Stillin Intakes

[Febtober]

I'm looking at purchasing a Certified Pre Owned GT2, and I've been texting with the salesman. I asked if the car had any mods, and initially he said it had an aftermarket exhaust system, then he later corrected himself and said the exhaust is stock, but it has aftermarket Stillin intakes.

I'm not a big car guy and know little to nothing about mods. My vague understanding is that aftermarket intakes allow more air into the engine and increase horsepower a bit. Personally I'd rather have everything stock, but it isn't a dealbreaker. I'm actually a little surprised Kia is selling a CPO with aftermarket parts.

If I got this car though, I'd like to know if the aftermarket intakes will affect me in any meaningful way. For example, is there an increased need for higher octane gas? Is there any affect on gas mileage? Is there any increased maintenance associated with them? Does it change the sound of the car at all? Are there any downsides to having this versus the stock factory intakes?

Thanks.

 

[bfglitch]

Sorry, this is going to be kinda long, but you did ask numerous questions which aren't exactly quick yes or no answers.

So, there's a lot to take in when buying a used modded car. Personally if you could, I'd have an actual third party mechanic look at it. Dealerships right now really have no care in the world about thoroughly checking a car to make sure it qualifies to be "Certified pre owned". For the most part, they take car from the previous owner, they wash it, vacuum it, then stick a price on it and put it on the lot as soon as they can. The shortage has basically made dealerships even worse than what they originally were. There are plenty of people who buy Stingers, mod the crap out of them, race them and beat the crap out of them, then turn around and sell them after only having the car for 10-20,000 miles and just by a quick glance, the car seems fine when there could be several hidden issues. Not saying everyone does, but it certainly happens.

That said, aftermarket parts on the car don't necessarily make it better, or worse. Many people love having aftermarket parts because it changes the sound, makes it more aggressive sounding, makes it look to their liking, etc. Also if you intended to eventually put on aftermarket parts, now you won't have to spend the extra money to do it...at least for the intakes. Most bolt on aftermarket parts, whether it be intake or exhaust really don't change performance much on their own. But they certainly will change how the car sounds.

The octane requirement doesn't change unless the car has a modified tune (JB4 Piggyback or ECU tune). The JB4 is pretty obvious as it's a device the basically plugs into different parts of the car essentially piggybacking off of different things. ECU tune is less obvious unless the dealer goes to check something on it. Either way, I would always recommend no less than 91. You can go lower, but it's definitely not recommended.

You're not going to see a big change in gas mileage with bolt ons. You will with a tune.

The Stillin intakes will have quite a bit more sound especially when letting off the gas after hard acceleration. That's the sound of the blow off valves releasing excess built up turbo boost. It's a normal thing, but with the stock intakes, they're enclosed so you wouldn't really hear it. You can find loads of youtube videos of people with aftermarket intakes on their stingers to get an idea of what it'll sound like.

I wouldn't exactly say there's any major downsides vs the stock intakes. The stillin filters are probably "wet" filters, meaning they're oiled and are designed to be cleaned using a filter cleaner, and then re-oiled. Like I mentioned, they will be louder than the stock intakes. Also, some dealerships may try to weasel out of a warranty claim by using aftermarket parts as an excuse no matter how unrelated the issue may be. "Sorry you have aftermarket intakes so your oil leak isn't covered", even though by law (at least in the US) they have to prove the intakes are the cause.

Also one last thing. You should mention your general location and perhaps there could be someone else in your area that knows Stingers and can take a look at the car with you to verify what's actually modded and what isn't.

 

[Rodtheviking]

I have the Stillin intakes on my Stinger with the K&N filters.

No real noticeable difference in gas milage, its not good anyway.
They are fairly quiet around town, never really hear them cruising.
I did notice a much better pick up with the throttle, feels like it isn't struggling for air all the time.
If you get on it you can definitely hear the intake WOOSH.
You can also hear the BOV's a bit better but nothing too loud.

I wouldn't consider it a deal breaker in any way.

 

[Landshark]

my hesitation would be that modded cars in general are more likely to be thrashed to death by some young dude in a flat-billed cap and face tattoos.

i'd be looking for a completely stock car, driven by an older accountant.


that is VERY odd that a dealer would sell a car CPO with aftermarket parts installed.

i do plan on getting aftermarket intakes for my recently purchased Stinger, but i will keep the factory airboxes to swap back in when i sell it. getting them mainly for the fact that the filters are reusable, and give a little more sound. if there's a small performance gain, that's a bonus.

 

[Febtober]

Sorry, this is going to be kinda long, but you did ask numerous questions which aren't exactly quick yes or no answers.

So, there's a lot to take in when buying a used modded car. Personally if you could, I'd have an actual third party mechanic look at it. Dealerships right now really have no care in the world about thoroughly checking a car to make sure it qualifies to be "Certified pre owned". For the most part, they take car from the previous owner, they wash it, vacuum it, then stick a price on it and put it on the lot as soon as they can. The shortage has basically made dealerships even worse than what they originally were. There are plenty of people who buy Stingers, mod the crap out of them, race them and beat the crap out of them, then turn around and sell them after only having the car for 10-20,000 miles and just by a quick glance, the car seems fine when there could be several hidden issues. Not saying everyone does, but it certainly happens.

That said, aftermarket parts on the car don't necessarily make it better, or worse. Many people love having aftermarket parts because it changes the sound, makes it more aggressive sounding, makes it look to their liking, etc. Also if you intended to eventually put on aftermarket parts, now you won't have to spend the extra money to do it...at least for the intakes. Most bolt on aftermarket parts, whether it be intake or exhaust really don't change performance much on their own. But they certainly will change how the car sounds.

The octane requirement doesn't change unless the car has a modified tune (JB4 Piggyback or ECU tune). The JB4 is pretty obvious as it's a device the basically plugs into different parts of the car essentially piggybacking off of different things. ECU tune is less obvious unless the dealer goes to check something on it. Either way, I would always recommend no less than 91. You can go lower, but it's definitely not recommended.

You're not going to see a big change in gas mileage with bolt ons. You will with a tune.

The Stillin intakes will have quite a bit more sound especially when letting off the gas after hard acceleration. That's the sound of the blow off valves releasing excess built up turbo boost. It's a normal thing, but with the stock intakes, they're enclosed so you wouldn't really hear it. You can find loads of youtube videos of people with aftermarket intakes on their stingers to get an idea of what it'll sound like.

I wouldn't exactly say there's any major downsides vs the stock intakes. The stillin filters are probably "wet" filters, meaning they're oiled and are designed to be cleaned using a filter cleaner, and then re-oiled. Like I mentioned, they will be louder than the stock intakes. Also, some dealerships may try to weasel out of a warranty claim by using aftermarket parts as an excuse no matter how unrelated the issue may be. "Sorry you have aftermarket intakes so your oil leak isn't covered", even though by law (at least in the US) they have to prove the intakes are the cause.

Also one last thing. You should mention your general location and perhaps there could be someone else in your area that knows Stingers and can take a look at the car with you to verify what's actually modded and what isn't.

Thanks for the detailed info. My general apprehension is even if the intakes are perfectly fine and never cause a problem, who knows what else may have been modded and then removed or how the car was driven.

Then again, the car has less than 3,000 miles on it, so even if it was driven super hard, I'd imagine there couldn't be too much damage done.