My review of the S&B CAI and the Banks Monster Exhaust
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 165
Likes: 0
From: Yellowknife
Nice write up man! I have the exact same setup on my truck that you have. I have had it on my truck for about a year and I absolutely love it. The Banks combined with the S&B is a great combo!
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,274
Likes: 6
From: Simi Valley CA
Thanks guys! I've got a good source for a camcorder so I'll see if I can't get some videos up of the exhaust system after I get my tunes from VMP. I think a rev video, a drive-by video, one inside the cab with the windows up, and one inside with the windows down will really let people hear how this exhaust sounds. All of the videos on youtube (including the Banks videos) do the exhaust no justice but I think the sound can be captured with a high quality camcorder.
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 381
Likes: 0
From: Southwest, MI
Couple of things
1. I'm looking at the banks duals and the roush o/r for my screw and have been torn between the two. I want it loud (roush) but I want it deep toned (banks). Is the banks single exhaust quieter than the duals?
2. just as a side note I just bought the K&N fipk on ebay as an instant buy with free shipping for $275, just a little bit more than the S&B. I talked to bill and cory this past winter and they said that the K&N produces the 2nd most power behind the AF1 with thier tunes, so I opted for the K&N since they are still in business.
1. I'm looking at the banks duals and the roush o/r for my screw and have been torn between the two. I want it loud (roush) but I want it deep toned (banks). Is the banks single exhaust quieter than the duals?
2. just as a side note I just bought the K&N fipk on ebay as an instant buy with free shipping for $275, just a little bit more than the S&B. I talked to bill and cory this past winter and they said that the K&N produces the 2nd most power behind the AF1 with thier tunes, so I opted for the K&N since they are still in business.
Thread Starter
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Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 1,788
Likes: 5
From: Alabama
I bought the intake and exhaust from autoanything.com
Also...... if you want loud and semi-deep go with the Roush kit; on the contrary if you want semi-loud and deep go with the Banks kit. That's the best way I can describe them. From what I've read a single kit will be a very little bit quieter than a dual kit. I've seen some pictures of the dual kit and to me the tips look too big but that can be changed.
Also...... if you want loud and semi-deep go with the Roush kit; on the contrary if you want semi-loud and deep go with the Banks kit. That's the best way I can describe them. From what I've read a single kit will be a very little bit quieter than a dual kit. I've seen some pictures of the dual kit and to me the tips look too big but that can be changed.
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
same setup
I figured I would write a review of these items in hopes that'll it'll help or answer somebody's questions later on down the road. I plan to write a review of VMP's tunes as well after I've had some time to play with them and really get a feel for the truck with custom tunes loaded. For now here is what I've got to say about the intake and exhaust.
So while I was at work today the guy in the big brown truck dropped off both my S&B CAI and my Banks monster exhaust. Since I work for myself I was able to take a few minutes away from work and install both. I installed the exhaust first and then followed that with the installation of the CAI. Here are a few pics and my initial impressions of each....
BANKS MONSTER EXHAUST:
Let's start with some background relating to exhaust that I've had on this truck. When I bought this truck I initially ordered the Roush Off-Road exhaust and installed it when the truck had just over 100 miles on the odometer. The Roush kit sounded really good especially on a cold start but I always felt like it would be better if there was a bit of volume sacrificed for a deeper tone. Now don't get me wrong, it sounded GREAT but I wanted to find something with a deeper tone so I looked towards the MBRP 3 1/2" SI/SO kit. The MBRP kit was most definitely deeper than the ROR but it had a really "airy" sound to it (for lack of a better term). After trying to figure this sound out for a little while I realized that the clamp tightening the MBRP intermediate pipe to the factory y-pipe was not sealing correctly. After fixing that the sound was much, much better but it still had a slightly "airy" sound on full throttle and on a cold start. Most people probably wouldn't even notice it but I'm very **** when it comes to exhaust and I knew I would be looking for a new exhaust very soon. All this brought me to the Banks monster exhaust and I can truly say that I am VERY happy with the way it turned out. I had the factory system off and the Banks on in 30 minutes and that's no joke (I've taken my exhaust off before though
). My only gripe is that the kit comes with u-bolt clamps instead of band clamps. I do believe that u-bolts hold better but I still prefer band clamps. There are no videos online that replicate the way this exhaust really sounds in person and it's damn near perfect in my opinion. On cold start it's pretty quiet (not nearly as loud as the ROR) but still very noticeable. Upon moderate acceleration it get's extremely deep and sounds excellent. Under WOT it's unreal and the volume is going to be almost that of the ROR after the muffler is broken in. I wasn't too crazy about the size of the tip when I first put it on but it actually flows nicely with the lines of the truck and I think the truck/exhaust compliment each other. Deeper than the ROR (even deeper than the MBRP), almost as much volume as the ROR (when used with the S&B CAI so you're tone may vary), a SI/SO exhaust, and a super easy install...... I'm thoroughly satisfied.
S&B CAI:
I've had no experience with CAI's on the '04-'08 F150's so I don't really have much to compare this CAI to but I'll do the best I can. I chose the S&B over the other brands simply because the filter was enclosed and the price was unbeatable. I Had a K&N 77 series on my '03 F150 5.4 and an aFe Stage 2 on my '06 Dodge 2500 with the Cummins engine. The quality of the S&B is just as nice if not better than both of the other intakes. I'm really digging the clear filter cover that the S&B kit comes with. Install was a piece of cake and took about 1 1/2 hours. That included taking a couple breaks for some water since I was working outside and it was HOT here today. After installation I started the truck and the idle seemed slow to come back down if I revved the truck to around 3000 rpm's. After looking over my installation I figured out that the new vacuum hose was not completely sealed and after fixing that everything was perfect. I can feel a noticeable difference in throttle response with the CAI installed vs stock so I know something is flowing better. I drove the truck with the exhaust alone and then drove it with the exhaust/CAI and the CAI definitely makes the exhaust louder and a bit deeper. The drone on this particular intake isn't too bad from what I can tell. I haven't done much driving though because I'm still waiting on my tunes from VMP. Then I'll give it a real good test.
My review for the VMP tunes will be coming as soon as I get them in. As for the truck I've pretty much got it finished. The only other things I have left that I still want to do is install the 2" AS leveling kit and some 305/60/18 BFG KM2's. Hope somebody has found this useful!
So while I was at work today the guy in the big brown truck dropped off both my S&B CAI and my Banks monster exhaust. Since I work for myself I was able to take a few minutes away from work and install both. I installed the exhaust first and then followed that with the installation of the CAI. Here are a few pics and my initial impressions of each....
BANKS MONSTER EXHAUST:
Let's start with some background relating to exhaust that I've had on this truck. When I bought this truck I initially ordered the Roush Off-Road exhaust and installed it when the truck had just over 100 miles on the odometer. The Roush kit sounded really good especially on a cold start but I always felt like it would be better if there was a bit of volume sacrificed for a deeper tone. Now don't get me wrong, it sounded GREAT but I wanted to find something with a deeper tone so I looked towards the MBRP 3 1/2" SI/SO kit. The MBRP kit was most definitely deeper than the ROR but it had a really "airy" sound to it (for lack of a better term). After trying to figure this sound out for a little while I realized that the clamp tightening the MBRP intermediate pipe to the factory y-pipe was not sealing correctly. After fixing that the sound was much, much better but it still had a slightly "airy" sound on full throttle and on a cold start. Most people probably wouldn't even notice it but I'm very **** when it comes to exhaust and I knew I would be looking for a new exhaust very soon. All this brought me to the Banks monster exhaust and I can truly say that I am VERY happy with the way it turned out. I had the factory system off and the Banks on in 30 minutes and that's no joke (I've taken my exhaust off before though
). My only gripe is that the kit comes with u-bolt clamps instead of band clamps. I do believe that u-bolts hold better but I still prefer band clamps. There are no videos online that replicate the way this exhaust really sounds in person and it's damn near perfect in my opinion. On cold start it's pretty quiet (not nearly as loud as the ROR) but still very noticeable. Upon moderate acceleration it get's extremely deep and sounds excellent. Under WOT it's unreal and the volume is going to be almost that of the ROR after the muffler is broken in. I wasn't too crazy about the size of the tip when I first put it on but it actually flows nicely with the lines of the truck and I think the truck/exhaust compliment each other. Deeper than the ROR (even deeper than the MBRP), almost as much volume as the ROR (when used with the S&B CAI so you're tone may vary), a SI/SO exhaust, and a super easy install...... I'm thoroughly satisfied.S&B CAI:
I've had no experience with CAI's on the '04-'08 F150's so I don't really have much to compare this CAI to but I'll do the best I can. I chose the S&B over the other brands simply because the filter was enclosed and the price was unbeatable. I Had a K&N 77 series on my '03 F150 5.4 and an aFe Stage 2 on my '06 Dodge 2500 with the Cummins engine. The quality of the S&B is just as nice if not better than both of the other intakes. I'm really digging the clear filter cover that the S&B kit comes with. Install was a piece of cake and took about 1 1/2 hours. That included taking a couple breaks for some water since I was working outside and it was HOT here today. After installation I started the truck and the idle seemed slow to come back down if I revved the truck to around 3000 rpm's. After looking over my installation I figured out that the new vacuum hose was not completely sealed and after fixing that everything was perfect. I can feel a noticeable difference in throttle response with the CAI installed vs stock so I know something is flowing better. I drove the truck with the exhaust alone and then drove it with the exhaust/CAI and the CAI definitely makes the exhaust louder and a bit deeper. The drone on this particular intake isn't too bad from what I can tell. I haven't done much driving though because I'm still waiting on my tunes from VMP. Then I'll give it a real good test.
My review for the VMP tunes will be coming as soon as I get them in. As for the truck I've pretty much got it finished. The only other things I have left that I still want to do is install the 2" AS leveling kit and some 305/60/18 BFG KM2's. Hope somebody has found this useful!
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
same setup
I figured I would write a review of these items in hopes that'll it'll help or answer somebody's questions later on down the road. I plan to write a review of VMP's tunes as well after I've had some time to play with them and really get a feel for the truck with custom tunes loaded. For now here is what I've got to say about the intake and exhaust.
So while I was at work today the guy in the big brown truck dropped off both my S&B CAI and my Banks monster exhaust. Since I work for myself I was able to take a few minutes away from work and install both. I installed the exhaust first and then followed that with the installation of the CAI. Here are a few pics and my initial impressions of each....
BANKS MONSTER EXHAUST:
Let's start with some background relating to exhaust that I've had on this truck. When I bought this truck I initially ordered the Roush Off-Road exhaust and installed it when the truck had just over 100 miles on the odometer. The Roush kit sounded really good especially on a cold start but I always felt like it would be better if there was a bit of volume sacrificed for a deeper tone. Now don't get me wrong, it sounded GREAT but I wanted to find something with a deeper tone so I looked towards the MBRP 3 1/2" SI/SO kit. The MBRP kit was most definitely deeper than the ROR but it had a really "airy" sound to it (for lack of a better term). After trying to figure this sound out for a little while I realized that the clamp tightening the MBRP intermediate pipe to the factory y-pipe was not sealing correctly. After fixing that the sound was much, much better but it still had a slightly "airy" sound on full throttle and on a cold start. Most people probably wouldn't even notice it but I'm very **** when it comes to exhaust and I knew I would be looking for a new exhaust very soon. All this brought me to the Banks monster exhaust and I can truly say that I am VERY happy with the way it turned out. I had the factory system off and the Banks on in 30 minutes and that's no joke (I've taken my exhaust off before though). My only gripe is that the kit comes with u-bolt clamps instead of band clamps. I do believe that u-bolts hold better but I still prefer band clamps. There are no videos online that replicate the way this exhaust really sounds in person and it's damn near perfect in my opinion. On cold start it's pretty quiet (not nearly as loud as the ROR) but still very noticeable. Upon moderate acceleration it get's extremely deep and sounds excellent. Under WOT it's unreal and the volume is going to be almost that of the ROR after the muffler is broken in. I wasn't too crazy about the size of the tip when I first put it on but it actually flows nicely with the lines of the truck and I think the truck/exhaust compliment each other. Deeper than the ROR (even deeper than the MBRP), almost as much volume as the ROR (when used with the S&B CAI so you're tone may vary), a SI/SO exhaust, and a super easy install...... I'm thoroughly satisfied.
S&B CAI:
I've had no experience with CAI's on the '04-'08 F150's so I don't really have much to compare this CAI to but I'll do the best I can. I chose the S&B over the other brands simply because the filter was enclosed and the price was unbeatable. I Had a K&N 77 series on my '03 F150 5.4 and an aFe Stage 2 on my '06 Dodge 2500 with the Cummins engine. The quality of the S&B is just as nice if not better than both of the other intakes. I'm really digging the clear filter cover that the S&B kit comes with. Install was a piece of cake and took about 1 1/2 hours. That included taking a couple breaks for some water since I was working outside and it was HOT here today. After installation I started the truck and the idle seemed slow to come back down if I revved the truck to around 3000 rpm's. After looking over my installation I figured out that the new vacuum hose was not completely sealed and after fixing that everything was perfect. I can feel a noticeable difference in throttle response with the CAI installed vs stock so I know something is flowing better. I drove the truck with the exhaust alone and then drove it with the exhaust/CAI and the CAI definitely makes the exhaust louder and a bit deeper. The drone on this particular intake isn't too bad from what I can tell. I haven't done much driving though because I'm still waiting on my tunes from VMP. Then I'll give it a real good test.
My review for the VMP tunes will be coming as soon as I get them in. As for the truck I've pretty much got it finished. The only other things I have left that I still want to do is install the 2" AS leveling kit and some 305/60/18 BFG KM2's. Hope somebody has found this useful!
So while I was at work today the guy in the big brown truck dropped off both my S&B CAI and my Banks monster exhaust. Since I work for myself I was able to take a few minutes away from work and install both. I installed the exhaust first and then followed that with the installation of the CAI. Here are a few pics and my initial impressions of each....
BANKS MONSTER EXHAUST:
Let's start with some background relating to exhaust that I've had on this truck. When I bought this truck I initially ordered the Roush Off-Road exhaust and installed it when the truck had just over 100 miles on the odometer. The Roush kit sounded really good especially on a cold start but I always felt like it would be better if there was a bit of volume sacrificed for a deeper tone. Now don't get me wrong, it sounded GREAT but I wanted to find something with a deeper tone so I looked towards the MBRP 3 1/2" SI/SO kit. The MBRP kit was most definitely deeper than the ROR but it had a really "airy" sound to it (for lack of a better term). After trying to figure this sound out for a little while I realized that the clamp tightening the MBRP intermediate pipe to the factory y-pipe was not sealing correctly. After fixing that the sound was much, much better but it still had a slightly "airy" sound on full throttle and on a cold start. Most people probably wouldn't even notice it but I'm very **** when it comes to exhaust and I knew I would be looking for a new exhaust very soon. All this brought me to the Banks monster exhaust and I can truly say that I am VERY happy with the way it turned out. I had the factory system off and the Banks on in 30 minutes and that's no joke (I've taken my exhaust off before though
). My only gripe is that the kit comes with u-bolt clamps instead of band clamps. I do believe that u-bolts hold better but I still prefer band clamps. There are no videos online that replicate the way this exhaust really sounds in person and it's damn near perfect in my opinion. On cold start it's pretty quiet (not nearly as loud as the ROR) but still very noticeable. Upon moderate acceleration it get's extremely deep and sounds excellent. Under WOT it's unreal and the volume is going to be almost that of the ROR after the muffler is broken in. I wasn't too crazy about the size of the tip when I first put it on but it actually flows nicely with the lines of the truck and I think the truck/exhaust compliment each other. Deeper than the ROR (even deeper than the MBRP), almost as much volume as the ROR (when used with the S&B CAI so you're tone may vary), a SI/SO exhaust, and a super easy install...... I'm thoroughly satisfied.S&B CAI:
I've had no experience with CAI's on the '04-'08 F150's so I don't really have much to compare this CAI to but I'll do the best I can. I chose the S&B over the other brands simply because the filter was enclosed and the price was unbeatable. I Had a K&N 77 series on my '03 F150 5.4 and an aFe Stage 2 on my '06 Dodge 2500 with the Cummins engine. The quality of the S&B is just as nice if not better than both of the other intakes. I'm really digging the clear filter cover that the S&B kit comes with. Install was a piece of cake and took about 1 1/2 hours. That included taking a couple breaks for some water since I was working outside and it was HOT here today. After installation I started the truck and the idle seemed slow to come back down if I revved the truck to around 3000 rpm's. After looking over my installation I figured out that the new vacuum hose was not completely sealed and after fixing that everything was perfect. I can feel a noticeable difference in throttle response with the CAI installed vs stock so I know something is flowing better. I drove the truck with the exhaust alone and then drove it with the exhaust/CAI and the CAI definitely makes the exhaust louder and a bit deeper. The drone on this particular intake isn't too bad from what I can tell. I haven't done much driving though because I'm still waiting on my tunes from VMP. Then I'll give it a real good test.
My review for the VMP tunes will be coming as soon as I get them in. As for the truck I've pretty much got it finished. The only other things I have left that I still want to do is install the 2" AS leveling kit and some 305/60/18 BFG KM2's. Hope somebody has found this useful!