# Air vs Max Air

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-vs-max-air/204517>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 29, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-vs-max-air/204517 "2003-09-29T18:26:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SonOfArizona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SonOfArizona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SonOfArizona)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-vs-max-air/204517/1 "2003-09-29T18:26:30Z")

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In a car, every air conditioning system that I have seen has two options for air conditioning ; Air and Max Air. But then they also always have a knob that controls the air flow, which leads me to my question - What is the point of max air? It isnt really much noticeably stronger than regular and the little difference that is there could be made just with a little more on the _red_ part of the power knob. Anyone know?

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**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-vs-max-air/204517/2 "2003-09-29T18:32:00Z")

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AFAIK Max Air recirculates the air in the car. Air takes in fresh air from the outside.

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**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-vs-max-air/204517/3 "2003-09-29T18:33:32Z")

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“Air” brings in air from outside.

“Max Air” recirculates the air already inside the car. This lets it cool faster since the air is already partially cooled as it goes through the system and you aren’t losing cooled air from the vehicle to make room for more air from outside.

(Not that cars are air-tight, but you know what I mean.)

At least, that’s how it worked on my old Corolla. My new car doesn’t have a “Max Air” button but has a “Fresh” vx “Recirculate” setting instead.

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**Author:** ![The\_Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Griffin)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-vs-max-air/204517/4 "2003-09-29T21:22:54Z")

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I thought this was gonna be about Nike trainers (sneekers)