(Will someone sticky this please?)
Lately, many of you, especially the new guys, keep asking the same tired old questions such as "I found this (
insert rediculous item here) on ebay, does it work?"
Usually this question is asked without performing a search, which is what really pisses me off.
The other thing that tweaks me is that sometimes the search terms are so vague that no hits are returned. So for all you that are concerned about products and their validity, here it is....
Popular Mechanics magazine article on testing most of these products.
and for those of you that hate reading lengthy articles, here's the "Cliff's Notes" if you will.
"Performance Chip or Fuel Saving Module" - there is no such thing as a "performance chip" for the Alero. There are resistor modules that plug in to the MAF or IAT and trick your computer into adding or reducing fuel by changing the voltage or frequency of signal sent. Your computer is programmed to run at optimal settings, dont try to change this, it will only do damage in one way or another. "performance" adds fuel, fouls plugs, screws the O2 sensor, and clogs the cat. Is it worth adverse effects over the long run for about $10 worth of placebo? Nah. "fuel saving" reduces fuel, causes you to run lean with excessive heat as a result, burns plugs, cooks the O2 sensor, warps heads, etc. Nuff said?
"Tornado, Vortex, Atomizer" - claims to cause your air flow to "swirl" through an insert in your intake plumbing and says it optimizes atomization to get a more thorough burn - whatever. Yeah, it swirls it, then the remainder of your intake path, plenum and runners, straighten it back out again, so you have no effect other than to restrict your air flow at the device. Yes, this is backed up by independent tests where consecutively over several runs, the item caused 1-15hp LOSS on a dyno.
Other "Fuel Savers" - magnets, Ionizers, etc. Geez, people are taken advantage of at every turn. Guess P.T. Barnum was right "there's a sucker born every minute". Strap this block of wood around your fuel line, and you can improve H.P. - Gimme a break.
For anything I might not have covered here, I'll update as I go along. But for now, here's some good reading found by our friends Daytona and AlbinoMonkeyRat, that I think will answer most of the "does this really work?" questions.
Electric Supercharger, or "Supercharge any car!!" - hahaha....can you think of any electric fan small enough to fit on an intake that could possibly generate enough velocity to overtake the vacuum? Didn't think so, this one answered itself. No boost will be produced, and more than likely, it will cause a restriction because the fan will not keep up with the intake velocity, and will therefore slow it down. Horsepower LOSS.
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