When it comes to tuning and customizing cars to our nerdy little hearts’ content, we’ve pretty much seen everything by now. Louder mufflers, lowering springs, body kits, HID conversions, cold air intakes of all shapes and sizes, and so on. However, recently I learned that there truly is no limit to how creative aftermarket parts companies can get. No matter how weird and/or gaudy they might seem at first. Case-in-point: LED air intakes.
That’s right, adding LED lighting to a tube that’s designed to channel air directly to your car’s system. This mildly bizarre piece of kit came across my desk via a comment by Twitter user CaseyHates:
@midnightdorifto Sooo…there’s a company that makes a ram air intake snorkel for the N. AND IT LIGHTS UP. pic.twitter.com/i2Eng6cBvq
— Case (@CaseyHates) February 9, 2022
My colleagues and I promptly scoured the internet trying to determine whether or not this was just a gag, or a real product introduced by a real company. Well, by scour, I mean I did a quick Google search for “Veloster LED intake.” Sure enough, high up on Google was the source: a genuine, actual product that’s for sale for varying amounts of currency.
It’s a product made by a company called Velossa Tech Design, which calls this wonderful invention the BIG MOUTH “LIT KIT” Ram Air Intake Snorkel, which it actually makes for quite a few applications, not just the Hyundai Veloster N pictured above. Apparently, this is a testament to me being a crotchety old millennial who’s not hip to what the youths are bolting up to their cars these days.
You can also choose to save a few bucks and select a non-lit intake, simply referred to as the BIG MOUTH Ram Air Intake.
I’m not going to lie, I dig the non-LED one. I think it could be a fun little piece of flair to differentiate your car’s grille from everyone else’s. Especially if it’s color-matched to the body, and on a car that’s 100% engineered for fun, such as the Veloster N.
Hell, I kind of like the LED one, too. It’s cheesy, but by no means in a bad way. It’s fun! If torn between throwing down $300 on this instead of, say, stretched tires, I say go ahead, youths, light up the night behind your ride’s grille. I think it’d be rad to do a color-changing effect, too, like making it turn from blue to red as the revs climb. Though, I imagine that’d be tough to properly sync up.
What’s also cool is this seems to have at least a small functional benefit. Velossa Tech Design states that it can focus air at stock or aftermarket intake systems, thus not being an issue if you’re in an aggressively legislated state like California. They even present graphs on each product page indicating how much more air is being concentrated towards the intake with one attached, so good on ’em for showing their work.
Shine on, you crazy intakes.
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