"These build journal entries are part of a Special Series on the development of the E60 M5 & E63 M6 sealed carbon intakes and written in collaboration with Sal at Infinity Design.

In this journal entry, I cover my unboxing impressions of the gloss & matte finished of the intake kit."
- Matt

 

The box. 

The box was shipped UPS yet I wasn't anxious at all. The beauty of any carbon intakes is their lightness and relatively ease of shipping. It was bubble wrapped, with foam wrapping paper added as well. 

I found and listed the following parts included in the package: 

The components. 

Oiled, Cone Shape Air Filters. 

The filters are immediately noticeable due to their size and color. They are absolutely massive - and bright red.

Their dimensions don't come across across pictures. 

The cone shape is distinctive. 

You can see the slight oil residue on the filter by the darker red hues. 

The carbon housings. 

The carbon housings are made using pre-preg & autoclave'd processes. It's the lightest and strongest process to make carbon. 

The weave is 2x2, ideal for its complex curvatures. I used the gloss version pictures as it shows off the quality of the carbon work. 

The upper housing is a work of twisted carbon art. 

Even though the lower housing will be hidden away, weave quality is unchanged. 

 

The OE ducts integration. 

The lower carbon housings have 2x air intakes with designed to fit with the OE air ducts. 

The upper side duct fits into the chassis and is fed air from the kidney grills. They have small tabs designed to fit the OE plastic chassis fittings. 

The bottom duct is fitted into the bumper duct. Seen here at the top of the picture.

The integrated MAF fittings.  

The upper housings have MAF fittings directly fitted into the carbon - an innovative design feature unseen in any other V10 intakes. 

The upper housing have slight indentations to seal with the plenum connections. 

The clamps. 

Small touches matter and this is one of them. The prototype version of the sealed intakes were fitted with bare metal clamps - I told Sal this needed to be black'ed out. 

He incorporated black clamps into the design production specs, and they look sleek. 

The accessories. 

The breather-filter.   

The OE intake breather was incorporated into the OE airbox. The sealed intake design doesn't incorporate it and instead comes with a breather-filter with a clamp and bolts to be fitted to the OEM hose. 

The washer fluid bracket.

I forgot to grab pictures of this. The washer fluid filling tube was mounted on the OE airbox on the driver side. 

This design feature was also discarded by InfinityDesign. They instead provide you with a bracket to bolt close to the strut tower. 

The finish dilemma. 

First things first - the finish quality itself is great. I saw no visibly clear coat imperfections: no dust specs, no clear coat popping. 

Gloss looks better: it pops.

The carbon work is crystal clear and the finish is smooth to the touch.

Gloss clear coats have depth, matte clear coats do not. It made weave deformation more noticeable on matte. 

Matte is for the lazy ones of us.

Matte hides away scratches better and the finish is slightly more rough. 

I hate detailing engine bays, my M5 sees winter use and my DIYs often have me scratching parts for dubious reasons.

Matte was my pick. 

Up next: I remove the OE intakes along with assembling & installing the sealed carbon intakes and its accessories.