2019 Golf R Performance Air Intake ~ Installation, Sound and Temperature Testing 

I did a cold air intake as one of my first mods, and it may not produce much more power, but I do like the throttle response and the turbo noise.

Mr Charles S, you are not just a mechanic but a specialist.I think you are not a humble mechanic but a humble technician.You are great sir

Having the opportunity to be apart of your real time stream was real cool,keep moving forward up there!

So useful. I have no desire at all to make the car louder. Crossing this mod off my list. Excellent again Charles.

Got the same intake, added aftermarket inlet, and turbo muffler delete with a gfb diverter valve and it sounds amazing.

This video helped me so much with my installation. You are awesome man love your videos I am super new to working on my car this is the first car I'm working on and I plan on doing most if not all installations myself so your videos are super helpful.

Awesome video Humble, I've been following your channel and it's been a great resource for modding my '18 Golf R. I couldn't help myself RE some of the comments you've received on this video tho. For everyone commenting about the difference in intake air temps please take a step back and re-evaluate the purpose of the air intake system in a forced induction engine. The purpose of the intake in an induction system is to deliver air to the turbo in the most efficient manner possible, the temp is pointless. The reason it's pointless is because the turbo is a compressor; so it will compress the air , which superheats it (similar to a jet engine) and then shunt it over to the intercooler. Therefore, the temp of the incoming air is irrelevant and won't effect performance since the air passes thru the intercooler before it enters the engine. What's important in an induction performance system is "flow"; the higher the volume of air to the turbo, the faster it can compress and feed the intercooler and the engine with cool, dense air. The term "cold air intake" only applies to normally aspirated, non-induction engines. Incidentally, I chose an IE intake because it has one of the largest velocity stacks currently commercially available and have seen the results (stage 1+, IE intake, IE inlet pipe & VWR turbo muffler delete, ~375bhp).

Great video! I really love this stuff! Glad that you did the testing that a lot of other people haven't! I have quite a few thoughts on this. I apologize in advance if this is a long comment and I appreciate you for reading it if you do. I'm all about intake noises and turbocharger noises. Not just because it sounds cool, but it can actually be valuable information when driving the car. I have had intercooler piping blow off on a MAF car and while the car driving like crap is an immediate indication of the problem, so is the sound generated. So I do feel there's practical value in being able to better hear what the car is doing. But while I love noises, what I'm more interested in is bang for the buck and real-world performance. A lot of people seem to think that the stock air box is "good enough." I think that's not quite the case. I think you nailed it on the head with the comment that the stock air box insulates the intake air from engine bay temperatures much better than the aftermarket intake. The stock air box just doesn't strike me as overly restrictive with perhaps a few exceptions, and those can be aided by making a few modifications. And for most people, the insulation from hot air temps is more of a benefit than the flow increase from an aftermarket intake. Especially if your car is otherwise stock. This is why I just ordered a K&N filter, a turbo inlet pipe, and a turbo muffler delete pipe for my GTI. I know I'm not going to get a ton of performance increase, but I feel that along with slightly modifying the air box, this is probably the best bang for my buck. I spent $126 on a couple parts and will probably get 98% of the performance available without further mods, while not dropping a ton of money on parts that will become obsolete once I get to the point of doing something like changing the turbo. Tuning will come in a bit, but these mods should work fine with the stock ECU. And this is going to be a bit of a rant, but back in the day I spent $200 on an Injen intake for my 2G Eclipse and that was considered a lot of money for an intake. Just a pipe with some couplings and a big filter, although it was a much more custom piece than that shown in this video. Don't get me wrong, I love IE and they make quality parts. But it floors me that intakes for a GTI cost $350 or more, especially when they don't particularly add much for the average person. I purchased a custom piece of sheet metal with some foam attached to it for like $35 and removed the headlight, which is where the air filter sat, and that's how I ran my car (the Eclipse) at the track. Rant over. I guess my point is that with further mods, these intakes would likely be worth using over the stock air box, especially if you removed the head light. I've always started with the intake side of things, so it makes sense to me to do that first, but with these cars I think keeping the stock air box just makes more sense. Worry about the intake when you've done a lot more mods. Unless you really just want those sounds, and I don't blame anyone if they do! I like to hear my engine and I don't blame anyone else for wanting the same. I'll save the "stage" rant for another time. But again, great video! I love this kind of stuff and you can bet that I'm binging on your videos right now! Thanks! Also, I really like that vent gauge!

One of the best vids yet! Keep em’ coming!

Looking forward to the follow-on video comparing the stock vs aftermarket intakes at full stage 2. Great tutorial and video!!

Keep cranking these videos out!!

My IE intake just came in!! Tomorrow I’ll be installing it!!

finally! A review that's' more in depth then " It sounds better. It looks Better" reviews

Look forward to this video, just fitted an induction kit on my 1.8tsi leon fr.

Really enjoyed it dude!

Racingline r600 closed system for me , has given me great results on the dyno 👍

the engineers at vw designed that intake very specific for that vehicle and the oem filter looks like it can filter the air better than aftermarket. I do love the noise of the aftermarket tho!

Good video as always! I think the ambient is likely more of the cause of the increased IATs vs. the open intake. Intake testing is hard to do b/c of the variables involved.

Loved the turbo sounds on my 15 R after the same mod!

Got the IE intake which replaces the whole air duct system before the filter as well. I didn't get it for performance, I just wanted it for the sound and slightly improved airflow. And I'm perfectly happy with it

So glad you got a golf r so I don’t have to try any of this in case if I don’t like it.

Quite informative, thanks! I recently purchased my Golf R, and it's stock, so I'm checking out all the upgrades. Good to see how you've gone about these upgrades, one by one instead of all at once. Great, so we don't have to go by word of mouth on the upgrades. When I was still shopping, I checked out one car with $13k of upgrades (Intake, software, downpipe, exhaust, and much more), and I thought it was awful. With my R, I can start fresh. I was going to put in an intake, like I did on my BMW (along with software), but now, I might skip it altogether If I do, though, I'd personally pick something that looks better and is more sealed off from the engine compartment.

Charles you need to add this video to your Golf R playlist

Great video I love the noise it makes

Very useful video...Great work Charles.....Really enjoying all of your clips

Looking forward to that stock box vs aftermarket with stage 2 tune. Should be interesting!!! Great job on this Charles!! Rad video

Thanks for the video, glad my tuner advise against the aftermarket intake. He made it clear that if noise is what I want I can go ahead but other than than its waste of money

Shocked you went with an open filter, would love to see a comparison between stock and a couple of the big names, apr, racingline etc. But you're always thorough and one of my favs in the mechanical RU-vid shows

Great vid. HM! I'm eagerly awaiting your next videos about mods.

for my mk7.5 gti i did the turbo inlet elbow, turbo muffler delete, racingline foam filter and removed the snowguard. Lots more intake noise...actually a little too much in the high frequency range, so I added a silicone inlet pipe and now it's pretty much perfect, still plenty of intake noise, but not as much of the high pitched whine. Of course a a front mount intercooler and catted downpipe is where I gained the most power.

Great video! 2016 GTi 6M. Soundaktor muted via vagcom. CTS Tubo intake, turbo inlet pipe, turbo muffler delete. Sounds great!

Good effort on the test. Hard to get a 1/1 comparison without being in a lab with controlled conditions and the ability to test without change.

If you’re primarily interested in performance, you have to go for a fully closed air intake. And cover it in insulating tape if you’re really going balls out. If you want awesome turbo sounds, you’re gonna have to sacrifice a bit of performance.

Great video!

Back in the days of the CIS cars swiss cheesing the airbox in the proper area was basically mandatory along with yanking out the 'Hemholtz resonator' aka airbox snorkel, until tuners like Eurosport made their airbox's. I had one of those in my built CIS car days along with a Jamex foam filter and a Bonrath power rohr. Now there are so many solutions that are bolt-on which require no guesswork with regular EFI and no fuel dizzy/ AFM to contend with. I.E. makes a nice product. Great fit and finish. That turbo inlet is a great bolt-on to replace the restrictive factory piece, so smart man for installing that 'while you were in there.' LOL. I would consider opening up that factory front air duct to help feed the filter so the heat shield catches more air. No way it could adversely effect the air flow in your application. With short ram style intakes, the sealed off heatshield is mandatory and without it, it will definitely increase the IAT'S. The only solution without it when possible is a CAI if your car allows the room to even run one. Of course you have to worry about standing water with a long CAI that runs closer to the ground unless you install one if those bypass valves like AEM makes. Nice test video. Very cool to see someone actually do a little investigation work on the mods they're doing, rather than just bolting them on and going. Obviously the sound of an open filter is more desirable to most people, and for good reason. You can actually hear the engine and turbo breathe a whole lot more. 👍

Good information as always.

Excited for this one 😎👍🏼

Factory intake I would say is designed to let in cold air when moving, keep out water, and let it suck hot air at idle which helps emissions.

hot air intake 😂😂 thank you for the video keep it up

love that noise man have to say omg !!!

Charles. A great how-to video. The rising in Inlet temp. from the aftermarket CAIS. can be faulted from the material that it's made from. Plastic vs Aluminum. Metals soak heat and transfer noise more so than plastics.

Just installed a full racingline elbow, muffler delete, coolant tube relocate and 600r intake on my 1.8 mk7. It's super quiet but omg I can rev it all the way out to redline without falling on it's face!

I just pulled the snow screen out of the intake, restrictions airflow. Free mod and doesn’t affect intake air temp.

I modified my stock air box in my old audi kept the box put performance cone filter in and put more ducting to box to keep it cooler because my engine bay was warm

Over the years theres one thing ive learnt, the stock filter is best. The nice thing about the pod filters is the induction noise.

Great video and info Thank you

My 2006 Mercury Montego had two of those rubber grommet things holding the air box down. I don't think the air box had ever been removed from the vehicle when I went to access the transmission fill plug. Hence, I could not get that thing out for the life of me. I was bending the brackets trying to pull the thing out. Eventually what I had to do was lift straight up (very important, because lifting at any kind of an angle just wouldn't work) while also putting my other hand on the metal bracket to push it down. Once I got the box out, getting it in and out was a snap. But prior to that it seemed like it just wasn't ever coming out. Putting some grease on those things is a great idea! Even if you haven't touched it for a long time, I'm sure having grease there will make it a ton easier to remove!

I remember a while back, i went to a mk7 GTI dyno day. Two cars same APR stage 2 tune and same dyno. Car 1. Apr stage w and intake (something like $600 cf ect). 312whp Car 2. (Aerofabbs car) no intake but stage 2 APR. 315whp. I asked the owner why he chose not to do an intake. He simply responded that the newer cars have been designed with so much better intakes that 20 years ago. I would like to see a “high flow” after market inclosed box air intake. I have one on my car didnt notice any power difference- however after two days, midrange felt different. Could be my imagination. However the turbo sound was sooo much better!! (Inner ricer coming out) Great video! Loved seeing the temps and heat soak!

Great Video.

Wow this is great info! Maybe ill wait on the cai and just stick with my performance panel air filter. Seems like the cost of a cai cannot justify for a couple of hp. Thnx!

I seen the mod where they closed the passenger side duct with a plate and open up the driver side duct. bringing fresh cold air straight into the airbox. I feel VW left that duct open in the back so it flows cooler air from outside onto the oil filter , intake manifold as well as pushing the hot ambient air from the downpipe,exhaust whatever away from the the engine while the car is moving.So i did the mod a lil different by leaving the open part of the duct alone. Opened up the Driver's side and i divided the duct pretty much in half with a plastic plate, put in high flow drop filter, removed snow screen as well, Checked my engine oil temp and intake temp with my p3 gauge before and after mod and yes my oil was a a couple degrees cooler and my intake temperature was 5 to 7 degrees cooler when i was driving the car .My Mk7 is full stage 2 with all I.E bolt ons and that made a jump in power and throttle response for me. Sounds so good i removed my pops and bangs MOD..I wouldnt trade my homemade intake for any intake even if it was given to me. Shit if they havent done it already they will take this mod, slap some carbon fiber on it and sell for it for $800 LOL

Great info! Conduct this test on IEs enclosed carbon fiber intake for us 😜

powder coating the elbow to paint match would be pretty cool.

Just found your channel, as I'm a possible new Golf R buyer. Great videos! I would say AIT wouldn't be the only measure. Flow would play a part as well. But I'll be subscribing for the next videos, thanks!

please remember to make that follow up video!

Love u brother and that light tho. . I want 1😉

Taking ambient temps into the equation is very simple. Just subtract ambient from the measurements, so instead of "89 f" you say "24 f over ambient".

i like some of the noises that an aftermarket intake makes, not a fan of the weird sound that i can only describe as grinding metal against concrete, when at low speed. i believe that is some of the air inlet noise. i ended up switching back to the stock intake box, removed the snow guard, cut out the driver's side plastic for direct air access, replaced with a K&N drop in filter, silicone hose, and a turbo elbow. also a GFB DV+ diverter valve for the PSSHHHH. throttle response is very snappy, not too loud.

Can you make a revving sounds video for when I need to go to bed? That engine is NICE

Doing mine next week🤫

From my understanding, if you want the turbo noises, remove the baffles in the air box and any sound chambers in the intake tubing. That way you get the noises without the higher intake temps.

Great video as always. Did you consider before adding the IE intake an enclosed cold air intake e.g. racingline R600, apr, or unitronic.

Turbo blanket and wrap your DP = happy days! 🙂👍

Stage 2..here we come..yes

Good vid, love the "new" sound. What if you used a "cold air intake relocate"? Not sure if one for your application.

I've messed with so called open filter cols air intakes on my 2001 Jeep XJ. The charge was substantially higher with the cold air intake/open filter. Made a cowl fed intake system. Driving, the temp eventually would get to ambient air temp. Lesson I learned was anything used with an open filter is a big waste of money. I have a Forge Motorsport on the R32 and noticed the same thing as the Jeep cowl fed intake. Eventually it goes down to ambient, especially at WOT. Open filter under hood systems are a rip off. If you can't get a system that brings cold air in from a sealed system, make your own, keep the stock one, or improve the stock ones air flow, while keeping it sealed.

Amazing video that you love watching you video You mention that there is a blanking panel to block half of take duct to force the air in the box not the motor If you do that will the engine overheat

Charles why don't you do a segment on modifying a stock intake, cutting extra holes etc. Probably be better than buying a CAI and of course do a dyno comparison.

Love your stuff! I really enjoy watching your build! I have a 2017 Golf R DSG with Unitronic stage 2 ECU + TCU, and went with Intergrated Engineering for the downpipe, turbo inlet pipe, and air intake. (My big question is do you think it's worth it for me to purchase the $300 fiberglass cover for this intake?) I see you didn't install it in this video. Would the temps be significantly different with the carbon fiber intake cover? Thanks for your help!

Daisy chaining zip ties... can’t believe I’ve not done this before... mind blown 🤯

GreaT vid thaNks

Do you know what? I love these vids as I'm a "car nut", but beyond that your "manner" and presentation is very good. Is that from years of dealing with a wide variety of customers?

12:39 that floored me 😂

Good video absolutely powder coat it!!!!!

I would love someinformation on the clamp on engine bay light? That things looks like a slick piece of kit.

This would be interesting on the USP cold air intake

Can you make a video review about your vechiles that you have at the moment.I like your R32 and Golf R

I have this same exact intake and I purchased it solely for more turbo noise lol. Just a heads up, that little piece of weather stripping will eventually fall off do to the adhesive melting from the heat. In turn the coolant line will start chafing slightly against the air box. I had to use a new piece of weather stripping and some high temp rtv to keep it glued in place. Other then that, I love the intake!

It all depends on where you place the intake and how to get outside air to flow directly to the air filter (just like the stock setup) . if its not getting outside air then it won't work as planned!

Mighty car mods done this similar tests but on a Dyno with a s2000 and the stock air box won in hp numbers. But he kept the pod filter for kool-aid points lol

I’d like to see a highway cruise comparison. Although I know Jason EE has gone into this before.

Brooo...! You missed getting in a Turbo muffler delete!! Goes well with the part where you mentioned the Turbo inlet elbow. I looked at the IE setup and wasn't that impressed. Check out Eventuri, they have wicked intakes and proven a 25 hp (and 30 Nm!) increase for Stage 1 golf R. My parts: Eventuri intake with a reverse cone housing, Racingline silicone inlet hose, Leyo Motorsports Turbo inlet elbow and muffler delete with a Stage 1 tune. As for the temp. measurements. Hotter means it just made it a bit worse hp wise? (Cold air intakes need to be pulling in colder than stock) Enjoyed watching the video, looking forward to all your Stage 2 stuff!!! :D:D:D

They block that side of the duct to stop water going directly into the airbox, should be fine to open up if you don't drive through any rivers /jk. It's for torrential rain conditions... P.s The intercooler will handle an extra 10 degrees no worries, the flow is more important because you know...turbo and stuff.

DIY powder coat it and make a video about it. The proper equipment is pretty affordable and I think it'd make for a good video. Edit: Those CRC Dielectric cans are pretty sweet. Permatex has a similar can for RTV. They cost more than the squeeze tubes, but it's worth it. The stuff doesn't go bad if you don't use it all at one time. I've had a single can of ultra black last a couple years.

Short ram type intakes will always be hotter than factory just look at the design, would've been nice to see the RacingLine R600 intake test instead where it uses both side of the engine bay to let air in.

I would like to see a test with the snow guards inside the box removed

I mounted an air intake from ramair filter to my mk5 gti. Nice whistle noises, but man... such a loss in power, even if for marketing reasons they say that your power will increase (bullcrap).. Anyway, I plan in the future to mount back the stock engine cover and air filter.

Looks nice, sounds cool. But I wouldn't bother until it made a difference in performance.

The thing is, the stock air intake on these EA888 engines are actually pretty good. And with some small modifications you can make it even better. First take off the ducting and simply cut away the plastic covering on the right side, no need to cover up the left side. Then open the airbox and remove the snow cover, switch out the filter to a "sportfilter" and if you want more sound tape off the little resonator chamber with aluminium tape and put it all back together. This modification is good for up to 380hp, which really is stage 2 level. And with an ecu tune on top you will get much more turbo sound :) and all for much less than an aftermarket intake...

so overall the stock intake is better than the aftermarket.

engineering explained style video

Upgrades :)

cant find next video for dyno comparison!

Thats why i like apr, their intakes hook up right to the existing inlet

Looks like the redesigned the silicone tube that has the vacuum line on it. Mine is farther forward and can be blocked by accident if you slide it too far forward when installing it to the filter housing.

Hey charles, are you going to install an oil catch can? Would like to see a video of this. I've seen that some come with something to replace the pcv valve but others don't, could you as well explain the difference. Great video!

With my MKV GTI I dropped two tenths in the1/8th with a CAI. I was surprised by that. Nothing else changed, I had a stage 2 tune with DP, Intercooler and had the same tires and tune with both runs. I didn't think the stock air box would've been that restrictive. I ran a 8.8 with the stock air box and a 8.6 with a cheapo CAI. Similar DAs as well. It was a metal CAI as well, so I imagine my IATs were higher but maybe it flowed more and the Intercooler dropped the temperature so much that the higher IAT didn't matter. 🤷‍♂️

Yup....hot air intake. Wonder how the popular stockk intake with oem+ mods (drop in filter, block off plate, ecs inlet scoops on both sides) would fare.

Degrees over ambient (ΔT) would have been a better comparison. The information is still there but it's harder to decipher using just the raw gauge readings. Sounds great though, which is the main reason to get one anyways.

I’d be putting some r8 coils on 👍🏻