Anyone remove the fake vent grills out of the sides of the front bumper yet just curious if it would help areodynamics or just look better.

 

My friend removed them and left them empty cos he autox
I will remove them and put side vent "real" grills and I'll let ya know

 

I took them out and replaced them with black mesh.

no real difference besides looks

 

how do u take them off with if you have the oem ground effects kit? cause dont they pop out from behind? do u have to take the kit off?

 

They're clipped on from behind, far as I remember it's a one-way clip, you push the vent cover in and it clips on.

Easiest way is to reach behind and see if you can squeeze the clips.

You could probably just punch it out, but it might scuff your paint.

 

Good topic, as I always wondered about those. Seems like they would catch a lot of air and result in unnecessary drag, so I really wish they hadn't designed them that way. Either blocked off completely, flush with the rest of the air dam portion of the bumper cover, or mesh seems more logical. Also wonder if anyone has made them functional, punched them out and attached duct work to cool the brakes.

 

Like nodsetse said ...great topic! I would think it would cool off engine, brakes, better. But what about water intake?

 

My thoughts exactly the ^^^ two posts above the fake vents to create a huge amount of drag at speed because of the way they are recessed into the bumper. You could also make them function too. Ram air or to cool the brakes

 

i was going to post the question of what if you had a cold air intake because that is roughly where the downpipe is getting air.

 

with such minimal gains with a CAI, I doubt that having mesh instead of the solid vent pieces would make a large difference

 

look at my avatar

 

i lost the one on the intake side going down the interstate, hit something
mpg did increase about 10 extra to a tank

 

I drilled holes in mine after i put my CAI in. As far a real world gains, I have no clue, but theoretically it would help.

 

i dont really like the way it looks but im not going to go buy a replacement

 

I've installed a CAI which of course meant I had the bumper off.

Those little vents are not in any real good location to cool much of anything. Since air takes the path of least resistance it will find it's way out quicker before it would even have a chance to cool anything from there. It especially won't get to the brakes unless you remove your wheel well shrouds. And as for adding more air to my CAI, I thought about that but also thought about how much debris would enter ( and maybe water ) there.

 

Straight into my airbox via 3" flexpipe.

 

sarcasm: what are you talking about guys? those are fake vents covers they are just placeholders for IS200 foglights!

 

how did you do that? i wanted to do something like this for my tC. do you have any pics of the install?

 

Sticking out of the bumper is a 2.5" silicone coupler
Attached to that is about a 6" piece of 2.5 aluminum tubing.
Attached to the tubing, 3" flexible hose (like HVAC hose for RVs).
The hose runs up to the airbox, where I replaced the OEM in-pipe with a 2.5" 90º mandrel bend.

That's it. Even if you start with nothing, you can make the cold-air snorkel for about $25. Just shop eBay, and find the cheapest 2.5" pipe short ram intake you can find, then pick up a 7' or 10' section of flexible hose for about $10 at Wally World, JCWhitney, etc.

Mine cost absolutely nothing, I had all of the pieces lying around (all of the tubing was scavenged from a found CAI for 90-93 Accord).

 

i removed mine don't feel any real difference with my CAI but i did add an AEM bypass valve just for precaution. but about removing the wheel well shrouds. i dont really suggest it i did it and was doing about 110mph on the highway and sumthin came up into the wheel well and BANG!!! completly ripped out my ABS unit on my drivers side and of course dealership said it wasnt under warranty so 895 dollars later i decided to put them back on!