Mazdaspeed cold air intake question.
 

Anyone know if i will have any issues with the Mazdaspeed Cold air intake. I drive mine in the winter and am unsure if I will have issues with water freezing on the filter end as well cleaning in the winter will be a pain in the a$$ as it will constantly be getting road grime. Does anyone else have these problems?

Shouldn't be a problem. Its a K&N style filter anyways. Should last you about (from the top of my head) at leats 20k miles before you have to clean it. Even if it looks dirty. As for your other concern about water.. there is not going to be enough water on the filter to do any damage.. Or any water at all after it dries up when you park it.

Supposedly they come with some kind of sock for the filter to protect it from the water. If you got it try using it. Problem solved.

The MS CAI does come with a sock and should keep any water issues away.

Not quite sure what ya mean about a sock. The dealer had it installed when I bought the car. They didn't tell me anything about maintence on it or anything about a sock.

the sock is like a net like cover for the CAI, i didnt put on the sock when i installed my ms intake, i drive mine in the rain all the time, never had an issue, there was something going around the club saying that someone had water within the intake and in the throttle body, but never had that issue ever... that person must of just drove into a puddle that surrounded the filter with a crap load of water..

I had this issue once with the mazdaspeed intake, but the problem occured when I was driving in the rain and a truck decided to cut me off...and someone was riding my ass...so I was stuck for about 30 seconds having his tires splash water right into my front bumper. This caused the intake to suck up water. Though this DID cause me problems, they were fixed once I took the filter off the pipe...and kept the car garaged for a few days to dry out. It did suck water up to my TB..but there was no long lasting effects.

I went to the Mazspeed CAI right after I had the original motor go in my 03 production year MT. I've driven mine frequently in rain, snow, slush, and other fine driving conditions we get here in backwoods NH and never had a problem with moisture or icing. If properly installed (which is no small feat) the filter is pretty well shielded from moisture and debris, using the sock helps to and does not seem to make any appreciable difference in performance that I have ever been able to detect.

Thanks for everyone's input.

I just installed mine and had this concern...like Rhodes said thankz guyz & girls.

The sock will NOT prevent water from soaking the filter.
It will help with little droplets, but if it gets drenched (like if you spray it with a garden hose while washing the car) the filter WILL get soaked.
The water will then collect at the bottom of the pipe and when you turn/accelerate hard, the water will rush up the intake pipe and into the engine.
Driving in the rain shouldn't hurt, but don't go through automatic car washes or directly spray water at the filter.
I had multiple misfires because of this and I changed out my AEM intake for the Racing Beat with the ram air duct.

Thought I would update my previous post on this thread. About a month after I made this initial post I did have an issue with my CAI sucking up water. Road was full of slushy water and ponding from spring snow melt and my filter did get water soaked. Didn't realize it until I "put the hammer down" in a clear section of road. The heavy air intake sucked moisture into the intake causing an immediate CEL and temporary limp mode. CEL was a result of my MAF getting fouled.

MAF cleaned, CAI cleaned and dried, and I was back in business - a little wiser too boot about what to expect from the CAI in really damp conditions.