Is it worth the extra money to buy a bypass valve for my CAI?
What kind of questions should I ask myself before getting one?

thanks.

...no I don't think it's worth the money and it's priven to make less power. I'm too lazy person to checnge it out so I leave in the CAI all year long. Just don't drive through a puddle and you'll be fine. Even the directions said that and I havent had a probem with it yet.

No. Even if you go through puddles, the filter has to be submerged.
So i would not bother, i havent had any problems.

.Mike-1995 Eclipse GS.

i need to be dropped..

ProbeDSM just got hydolock and had to rebuild and he had one so...I have one tho and drive through all kinds of puddles when it rains like a bastard here and have had no problems with mine.

Well,I took mine off. It came off in about 3-5 pieces. It was cracked all around apparently, the foam on the outside was started to fall off, and after taking it off, I notice a little increase in performance and a nice increase on sound. Just be careful. The day I took it off, I drove thru a flooded street after a hard rain, and my car still runs fine. Water was coming down so steady, the drains couldn't get it all, and the water was running all in the street. Anyways, I like mine the way it is now without the bypass.

its a good idea to have it on. hydrolock is not fun, and not cheap.

I think that if you are driving through that much water that your filter get submerged your going to get water in the engine anyway, regardless of the bypass valve