silicon hose or polished stainless steel

[S16]

hi

I'm fitting a cold air feed to my S16 and I don't know whether to use 3" silicon hose or polished stainless steel pipe. I think both would look good but does anyone know any pros or cons to the two methods. I am more interested in keeping the air cool rather than how it looks. which method would keep the air colder as it passes through it? would the stainless pipe get warm from the engine heat because its metal, and in turn, heat the air passing through it? silicon can withstand high temperatures but would the inside of the tube have more friction than stainless. just not sure which would be best. please help

many thanks

[Jimbo]

Alloy pipe would be best mate, dissipates heat bettetr than stainless. Can get polished alloy too so looks good

[Janne L]

Since it's an na engine I'd get what insulates the best, aluminium is the worst option in my mind since it'd transmit heat from the engine bay into the cai pipe.
Silicone should be the best insulator, considering there are silicone oven mits, but I've never seem stainless steel oven mits :-P

[S16]

Cheers for the replies. Sorry I did mean polished alloy not stainless steel. I guess I'm still none the wiser. I thought silicon would handle the heat better than polished alloy because silicon can handle temperatures well over 100 degrees and I thought metal would heat up being next to the engine. However a colleague at work agreed with the first reply. He is a painter and I'm a joiner. He says when you try to strip paint from metal with a blow lamp, it will take the top layers off easy enough but when you get to the base layer it becomes difficult because the metal deflects the heat from the blow lamp. I'm confused.

P.s we also have a silicon oven mitt at home so I know what you're saying

[toseland]

metal doesnt deflect heat from the blow lamp

metal conducts the heat away more effectively, meaning it acts like a heat sink, and physically stops the paint getting hot enough to burn off .

get silicon. hardly conducts heat at all, meaning hte outside can be 300degrees and the inside wont be affected much.

[S16]

silicon hose it is then.