I've seen some mesh screen get sucked in and caused some serious damage. turbo, valves, cylender walls, all toast.

 

the screen that i have is as stiff as chicken-wire. no way its gonna be sucked in.
you can definatly hear the turbo when it spools. louder than even my fart can. it goes
buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz sssssssppppooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! !!!!!!!!!

 

haha BUZZZZZZsssssppPPPOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

 

This what I do, attach a heavy screen. Place foam from a mushroom filter overtop, and attach another layer of heavy screen to hold it in place.

Zing!

 

What u could also do is tear your filter apart and cut a 4" diameter circle and place it over with a clamp....Since u cant use ur filter, make it useful for some ----..

 

i was running the mesh screen with like 5 layers of panthy hose over it and it did hinder performance a bit. i also found several boost leaks and have since removed my cat, so maybe i should try it again.

 

Most of the screen that people use for turbo inlets has less than 50% open area. But then again, I have no proof of what the effect of blocking off HALF of the compressor inlet does, so it doesn't mean ----. You guys are dumbasses for not using air filters!