K&N Filters

[Funrover]

I am thinking of tossing mine for off road use. The evidence against them is huge and from personaly experiance I am thinking while they seem to do great in street cars off road they lag behind something fierce. What are others thoughts?

[Smash]

Oh here we go, I'll get my popcorn out to watch this one! :lol:

[Jamie]

K&N filters are fine if you don't over oil them and screw up the MAF.

They also don't filter as well as stock filter untill they get a bit "dirty" so don't clean them too often. I have run them one every vehicle I have had and have no ill effects. The cost of stock filters are cheap but the K&N will outlast them all. You can also run a foam filter around them or the bag type prefilter that eliminates alot of the silt we see out here in Colorado.

[Funrover]

I have run them for quite awhile in many cars. I keep going back and forth on this situation. I don't go crazy on the cleaning (My snoekel really helps with that in my Rover) but they seem to do more harm than good. When I get the chance to walk around shops and look I notice that many of the cars with K&N seem to need major engine (internal) repairs.

[Jamie]

I have run them for quite awhile in many cars. I keep going back and forth on this situation. I don't go crazy on the cleaning (My snoekel really helps with that in my Rover) but they seem to do more harm than good. When I get the chance to walk around shops and look I notice that many of the cars with K&N seem to need major engine (internal) repairs.

What are you seeing that leads you to believe it's the filter and not just poor maintenance? I see that most people just don't want to spend the money on things that need to be addressed.

[Funrover]

Every oil change I check the filter and housing. I notice on Jessicas that there is some extra dirt and such collection on the MAF. and mine also just tripped the MAF. I don't go crazy with the oil and haven't have a problem before... but the more I look into the idea the more I find against K&N. I dunno I see it more as prevention.

[Smash]

120,000 miles with the K&N in my Forester. Put it in there when the car was brand new. 120k of dirt, mud, water, towing.... No trouble. Good for me. I've run them in every bike I've ever had, as do the majority of the guys I ride with. Looked like a brand new K&N in the 'burb when I bought it, I oiled it and will keep it in there. What others want to do is up to them, but I'm happy with their performance.

[ROKTAXI]

I am thinking of tossing mine for off road use. The evidence against them is huge and from personaly experiance I am thinking while they seem to do great in street cars off road they lag behind something fierce. What are others thoughts?
Check out AMSOIL's Ea air filters. Noticeable fuel mileage difference on my XJ. It's a DRY (cleanable) filter. Check what the "big boys run" and you will find very few use K&N....



Yes, I'm a T-1 certified AMSOIL dealer....

[Funrover]

Check out AMSOIL's Ea air filters. Noticeable fuel mileage difference on my XJ. It's a DRY (cleanable) filter. Check what the "big boys run" and you will find very few use K&N....



Yes, I'm a T-1 certified AMSOIL dealer....

May be calling you shortly, it's almost time to do some fluid changes in the parents Diesel! Can you tell me more about your air filters?

[Jamie]

Check out AMSOIL's Ea air filters. Noticeable fuel mileage difference on my XJ. It's a DRY (cleanable) filter. Check what the "big boys run" and you will find very few use K&N....



Yes, I'm a T-1 certified AMSOIL dealer....

I wish I could afford AMSOIL products they are great. Buy the way how much for a quart of MT-90 from you? I need some for my tranny.

I agree that they (K&N) can let more dirt by at first but if left alone to accumulate a little dirt to aid in the trapping of fine particles then they are like an oil bath filter on the old VW's. IMO oil bath's are the best type of filter out there. Also, I will repeat that for what Aaron typically runs Ie... lots of high mountain "pass roads" "camping" there is tremendous amount of fine particulate dust while following another vehicle such as my Jeep!.LOL A prefilter would serve well, such as a foam filter or a nylon bag.

These discussions only lead to speculation as no one that I know of has run on of these and also run a stock a filter on the exact same vehicle and compared the results by examining the oil after each change to see what is in the oil after 3000 miles. Just my opinion and I know they are like A**Holes, eveyrone has one.

[Funrover]

I have also found these, I realize take a grain of salt with what you see on the net but..

http://duramax-diesel.com/spicer/index.htm

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37174

[SubaCool]

I've had this same exact discussion with a friend of mine I got my Bug from. We killed his engine year before last (on his Baja Bug) running the 100 mile desert race at CORE (only completed 40miles before it went boom), with the foam pre-filters over the K&Ns. Turned out it wasn't as much the fault of the filters as it was the location of them. With a dual carb setup on a boxer engine, they were getting pounded directly by dirt and crud from the tires as they sat right behind them. He changed the design this year by adding piping and raising the filters up and into the rear window and covering them up with plastic cans. He did all the desert races last year (some 600+ miles) with no issues.
I did something similar to my Bug, except I only have a single cab so it's out of the way from getting pounded directly by the tire spray. Still though, I took a flexible tube and ran it through the firewall, thus placing the filter inside the passenger's compartment. Looks good and gives me piece of mind.

Ok, I now, you'll say but yours are Bugs. But the idea is, if the vehicle sees lots of dirt, the filter needs to be out of the direct exposure to dirt. I'm no expert, but K&N is good if properly used. Yes, there are other (better) companies, but K&N started it all. I run them on all my vehicles (CAI K&N on my Nissan, OEM spec K&N on the Subie, K&N on my Baja Bug) and have had no problems yet.

[Jamie]

Aaron, come on brother no one goes on the internet to tell you how great things are unless there are $'s to be made or there are true results. K&N has provided these type of statistical results time and again on various vehicles.

If these filters were killing engines then they wouldn't be able to sell them as folks would just not buy them.

The problem is when folks see them get a little bit of dust on them they clean them, this is against what the instructions tell you when you bought it. A little bit of "fine"dirt helps to filter out the very fine dust that accumulates on the filter in our area.

People mostly buy these to increase air flow, which if your carb or throttle body cannot ingest an increased amount of air means nothing ie...CFM.

A bigger intake means you must free up the exhaust as well or no gain!

I'm gonna have to take you have off my friend list.LOL

[WINKY]

ive run k&n filters on bikes cars and trucks.. never a problem you just got to understand that it isnt a drop in and forget filter.

These filters need to be maintained and that includes taking the filter out about every 6 months, wash it thoroughly, re-oil it PROPERLY and it will work as it is supposed to. Th oil is what catches the fine particulates, the rest of the filter media catches the big stuff. It is when you allow the filter to dry up or get clogged with so much fine particulate that the oil in the filter cant catch any of it.

Standard paper filters catch most everything yes but you spend $15-20 per filter. God forbid you get one wet, your screwed. No maintenance, replace when dirty...
Oil bath filters such as k&n catch most everything as well, but require more "maintenance" to work properly. It is this factor that i think people have a bad taste in their mouth about as they dont maintiain the filter properly.


one more thing people fail to do is put the proper grease on the sealing lip of the filter everytime they clean it. this creates a good solid seal to where all the air will pass through the filter not around.

For saving money in the long run you in turn maintain more than with a paper filter.

[Funrover]

Yeah I know and as I said I have run them for years also w/o issue. I just keep thinking about what others I know have experienced, Last thing I want is for Jessica to have troubles with her Rover because of something as simple as an air filter.

[Brody]

All has been said, but:

Overoiling the K&N filter will gunk up the MAF. You gotta work at this to get it to happen, but people have managed to do it.

K&Ns work well with proper maintenance. As Jamie said, you ideally want to match you increased air intake with increase output on your exhaust or you will lose a lot of the benefit of a high volume filter. If you can't do this, it is not going to be worth the $$ as the gains are not going to do much of anything. May as well just run a good clean stock filter until you can do the exhaust: bigger pipes, free flow CAT and muffler.

[ROKTAXI]

I've used K&N air filters for over 25 years. I did not have any "problem" with them. As it's been said in this tread, if you clean and oil them as per instructions you'll do just fine. And if all you want is "fine" then keep using them. When I learned about AMSOIL products, I (after many years of use) learned that it is just not just another oil product. It's one of the few company's that has not been adversely affected by the economy. In fact, it has actually grown.

The AMSOIL Ea air filter is in some cases less than a K&N. Just brush off or lightly blow off the dirt and your good to go. Higher filtration than K&N and NO washing / drying / oiling.

I can provide you with independent documented data on the performance of their products: Motorcycle oil, diesel oil, air filters, gear oils, etc.

Check out the website: amsoil.com (http://amsoil.com)

Let me know if you have any questions.

Sorry, I'm not really intending to use this thread to "sell" but to inform. Hope I haven't over-stepped my bounds here.

[Brody]

I've used K&N air filters for over 25 years. I did not have any "problem" with them.

I can provide you with independent documented data on the performance of their products: Motorcycle oil, diesel oil, air filters, gear oils, etc.

Check out the website: amsoil.com (http://amsoil.com)

Let me know if you have any questions.

Sorry, I'm not really intending to use this thread to "sell" but to inform. Hope I haven't over-stepped my bounds here.

Not to worry. I have also used the K&N filters ever since they came out. I didn't realize it had been that long. Time flies...I have never had any problems either whether I was running a carb or EFI with either a MAP or MAF.

Good to know about the AMSOIL. I was looking at these for the next time I change out my air intake stuff. If you do sell these, just stick your information into the VENDORS section and post up whatever information you deem fit. Thanks.

[WINKY]

All has been said, but:

Overoiling the K&N filter will gunk up the MAF. You gotta work at this to get it to happen, but people have managed to do it.

K&Ns work well with proper maintenance. As Jamie said, you ideally want to match you increased air intake with increase output on your exhaust or you will lose a lot of the benefit of a high volume filter. If you can't do this, it is not going to be worth the $$ as the gains are not going to do much of anything. May as well just run a good clean stock filter until you can do the exhaust: bigger pipes, free flow CAT and muffler.


you sir are correct :)