Ok I recently replaced my old 3rd maxima with a 4th gen, and while I was looking under the hood I was confused by the whole air box / ram air setup looking thing. I'm talking about the air scoop that comes right up to the grill, and feeds back underneath to the air box. It looks stock, I don't think the person who had the max before me would have added this.
What is that air intake / scoop thing, and does it actually provide better performance? If I were to get a CAI, would this thing be removed?

 

first of all thats not a scoop thing it brings air to your air box this is stock and no1 put it in. no it doesn't add performance to the car because it''s made and put on factory. and when u put in a cai u don't need this scoop because than your air would come from underneath the car unless u use the ram intake where u can leave the scoop and just take out the box so the ram intake would get air from the front of the car .....

 

i took out all the clutter anyways, when i got my short ram. it make the engine bay look better and less cluttered. easier to work on **** to.

 

it is a scoop that brings air to the stock airbox. for the stock air box, YES it is performance oriented, it utilizes fresh, faster flowing air into the air intake stream, adding just a tad more power, and better throttle response, take it off and leave ur stock intake on see how it feels.