and puts an AFE dry filter in, is the rwhp gains would be similar? I prefer dry to oil'd for my own personal reasons. Were the dynos done on the same day?

The filters that were used during the dyno is the oiled version which from my knowledge maximizes airflow for the vehicle. The stock vs afe dyno was done on different days. The stock dyno was done on an extremely cold and rainy day and the aFe dyno was done during a warm day in Southern California and that definitely affects the performance. There were three runs done per dyno and the average result is what was provided. Whenever you do put in a new product such as an intake or exhaust on your car you should always give 200-400 miles to allow for the ECU to adapt for the most accurate numbers on a dyno. That's the reason why it was not done on the same day.

Originally Posted by MJE M3

I have the same setup and agree the sound coming out of this system is absolutely hypnotic. I noticed the increase in torque and HP at the low RPM range and happy to see the independent dyno results verified AFE’s claims. Enjoy

Great to see that I'm not the only one happy with this system !

[MSoldier]

Whats is everyone looking at as far as cost for this system?

[SV Concepts III]

Originally Posted by MSoldier

Whats is everyone looking at as far as cost for this system?

You can find pricing on most sponsor sites or in the sponsor forum, I'll send you a PM with some options.

[Bluechipper]

Originally Posted by MSoldier

Whats is everyone looking at as far as cost for this system?

Its a rip.

$950 to trade your factory closed cold air intake for an AFE open hot air intake.

Save your money.

A couple vendors are trying their hardest to push this silly intake.

[ModBargains.com]

Originally Posted by MSoldier

Whats is everyone looking at as far as cost for this system?

I'll take care of you just like I did for Will. You won't be disappointed

Originally Posted by Bluechipper

Its a rip.

$950 to trade your factory closed cold air intake for an AFE open hot air intake.

Save your money.

A couple vendors are trying their hardest to push this silly intake.

If this intake was a hot air intake as you claim, the independent dyno done by Will at SP-Engineering would not have shown a gain, period. You are entitled to your opinion, however, please do not mislead the community. The engineers at AFE know what they're doing and Nick at AFE bought an E60 M5 and E90 M3 to develop products for the cars which shows you a little about his dedication and passion for BMW vehicles. Yes, the intake box is made from an aluminum and there is a reason behind that. The material is malleable to both hot and cold conditions. What that translates to is that the intake may get hot, however, it will also cool down a lot faster. The Dyno chart can speak for itself in regards to the gain that was produced.

- Alan

[biglare]

Sweet!

Nice write-up too!

[05SCM33]

Originally Posted by Bluechipper

Its a rip.

$950 to trade your factory closed cold air intake for an AFE open hot air intake.

Save your money.

A couple vendors are trying their hardest to push this silly intake.

So, so true . . . .

It's shameful actually, but not unexpected from these particular vendors.

[XunXunDCT]

Originally Posted by Bluechipper

Its a rip.

$950 to trade your factory closed cold air intake for an AFE open hot air intake.

Save your money.

A couple vendors are trying their hardest to push this silly intake.

Originally Posted by 05SCM3

So, so true . . . .

It's shameful actually, but not unexpected from these particular vendors.

Alan at **********s has offered excellent support and communication since day 1. He would not try to educate us about a product if he did not believe in it strongly. We are both BMW enthusiasts with performance in mind and I'm sure you all are as well. I spent my time and money not only on the intake but also the dyno runs at a very reputable shop sp-engineering who work on supercars to provide an independent dyno that everyone here on the forums asked for and as you can see the numbers do show gains.

[05SCM33]

^^ So long as you are happy with the intake, I say great!

I am simply not persuaded, for several reasons, that your dyno results demonstrate any thing with certainty or meaning about the AFE intake and definitely not . . .

Originally Posted by **********s.com

and the most important part is that AFE's product has been proven to show gains contrary to the popular belief that it shows a loss.

. . . and find it a bit unsightly that several vendors marketing this item are tripping over themselves proclaiming to the world that this intake is now a proven power adder.

But, that's just me.

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by 05SCM3

. . . and find it a bit unsightly that several vendors marketing this item are tripping over themselves proclaiming to the world that this intake is now a proven power adder.

But, that's just me.

Its not just you, don't worry.

An accurate test would have been performed the same day while still strapped to the dyno. There's simply way too many variables.

[chungdae]

Originally Posted by 05SCM3

^^ So long as you are happy with the intake, I say great!

I am simply not persuaded, for several reasons, that your dyno results demonstrate any thing with certainty or meaning about the AFE intake and definitely not . . .



. . . and find it a bit unsightly that several vendors marketing this item are tripping over themselves proclaiming to the world that this intake is now a proven power adder.

But, that's just me.

This still proves nothing. It's still all here say. They could have offered you a "sponsorship" and given it to you at a VERY low price for you to write a review declaring it as a "independent" dyno. I still have speculation after witnessing what AFE's intakes did to two of my friends M5's. BMW engineering practically maxed out this engine, the stock intake does a phenomenal job. Spending $900+ for an intake that is still questionable and pretty much doing the exact opposite of what BMW did for their stock closed intake to an open intake is quite risky.