K&N Replacement Filters

Hey Guys,

I am new to TW so my apologies if this has appeared before. Has anyone installed a K&N replacement air filter in their rig? K&N says their filters increase HP, acceleration, and MPG. Is this complete b.s or did you see real gains?

 

Welcome to the forum, most here will say they are a waste of money on the engine (just noise, oiled ones could foul the air flow sensor) but I did buy one for the cabin air filter.

 

K&N makes some good filters and they usually last longer or are cleanable/reusable so in the long run they may be less expensive than OEM paper filters. The MPG and HP gains K&N and other aftermarket filter makes claim is based on better air flow. But we all know no matter what filter is in there, if it's doing it's job at removing crap from the air, there will be some restriction. I think the oiled filters may allow a bit better flow as they depend on the damp oil to capture airborne contaminants rather than just forcing air through some paper. I suspect though, the amount of performance gain is minimal and unmeasurable for the most part so if your sole reason for replacing the OEM filter is for more performance, you'll never recoup the extra cost. If you just want a good, long living filter then go for it.

I have an oiled filter in my TRD CAI and like it.

 

Snake oil

 

Waste of money

 

Yes

OEM or NAPA Gold/Wix only for me

 

From my experience with them on motorcycles about the only thing they are good for are the nice ability to clean and re-oil them. They can have more airflow but that is not always a good thing. For street and everyday use they are fine but they tend to not filter out very fine particles of dirt or dust, if you ever like to off-road your vehicle on dirt/mud/gravel/sand then you a better served with standard air filter.

 

There was also a significant study done showing that they allow much larger particulate through than even an OEM filter. Replacing a quality OEM type regularly will be cheaper and offer better filtration.

 

on an off-road vehicle I'd rather give up power for better filtration than gain power from worse filtration

I've never seen a K&N add a meaningful amount of horsepower anyway

 

you will gain power. about 1/16th of a horse power at 6,000 RPM.

OEM air filters are actually pretty respectable. Good filtration and actually surprisingly good flow. Aftermarkets increase flow generally by reducing the quality of the filtration but the amount of flow gained in reality is minimal but the amount of dust now being ingested by your engine is not so minimal, especial with the air intake in the wheel well.

 

Please provide a link for study. I am very curious.

 

Any high flow aftermarket intake is not going to do anything (or very minimal) unless your engine has mods to flow more air (as well as an exhaust). Might get a few HP but not nowhere near what they claim with the intake system alone.

Not enough gains to feel anything. You might feel like you have better throttle response but that doesn't equate to more power. And it'll make more throttle noise if you like that sort of thing.

I have one & run one (on the street only) but only cause I got it for free & it's cheap & convenient since it's washable.

 

I installed one right after having to replace the OEM paper filter. I bought it for the convenience of just having to buy one filter and when it gets dirty you can wash it. The company claims better HP and a bunch of stuff, and hell the tests could be true, but in my opinion unless you cut a hole in your hood and put a pipe up and out to catch highway wind, that's the only way to get "cold" air into the engine.

 

I use an AFE Pro Dry filter. No oil. Rinse out with water, let dry and reinstall. I used to check the intake tube to see if any debris was getting in there but it never showed anything. I wouldn't use a K&N filter. The oil could cause MAF issues.

 

I use one in the Harley, and the cabin air filter. For the Taco engine air box, use OEM.

G.

 

Had a K&N on my '93. Never any issues with it in 300K miles. It's when people over-oil them that they cause problems. On that very anemic 3.0L, the K&N along with Borla made a noticeable improvement in output. I have a K&N in my 911 as well. No problems there either, and those would be much more expensive problems if they were to happen.

 

http://forums.nicoclub.com/debunking-the-k-n-myth-why-oem-is-better-t180100.html

This is not the one I remember reading but it was fairly well done.

Additionally the MAF and MAP sensors are going to regulate the air flow to create the most effecient fuel mix (according to the ECM programming) regardless of how much air is pushed into the intake. I will likely catch hell from the CAI fans for this statement but unless you are running a tune that will allow more airflow to produce more horsepower I am much more interested in filtering particles out than I am the false promise of creating more power with more airflow.

 

Thank you! I see what you are saying. Kind of like the engine pulls the same amount of air with a k&n or OEM filter. Unless the engine is tuned to pull more air faster to create more horsepower, a different filter won't play a large part in affecting horsepower. Still it is nice to buy a washable filter rather than shell out money every couple thousand miles, depending where you live.