Why Do Some Air Intakes Need A Tune And Others Do Not?

[SNVRES]

Maybe this has been talked about, and i've searched... But I just purchased a volant air intake and it says it doesnt require a tune... knowing me i still tuned with my diablo sport to CAI Universal 100mm. As soon as i fired her up she almost shut off and when i went for a drive well.... It studdered and ran so horrible. Finally i went back to my normal performance tune and it worked fine. Question is why does this enclosed system not work with a CAI tune?? I assume its pulling just as much if not more air then other systems.. But on the other tunes it was running rich ( I looked at the error codes ). If anyone has some answers to help me out how i can maximize with what I have. I just hope my air intake doesnt perform as much as open systems...

 

[earleys94gt]

Intakes requiring a tune will have a larger diameter tube, as well as a larger and/or re-located MAF housing. These two factors will cause the MAF to read lower air flow numbers and will cause a lean condition. A tune will compensate for these issues.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Intakes that don't require a tune generally aren't pulling in a large enough amount of airflow to send the ECU into fits. That also means they aren't pulling in a large enough amount of air to make a huge difference in power either.

Keep these points in mind when you spend your hard earned bucks on that aftermarket intake.

 

[SpartaPerformance]

Because some make power and others don't

 

[Stroked88]

The Cold Air Intakes that need a tune relocate your Mass Air Flow sensor element to a larger housing which needs a tune. Airaid has an insert that makes the housing where the MAF element is located back to the stock 87mm which doesn't need a tune. Pull this insert out and the diameter changes to 100mm which requires a tune. Airaid does sell a race CAI which just doesn't come with the insert piece. Most CAI don't have an insert so you either have a standard size MAF housing or a larger one requiring a tune.