There’s no doubt that air intake systems are the most accessible and common modifications for muscle cars like the Chevy Camaro. You can derive many benefits from an upgrade that only costs three hundred or more bucks.
Aftermarket intake systems are pretty cheap, easy to install, and will provide as many performance gains as they can for your vehicle.
What intake systems do is help your car breathe better, quite literally. By forcing cool and oxygen-rich air into your engine, the combustion of the air-fuel mixture in the cylinders will be much more efficient.
This improvement in combustion will ultimately translate into different other benefits such as increased performance gains, improved engine life, and most of all, improved fuel economy.
There’s a literal bunch of aftermarket intakes out there for the Chevy Camaro, so we did the dirty work and made a list of what we think are the best ones to get for your freedom-loving muscle car that isn’t a Mustang.
#1 K&N Blackhawk Induction™ Performance Air Intake System
- Manufacturer: K&N Engineering
- Air Filter: DRYFLOW® synthetic filter
- Horsepower Gain: 17.6hp
- Vehicle Fitment: Chevrolet Camaro (2010-2011) – Chevrolet Camaro SS (2012-2015) – Chevrolet Camaro 1SS (2012) – Chevrolet Camaro 2SS (2012)
The word K&N is almost synonymous with the word “air filters.” Why so? It’s because they have a reputation for creating one of the most reliable and all-around air filters for many performance cars.
Partner those high-quality air filters that they’ve been making with an intake pipe, and you got some pretty rad mod that’s going to give your Chevy Camaro all the clean and crisp air that it needs.
The K&N Blackhawk Induction™ Performance Air Intake System is amongst the best cold air intake you can get for your Chevy Camaro. It’s got a large black conical air filter that’s capable of cleaning the air to the tee before it even goes into your engine.
This cold air intake also has a smooth aluminum intake piping guaranteed to make airflow as seamless as possible.
If you’re into reliability and dependability and you want an intake system that’s going to set you up for a long time, then the K&N Blackhawk Induction™ Performance Air Intake System is your best bet.
#2 Corsa Performance APEX Series Air Intake System
- Manufacturer: Corsa Performance
- Air Filter: MaxFlow
- Horsepower Gain: 18hp
- Vehicle Fitment: Chevrolet Camaro SS (2010-2015)
Corsa Performance’s credibility in providing some of the best aftermarket mods for the performance cars like the Chevy Camaro is unquestionable. Their most popular products are their exhaust systems, but they’ve got some pretty amazing cold air intakes too.
For the fifth-generation Chevy Camaro, they have the APEX Series Air Intake System.
So what this cold air intake does is it gets rid of the stock intake and replaces it with a more free-flowing intake that’s capable of delivering extra 18hp and 18lb-ft extra torque to your engine.
It’s composed of an air filter with 98% filtration efficiency, a metal heat shield that keeps the air cold, and a smooth intake pipe that’s free from any internal restrictions.
What really sets this intake system apart from anyone else is the Dynamic Flow Technology (DFT), wherein the intake is engineered in such a way that it maximizes the volumetric airflow that is delivered to your Camaro’s engine.
The Corsa Performance APEX Series Air Intake System works excellently if you match it with one of Corsa’s exhausts.
#3 Volant Closed Box Air Intake System
- Manufacturer: Volant Performance
- Air Filter: Powercore Filter
- Horsepower Gain: 18hp
- Vehicle Fitment: Chevrolet Camaro
If you desire a cold air intake system because you want a quicker throttle response and better gas mileage, then the Volant Closed Box Air Intake System is the one for you.
Volant claims that this intake will give you as much as 18hp and 40lb-ft of torque, and this intake will probably give you an extra 1 to 3 miles per gallon. That’s a pretty significant improvement coming from an affordable upgrade.
The Volant Closed Box Air Intake System uses a high-velocity filter adapter to ensure that the airflow will be much more efficient. It also has a larger airbox with a wider mouth that’s more capable of collecting a higher volume of colder and more oxygen-rich air for your engine.
Volant made this airbox out of cross-linked polyurethane, a heat-resistant material capable of shielding the incoming air from the heat emitted by the engine.
And also, this Volant air intake system utilizes a high-velocity venturi filter adapter which provides a smooth transition through the MAF sensor into the intake tube for a much-needed airflow improvement over the factory rubber tubing and resonator box.
Along with the airbox and the venturi filter adapter comes the PowerCore Filter, responsible for keeping the incoming air crisp and clean.
#4 Cold Air Inductions, Inc. Elite Carbon Series Intake System
- Manufacturer: Cold Air Inductions Inc.
- Air Filter: High-performance air filter
- Horsepower Gain: 24hp
- Vehicle Fitment: Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (2017-2021)
The Elite Carbon Series Intake System is arguably the best intake you can get for your monstrous V8-powered Camaro. Yes, it comes with a pretty expensive price tag, but you’re guaranteed to get the best value out of the money you’d spend.
This intake system has an excellent build quality, and many enthusiasts in the Camaro community believe that it’s arguably one of the best buys for their cars.
This intake system looks phenomenal! It makes the aesthetics under the hood fantastic, not to mention how much horsepower and torque gains you can get from it. CAI used carbon fiber to create all of the significant parts of this intake except the air filter.
Carbon fiber is an excellent material that exhibits an impressive strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, and heat dissipation.
Many Camaro owners love the Elite Carbon Series not just because of how good it looks but also because of the performance gains they got from it. Cold Air Inductions Inc. claims that they can give your car as much as 24hp and 21lb-ft of torque.
You can get all of these crazy performance benefits from just a cold-air intake; for a price, that is.
#5 Roto-Fab Air Intake System
- Manufacturer: Roto-Fab
- Air Filter: Oiled air filter
- Horsepower Gain: 25hp
- Vehicle Fitment: Chevrolet Camaro (2012-2015)
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (2012-2015)
The Roto-Fab Air Intake System is another of the critically-acclaimed cold air intake systems in the Camaro community. Camaro owners who’ve had this intake on their cars have felt the power and torque that this CAI can deliver.
Aside from that, it’s aesthetically appealing too. This one is not just your average run-of-the-mill intake that claims to provide performance gains.
You can gain as much as 25hp with this intake alone. Alongside is a sweet sound under the hood that screams under acceleration. An oversized air duct sucks in the air towards a seamless pipe, down to Roto-Fab’s very own large air filters.
These components are enough to give your Chevy Camaro the clean air and the extra horsepower it deserves.
The Roto-Fab Air Intake System can be an excellent investment for your Chevy Camaro, not only because it’s cheap and easily accessible but also because it’s got an excellent build quality.
These kinds of air intake systems are mostly the ones that prolong the engine’s lifespan, so every dollar you’d spend with this intake will be worth it.
#6 aFe Power Momentum GT Cold Air Intake System
- Manufacturer: aFe Power
- Air Filter: Pro Dry S air filter
- Horsepower Gain: 15hp
- Vehicle Fitment: Chevrolet Camaro 3.6L V6 (2016-2018)
There’s just something neat about cold air intakes that have a well-built air box, right? The Momentum GT Cold Air Intake System is one of those, and its aesthetics aren’t that bad at all.
Aside from that, it also delivers a decent amount of horsepower gains that’s gonna be useful in making your car accelerate much faster.
So what does the aFe Power Momentum GT bring to the table? A lot. It’s got a CAD-designed roto-molded housing that keeps the incoming air cool and untampered by the heat produced by the engine bay.
This housing also has a clear sight window to make sure that you can conveniently inspect the innard of the intake without taking apart the whole CAI. And also, it has an aFe Power’s Pro Dry S filter that’ll set your engine up for a very long time.
What’s more, the aFe Power Momentum GT can deliver as much as 15hp and 11lb-ft of torque. It’s also 31% capable of providing more airflow to your engine compared to the stock intake.
There’s just a lot of benefits you and your Camaro can reap from this affordable intake system.
Cold air intakes are a surefire way to make your Chevy Camaro perform much better than before. Sure, the horsepower and torque gains you’ll gain from it aren’t astronomically high, but it’s enough to slightly improve your car’s acceleration and as well as fuel economy.
Muscle cars like the Chevy Camaro are gas guzzlers, and it’ll be in your best interest to get your hands on some cheap modifications to make sure that your fuel consumption is at tip-top shape.