Why Does My Camaro6’s Cold-Air Intake Whistle?

We’ve been seeing quite a bit of chatter on camaro6.com and other Camaro forums about a whistle people have mentioned has come after installing a cold-air intake on their new Camaro SS. Right now, all those comments are pointing at Cold Air Inductions. Since we were the first to market and we’ve shipped a ton of them, chances are if someone has a cold-air intake on their 2016 Camaro, it’s one of ours.

Here’s the truth about that whistle you may or may not be hearing: It’s not in the air tube or air box at all. It’s in the factory intake manifold. In the cars we’ve tested that have the whistle, we’ve heard it at part throttle (38% throttle opening, to be exact) under mild engine load. We take quality, including sound quality, very seriously. And we do our homework before we launch a system.

So, we did validation testing and videotaped it to show that the whistle is not part of our cold-air intake system. With the factory air box in place, we ran the car on our rear-wheel dyno. Then we removed the air box altogether and videotaped it again. In both cases, you can hear the whistle – even without the air intake attached to the throttle body at all!

You may be asking yourself, “Why didn’t I notice the whistle before I installed your cold-air intake?” Good question. The answer is that you could hear it before, but it was muffled and you didn’t know when to listen. The factory air box is designed to reduce the air-intake sound, so it also reduces how the whistle transmits forward through the system. The way, it reduces sound and also causes air-flow restriction. The factory air filter is more restrictive than ours, further restricting air flow and sound. Our air intake system removes those air-flow restrictions, which also allows the sound to travel better. The other difference is that the air inlet for the factory air box is buried under the box, very low in the grille. If you put your ear near the grille where the factory air box takes in air, you would faintly hear the whistle at that part-throttle position under mild load. With our cold-air intake, the air inlet for the box is opened up, drawing air from most of the area right around the air filter. That means the whistle sound is much less restricted (muffled) and will be higher in the engine bay, making it easier to hear.

The bottom line is that the whistle is part of the factory intake manifold, not part of our cold-air intake system, or even the factory air intake, for that matter, which the videos will help demonstrate. We focus on delivering a quality system that gives you more power, better fuel economy and a performance air-intake sound when you really lean into the throttle. You can learn more about our Camaro6 cold air intake system by clicking here.