zibby43

A very close friend of mine (she drives the new M4; very knowledgeable when it comes to modding) surprised me with some ROW air boxes (many thanks to Weistec Engineering).

I've done quite a bit of reading here and it seems the consensus is that the ROW air boxes are good for a bit of extra power and a fairly decent chunk of additional torque. Furthermore, it appears that the ROW air boxes allow the motor to breathe a bit better, and thus, rev more freely. I've also read that the ROWs facilitate a throatier exhaust note.

I plan on installing the ROW air boxes soon, in conjunction with the Eurocharged V5 tune.

I am going to get a baseline dyno done first and then an "after" dyno to see what kind of gains the ROWs/V5 combination yields. I'll be sure to post the results here.

Anyone else running ROW air boxes with the Eurocharged V5 tune?

Pics:

sinape62

I just installed ROW's from Weistec and Weistec Air Filters, with Eurocharged V5 tune. I haven't dyno'd it, keep telling myself I will but just been traveling out of state a lot this entire year. (Currently in SoCal right now). The car definitely performs better than stock, holds revs just a bit longer, it does feel there's more torque and hp. I am interested what numbers you get...

JRHolt

Nice! Wish I had friends like that

zibby43

Very nice! I'm getting ready to order the dry filters, too.

I'll be sure to report back. Glad to hear you have noticed a difference with the butt dyno. Thanks for sharing your impressions!

Haha! Yep, she's a keeper.

itzjonjon69

I'm running the ROW airbox + aFE dry filters + Eurocharged V5 and the car i just an absolute animal! Once the car is going it's impossible to get it to stop. The throttle blipping is also intoxicating.

AMGPower88

Looks good.. Not to hijack, but if I wanted to get the ROW airboxes plus afe filters, would I have to get a tune or not necessary?

Sidv22

not necessary to get a tune. you could run the ROW boxes and filters alone without the tune and vice versa

Conv_GSDriver

So what's the difference between stock and ROW airboxes, looks wise?

Mort

The difference is all inside. No charcoal filters or plastic mesh to hold them. The air horn is also rounder and fuller in shape and not flattened off to allow for the charcoal filters. Difference might be 5 - 10 hp peak between the OEM with charcoals and stock filters and the ROW with hi-flow dry filters.

Sidv22

Is the difference legit or is it all in the mind coz you spend 500 bucks? like a placebo.

zibby43

Conduct a search and look at the dyno graphs of those that have installed them. The torque gains are what impressed me most.

Also, I will be posting my own dyno results soon.

zibby43

That's exactly what I like to hear. Thanks for the feedback man.

Thanks! As others have said, a tune is not necessary. However, a tune could help maximize the potential of the ROW air boxes.

Autosport7

Yeah I am.
I can't tell you what kind of additional gains you will see just from the ROW's but it is a bit throatier and does seem to rev a bit smoother.
I am also running K&N's but will probably be installing AFE's soon.
From stock to EC V5 and ROW's.... Huge difference!

Autosport7

The differences are legit, but I wouldn't consider the added performance all that noticeable. I mean it does give a diff exhaust note and run smoother but performance isn't all the noticeable.

Conv_GSDriver

So what do the stock ones look like? These are exactly what I have under the hood of mine. I may have after market ROW air boxes then? I purchase the car not too long ago and I'm finding out that it has had quite a bit of aftermarket work done to it. So I'm trying to identify what's OEM and what's not, that is visible to the eye.

Sidv22

^^ difference shown in pictures

http://www.weistec.com/m156rowairbox.html

AMGPower88

So... Whats the maintenance on the ROW airboxes if any? Or do you just clean the AFE filters every so often, when do you usually clean them or replace them altogether??

AMG Boost

There is no maintenance to be done on the ROW boxes. It is a factory Mercedes Benz part.

The AFE Pro Dry filters will last a lifetime. You need to clean them every 10-20k miles depending on driving conditions. AFE has cleaning recommendations on their site.

zibby43

Awesome! Thanks for sharing man. I'm really looking forward to getting both installed.

See the link posted by Sidv22 below.

Thanks for posting that.

+1

m a x i m u s

zibby, not sure if you were having a shop do this for you, but you can install these yourself in about 10 minutes.

AMGPower88

So we need new MAF sensors to accomodate the row airboxes correct as well as AFE filters? Do these ROW airboxes affect emissions and smog testing?

sinape62

ROW boxes come with new MAF sensors... At least the ROWs I bought from Weistec.

From the OP photos, MAF sensors are there (see foam protectors)...

shivsiddh

Subscribing to see the dyno numbers! You should do a baseline dyno, then one with tune and then one with Row air boxes haha will help answer a lot of questions on here.

zibby43

Thanks for the heads up, Maximus! I have seen a few great DIY guides on here; the install does look pretty straightforward. I was originally planning on having my local independent shop do the install (which I was going to film and post).

My ROW air boxes came with new MAF sensors. They were ordered through Weistec Engineering. See the post below.

Absolutely correct.

Thanks buddy! That's a good idea. It will all depend on my schedule but at a minimum, I'd like to do the baseline run plus the ROWs/V5 run.