K&N direct replacement air filters

Tim said:
How many engines do you know of that failed due to a KN filter? (serious question).
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They just kill the MAF sensor, which makes the engine run inefficiently and costs an awful lot more to replace than a paper filter does.

Do not use an oiled filter such as K&N on a car with a MAF sensor. If you're not sure if you have a MAF sensor then look for your airbox and follow the pipe from the airbox to the turbo or inlet manifold. If at some point the pipe has wires plugged into it it's almost certainly a MAF sensor.

K&N used to be ideal back in the days when people would put twin-choke Weber carburettors on their cars to upgrade the performance and as far as I can tell they have not updated their product so that it's suitable for modern cars and instead are just surviving on their reputation that they earned in the 80s and earlier.
 
Well I fitted a K&N drop in filter to my car on Monday. I've read about the poorer filtration and seen the soot on a sheet of paper image for various cone filters that seems to have been doing the rounds for the last few years. Infact it was this worry that stopped me getting one before hand.

Anyway I had intended to buy a Pipercross foam filter but ended up with the K&N instead. I brought up the MAF issue and they said that they have never had a problem with a brand new oiled filter and that problems only occur when people over oil the filter when they clean it... but they would say that because they wanted to part me of my hard earned and didn't have a Pipercross in stock.

As for the benefits well as we all know with panel filters its 90% placebo 10% fact. The fact is that there is a fair bit of induction noise that wasn't there before. I thought this was all in my mind but a friend of mine also noticed it. Its also lost the slightly wheezy sound that it had higher up the rev range. As for the placebo- well it seems to rev more freely but as for more power, I doubt it.

Funny thing is that after removing my airbox I found a rather large insect on top (clean side) of the filter held in place with the end of its wing pressed between airbox lid and filter seal :eek: It wasn't due another filter for 19k so there was a good chance that it would have gone through the turbo at some stage.

Anyway back to the K&N... I'll report back if my MAF dies or my engine goes to poop but I'm not losing any sleep over it. Not sure how long I'll keep it for anyway, might go back to paper when it needs cleaning if I can't be bothered with it.
 
get your K&N and hold it up to the light. youll be able to see though it. a car i had in the past had a K&N panel filter, the holes were stupid, upto 1mm across and its meant to be a filter.

i do have a pipercross, the reason being if you speak to motorcross people, they only ever use foam filters, those engines need as much protection as they can get.

i wanted it for the sake of it though, id have been just as well off with a paper filter tbh
 
RE the motorcross thing, isn't it the case that those engines get stripped down quite frequently anyway? Don't forget that they'll be doing a fraction of the mileage compared to a car........
 
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