I've tried both and would say that with just a panel filter and smoothed air box it sounds more like a ping sound inside a metal bucket. Apparently once mapped it sounds more like a chirp.

But that said I will try it the other way round once I've modified the air feed.
 
i dont understand why you would want to put holes in your air box surely you would want as much air to go thro the filter and into the engine as pos! drilling holes would allow the air to pass back out thro the box?
 
yeah but if you are running the air feed in to it then all the air which is forced in to the box then escapes thro the holes! the speed of the air is going to be greater thro the feed pipe then what comes thro the holes
 
The feed pipe on mine site's behind the head light, So it's not really being forced into the airbox,
 
oh! well i dont understand the point of it all! dont get me wrong i only put a air feed pipe on mine the other week i managed to get mine down to underneith the pasanger fog light where there are 3 vent holes in the bumper so i have got max air flow! i also drilled holes in the box but coverd them up because i was worried about loosing air. just trying to find out the best way of doing it!! holes or no holes! im all for sound but power comes first
 
The Turbo will be sucking air in so it should'nt be able to escape through the hole's in the bottom.
 
Did you think there would be an increase in power?
Its a pointless task unless someone is drilling the holes for a sound increase.
Realistically you wont really gain anything noticeable power wise from different airbox option - certainly not worth spending hundreds on.
 
considering the amount of effort alot of peps go to on here in smothing the air box and adding better air flow i thought there would be some increase! otherwise y is every1 doing it! any suggestions on a filter that will give abit more power then!!
 
Dunno. Some things seem to be done just the sake if it. Same with some expensive pintless upgrades too.
You really won't notice much of a power increase. It will feel smoother and maybe slightly more responsive but can't really be described as a power increase in normal random driving.
Get the green cotton filter one.
 
afik the air feed it basically there to feed cold air from as far away from the engine as possible, mounting itin the bumper is going to cause water spray into the airbox which is a bad thing and as has been said in this thread several times the holes are ther for noise you could go out and buy an induction kit for several hundred pound or you could smoothe your airbox and drill holes in it for free i know what i would rather be doing
 
The idea of having an air box is to enclose the filter and stop heatsoak, so drilling holes will basically draw in hot air from the holes and take out all the cold air from the feed, also smoothing an air box shouldnt make any difference just allow it to hold a slight bit more air, obvioulsy doesnt if holes in there too though.
 
so in other words there are just mixd reviews on the whole thing and nobody realy Knows whats going on! lol! i guess at the end of the day its down to personal prefrence ay!!
 
Think it's time for a test.
I've got two standard airboxes for my LCR
One smoothed, one not.
and two filters.
Standard OEM part and Green Cotton Panel.

I've also got a full Ross-Tech Vag-Com.

So folks, it should be pretty easy for me to do some g/s performance tests with different combos and compare the results.

i. Standard box --- OEM and Green Panel.

ii. Smoothed lower Box OEM Upper with Green Filter

iii. Full Smoothed box with Green filter.

All I need to know is what I need to be logging (bit of a VAG-COM noob)
and what I need to be doing to the car.
2nd 3rd gear??? Rev range etc etc....
I've got a nice long smooth straight piece of dual carriage way to test on too.
(within the speed limits of course!!!! ;) )

Any ideas?
 
This has been done before and i think if you search google there is logs of oem versus aftermarket filters and i think there has been ones done for smoothed airbox.

You could do all those logs and maybe show 1 or 2 bhp increase.
But nobody would notice that. Power increase would have to be significant to be really noticed.

You really shouldnt go to all that hassle and waste your time.

You would also have to include drilled holes tests - thats what kicked all this off.