Porsche 911 Loses Power After Performance Air Filter Install
Common logic might dictate that a free flowing air filter would unlock power in a Porsche 911. But it doesn’t.
The performance auto aftermarket is a big place, full of delicious shiny parts that promise to make your car cooler, and go faster. But it’s also oftentimes full of hot air. Claims that things like cold air intakes can boost horsepower and torque to absurd levels are often nothing more than pure lies. Some of those claims, of course, relate to “performance” air filters. So to determine if this inexpensive piece of kit lives up to the hype, YouTuber carwow decided to fit one to his 996-gen Porsche 911, hit the dyno, and find out.
Because, well, dyno sheets never lie. And when our Porsche 911 subject was on the rollers roughly a year and a half ago, it was only pumping out around 275 hp. Worse still, power delivery was inconsistent. So ahead of installing the new performance filter, the fuel injectors were cleaned up just in case. One of the catalytic converters was also destroyed, so it was replaced as well. All that was left to do was find out if these repairs and upgrades actually worked.
On the first run, things certainly improved, albeit not much. Power came in at 279.8, but our Porsche 911 owner obviously was expecting more. And he got it on run two, as the 996 laid down 282.2 ponies. But it was still short of the goal of getting the car back to its factory rating of 290. So now it was time to find out if that shiny new performance filter could close the gap.
Hilariously enough, it doesn’t. In fact, the car loses power, particularly at lower RPMs. So there you have it. We already knew that many aftermarket “upgrades” were purely snake oil, and this partially proves it!
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