Motors air filter - insurance?

maybe a stupid question..
If you get a better air filter, than the factory fitted one, Do you have to inform your insurance company?

 

Technically, yes. If you don't it could come back and bite you in the arse but it's your call. IMO it doesn't make any difference to performance or styling so it's a moot point but I'm not in the insurance business.

 

What Mushky said.
We 'should' but, for the premium you might have to pay for it, its hardly worth it.
Phone your insurer and ask how much it would be to add one to your premium, sometimes its not as bad as you think. Depends on the you/insurer though!

 

yus yus, I shall do that cheers guys.

 

Are you replacing just the filter or the whole air inlet assembly?
IMHO just replacing the filter with a slightly better version shouldn't affect the insurance (after all, the filter gets replaced when the car is serviced, and I'm sure they get improved over the total lifetime of a car). If you're replacing the air inlet assembly, then that would be considered modification of the engine, so the insurance company should be informed.

But don't listen to me, ring your insurance company and see what they say. Can't hurt.

 

I go with exactly what you say there Fibblebot, if your still using the standard airbox itself, thats fine. Who buys standard filters?

 

ahh you can get k+n replacement standard filters though.. which would go in ur traditional airbox.
i wouldnt bother telling them that if there is no modification.

But an induction kit or a wapping great big air filter attached to your carb is a mod.. and you should tell them. Ur insurance will rise by about £20 if that.

 

Washford - Most companies do direct replacements.
K&N, BMC, Green, Piper-X, etc..

 

if its a direct replacment i shouldnt worry telling the insurance company then...

its not something they check when u crash ur car if it looks like a stock filter... there not bothered about the brand of it.

 

Thats what we've all just said, but yeah.

 

honestly only major modifications should make any adjustment to your insurance...

air filters are pretty common minor upgrade...

i mean the stock ones are crap, and even replacing with an oem one is an upgrade...

also, k&n filters don't do anywhere near as much as they're advertised to do... the major benefit of one is better fuel economy (some people tote a bunch of bs about an air filter giving them an extra 15hp... crock of crap, at best 3hp, if that)

 

cool, yeah I planning to get rid of the stock airbox.

 

then yes you should inform your insurance company as any modification to the path of air intake is considered an engine modification (at least with 99% of insurers in the states)

the filter is not

 

what i said above was regarding changing the airbox. if it was just a new filter to replace the old one i wouldnt tell them cos they will probably charge you a rediculously overinflated administration charge, even if the premium stays the same.

I'd just get a better panel filter for the stock airbox. Unless you're doing it for the noise, stock airboxes are very well designed.

 

Yep, lots and lots of money goes into the standard box.
Its there for a reason.

 

When you change the entire intake then you get your 15+hp.

 

The biggest problem is getting cold air into the upgraded filter.

 

cold air feeds are decent from the bumper to the induction ,cone however you can get the heatsoak issue where hot air from the engine hits the induction cone.

i doubt you would see 15bhp or more increase more like 5-8bhp on most stock cars, you'd only see a decent increase in power if you changed your fuel injection to pour slightly more petrol in as there is more air.

enclosed induction kits made from carbon fibre are they way forward, see the simota kit on vr6 golfs, they sound absolutely stunning and give a much better throttle response than a normal open air induction kit with a cold air feed.

 

Haha.
No.
Depends on the car though, I bet some V6s and V8s would maybe get that much benefit. Only from an enclosed 'perfect' solution though.
L4s and the like we mostly have over here, you'd be hard pressed to find 3bhp on the standard ECU map.

 

what on earth are all of you guys basing your HP figures on?!?

do you have a dyno in your garage?


most stock cars will not gain anything worth mentioning from a cold air intake. in fact, many will loose power and or fuel economy. this is also very true for exhaust kits. much of what you can buy as a piece of kit off the shelves is for looks or sound.

if you were to run an actual race car, with a built engine tuned for a specific intake/ exhaust system, you may see some slight gains.

where i went to school, we had a dyno.

one of my classmates had a subaru WRX. he dynoed it before and after he installed a supposedly reputable air intake. the results were IDENTICAL.

I read on a performance forum that someone did something similar with their silverado, only the measured before and after they installed a flowmaster catback exhaust. they actually lost about 3HP averaged across several runs after the install. and Flowmaster is a good brand. However, it was not what the engine was designed for, and performance suffered.

keep in mind that your car was produced to do something. if it didnt come off of the factory floor designed for racing, putting 1 or 2 racing parts without doing some extensive engine modifications is a waste and many times will do more harm than good. car companies put a ton of time and money into R&D on everypart of your car. they've been doing it longer than you, and a whole lot more. there are reasons why your car is the way it is stock, even if they are not obvious.

that being said, my truck runs an K&N drop in filter in a stock airbox, i run full synthetic oil, and i will be swapping the muffler for something with a bit louder once i can do some more research. not one bit of this does a single thing for my performance or fuel economy, and i realize this. the filter (recieved it for free from someone trading their truck in) should last a lifetime if take care of properly. the oil just means that i wont have to change it as often, and the exhaust is a vanity item.