Is it just a meme or do these things actually improve performance?

>>16590302
Meme

they can, in the form of a new filter and new intake lines free of vacuum leaks

however the engineers designing the OEM intake probably knew what they were doing in terms of flow and cold air intake

>>16590302
95% of the time meme
Most newer cars airboxes are very well designed

>>16590302
They improve top end in conjunction with long tube headers n a toon

>>16590302
Meme if you just slap it on.

Good if you do exhaust and tune to use new setup

Gains are usually minimal, and only if the intake was choked up with baffles and bends to cut down on noise and the new intake removes those.

It's also a good idea to have it be able to actually pick up cold air, not hot air in the engine bay from right over the exhaust manifold.

As other anons have mentioned, there aren't many gains to be had that you won't get by just slapping in a K&N filter in the stocker.

>>16590302
Only benefit can be weight reduction if short.

>>16590302
They give sound of intake, and usually are just a supporting mod. But sometimes if stock is shitty you can get some mpgs.