K&N Airfilters

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Hey all,

Would a K&N panel filter make any difference to my car, and if so, what difference would it make? Is it worth the £37.99 it would cost?

Ta!
 
[TW]Fox said:
Hey all,

Would a K&N panel filter make any difference to my car, and if so, what difference would it make? Is it worth the £37.99 it would cost?

Ta!

Nothing noticable at all tbh, if anything, you'll probably upset the fuel / air mixture!

With a decent free flow exhaust system & the K&N you will gain - slightly - at high RPM.

I'd spend the £37.99 on some juice & have a pleasure drive first. ;)

Its very sad to see, you have a beautiful car but seem hell bent on doing what 95% of 22year olds do with their Corsa's - pointless mods. ;)
 
It makes a fairly noticeable difference on my 205, but I have a stainless steel pipe for an exhaust and a high-lift cam :D

It sounds nice sucking that air in when you open the throttle, too.
 
R124/LA420 said:
Its very sad to see, you have a beautiful car but seem hell bent on doing what 95% of 22year olds do with their Corsa's - pointless mods. ;)

Q4T :p

It's a nice car, don't bugger it up!
 
Hi there

Depends on the car.

Whenever I get a car I always let the engine breathe no matter what it is. For just £40 I'd do it and also make sure you remove any pre-cats if your car has them, I know the M5 does. :)

You might find it revs a little easier and is more willing to pull upto and beyond redline, also might sound ever so slightly throatier.

On that type of car I'd suspect it will give 3-7BHP more, really depends on the condition of the current filter too. The cars ECU should be able to learn and adjust its A/F accordingly.

If it was mine and I was planning on keeping it for a couple of years I'd give it a proper cold air kit and best free flowing exhaust but keep all stock parts so you can put it back to STD easily. That little combo on that kinda car could see 10-15BHP but a much nicer sound and no doubt a more usable power band. :)
 
sormicoft said:
take your 37.99 and add a few more and get some gruppe M induction goodies :)

The K&N will make sod all power difference, it sure as hell won't add 3-7bhp... it also won't sound any different.

As this man says, save up for a Gruppe-M induction kit or don't bother. £38 (+ extra insurance costs) is a lot of money for little to no difference.
 
The only advantage I can see is that K&N panel filters don’t need to be replaced, however they are much more expensive than normal paper air filters and if you get your car serviced by the main dealer they aren’t going to knock any money off just because you have a K&N filter installed.

A lot of people think that the oil in K&N filters can damage MAF / MAP sensors, but I’ve never seen any proof of it myself. Although a few people think that K&N filters require no maintenance at all (which isn’t true) and leave the filter untouched for thousands of miles, eventually the filter looses its effectiveness and can lead to MAF sensors becoming covered in fine dirt, which causes them to return false readings.
 
NickXX said:
The K&N will make sod all power difference, it sure as hell won't add 3-7bhp... it also won't sound any different.

As this man says, save up for a Gruppe-M induction kit or don't bother. £38 (+ extra insurance costs) is a lot of money for little to no difference.

Well who's to say it won't?
We don't know how well the STD filter flows, we also don't know the condition of the STD filter.

If the K&N is more freeflowing and the cars ECU can adjust to account for the better airflow then yes it will make more power. However some would concern 3-7BHP as been sod all difference.

I'd quite happily say that if Fox ran on the Dyno say 3 times with his stock panel filter and then ran a 3 further times with a K&N that the would gain 3-7BHP, maybe not at peak horsepower but highly possible at certain points in the rev range. Obviously though is the stock BMW filter is a good free flowing unit then the difference will be small to nothing, its all dependent on the stock filter.

Also when you have 230ish BHP already its very hard to notice a 3-7BHP difference, but that is not to say you've not gained. :)

However if I was you and something better is available such as this Gruppe-M then buy it, my view is always buy the best for you car. Do not skimp, if its expensive then just save up. If your gonna mod do it with quality stuff and correctly, if your gonna go for the cheaper options then leave it STD really, but saying that a K&N will do no harm but it won't change the car to a fire breathing monster. :)
 
FFS just get a delta strapped into the inlet pipe :) :)


that must be as good as a T34 lol
 
another gain would be, you never have to change the filter when servicing

just take clean and refit
 
Gibbo said:
Well who's to say it won't?
We don't know how well the STD filter flows, we also don't know the condition of the STD filter.

If the K&N is more freeflowing and the cars ECU can adjust to account for the better airflow then yes it will make more power. However some would concern 3-7BHP as been sod all difference.

I'd quite happily say that if Fox ran on the Dyno say 3 times with his stock panel filter and then ran a 3 further times with a K&N that the would gain 3-7BHP, maybe not at peak horsepower but highly possible at certain points in the rev range. Obviously though is the stock BMW filter is a good free flowing unit then the difference will be small to nothing, its all dependent on the stock filter.

Also when you have 230ish BHP already its very hard to notice a 3-7BHP difference, but that is not to say you've not gained. :)

Where are you getting this 3-7 bhp figure from? Surely the stock BMW filter is honed for performance already? I'm pretty sure it'll be as useful as the eBay dump valves and the power resistors of justice.

It won't make a blind bit of difference to performance, and won't improve the induction roar either. It will however possibly invalidate insurance, unless it is added to the policy (which will likely cost more than the filter anyway).
 
on my former BMW 320i

i installed a pipercross viper, which plumbed into the original intake

and tbh it was a great piece of kit, change the sound of the car and made is more responsive

but it didnt add any more power, but on hot days helped a lot with cold air intake
 
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