Topic: AEM Brute Force intake or S&B dry air intake??

[WhiteAvalanch3]

I have heard so many things. which one is better? or is there something u guys would recommend?

[MyBigToy]

They are both good filters and you would likely be satisfied with either one. However, you could save some money if they make a filter to fit your truck (I didn't look at what year your truck is before replying) - take a look at Spectre CAIs. I know several people who have them and they are all satisfied with them.

[Main One]

As far as I know, K&N is the only manufacturer that guarantees a performance improvement.  You can buy a K&N replacement for your stock paper filter that fits in your stock airbox, which is what I started with.  You can cheaply go another step and cut out the bottom of the stock airbox to allow your filter to draw in air from below, as well as where it normally comes from, which is inside of the the passenger side fender.  I ran with that setup for quite a while. 

As far as I know, AIRAIDE is the only brand that allows you to buy a replacement tube that gets rid of all of the stock tube's added appendages, or a cone-style filter, or both together as all of the other brands do.  For quite a while I ran with a stock-style K&N filter, opened up on the bottom stock airbox, and an AIRAIDE tube.  Also as far as I know, AIRAIDE is the only brand that offered different tubes for the original style Avalanches, based upon whether or not your AV was new enough to have come with an electric fan, which I believe started in 05.  You can look at your 02's stock tube, and see that it is pretty tight where it turns in between the throttle body and the fan shroud for the belt-driven fan.  The e-fans have a much less intrusive shroud, allowing much more room for the tube to turn in front of the throttle body.  Since I had installed e-fans in my 03 before getting the AIRAIDE tube, I purchased one for the newer trucks, which fit my 03 fine without the big fan shroud getting in its way.

While not as simple as putting on an aftermarket air intake in front of the throttle body, installing either an aftermarket e-fan, or getting one from a wrecking yard from an 05 or newer truck (which is what I did) is not that hard of a mod, and is supposed to reap small performance and fuel mileage benefits.  If it allows you to install a better intake tube, it's just more goodness.