K N air filters any good ?

[retromadness123]

Hello guys right I been reading up on K N air filters and want to know if they as good as people say they are , and how many of you guys have used them or have compared the difference between them and the paper filters and what was your results? Be good to hear people's experiences TIA

[carat 3.6]

Depends what your asking?

I use k and n cone filters on 2 of mine simply because they were the easiest thing to fit, and there wasn't a factory airbox that would do the job.

An air filter swap on it's own isnt going to make any noticeable gain in power, so unless your doing other mods stick with the paper filter.

[bortaf]

Same here, i had a K&N in my old diesel p100 but only cos i already had it and i just washed and re oiled it at every oil change, they have thier place but on an otherwise standard car at the best it will sound a bit better (induction roar) at worst it will make no differance to engine power at all and even then that's ignoring hot air Vs cold air into the filter, cold air is better.

[fad]

Only good thing is they are washable. Lots of folk fit them in place of standard air boxes but in stupid places without cold air feeds and then floor it everywhere "cos its got a K&N, bruv... Brapbrap!"

[steveg]

David Vizard who is probably best know for his Mini tuning book tested a variety of filters. In terms of flow a wire mesh filter gave best results but was useless as a filter ! K&N ones came next then a standard paper one.

If you don't mid paying out for a K&N one you will get slightly better flow but you still have to keep it clean. If you regularly change a standard paper one you won't be much worse off as you could have say 4 new ones compared with one K&N.

Depending on what you need a K&N could be all that fits but some of the cases are a bit cheap and nasty and need a bit of work.

So, if you have a standard air box you are probably better off with a paper filter as long as you change it often.

[bmcnut]

Ive used K&N filters on my minis in the past. At first i had some wire mesh BL special tuning coopers filters on twin 1 1/2in carbs. Induction roar was king and it went really well. Then i fitted K&Ns, less roar but no noticable difference in performance, then i put a MG metro 1 3/4in hif su on it, and drilled big holes in the standard airbox with a standard filter. Went just as well but more reliable than twins. We then tried drilling the standard airbox on a maxi and it made a big difference. So id say try drilling the airbox on the outer side of the filter, but this does differ from car to car. I put a homemade bodged up pipercross foam filter with a cold air feed on my MG Maestro and that trasformed it, but as standard the airbox was pants.

[nomad]

My understanding (from lots of articles & a variety of bikes & cars in the 80s/90s) was that the performance of paper filters dropped off after xxx miles.
This doesn't happen to the same extent with K&N etc.
K&N can also be washed and re-oiled and used again, and again, and ...

[mercedeslimos]

Anything halfway modern will have a hot-wire of hot-film air flow meter and the oil in the K&N damages them. I have a K&N on my 205 GTi 1.6 and it’s great, but on any of my modified diesels I use a Honda S2000 paper cone air filter - same idea and size as a K&N but paper cone so no oil to damage the MAF. ADT22236 is the BluePrint part number for anyone interested. On my 240bhp TDI Passat I have a Heineken draught keg made into an air box over the cone

[retromadness123]

Thanks for the reply guys, I was given one for free for my mk1 golf gti, so though Il give it a go I seen recharger kits on ECP at weekend discount at £7.60 so thought Il stick it in and see how it goes saves buying a new filter at each service, also I service my mk1 every year regardless of mileage and I really don't drive much so, was wondering how offer would this need to be oiled and cleaned, I know a visual inspection would let me know if it needs doing but as a rough idea I wouldn't have to clean it at each service would I, and also when is the end life for these K N air filters ?

[welshpug]

they don't have an end of life really, one in my 205 is over ten years old.

[carat 3.6]

They should be cleaned at every service, or sooner if it looks very dirty, and be aware that to clean these properly is not a 5 min job.

If your only fitting one to save buying paper filters, I wouldn't bother.

[ChasR]

Nov 12, 2017 23:17:25 GMT carat 3.6 said:

They should be cleaned at every service, or sooner if it looks very dirty, and be aware that to clean these properly is not a 5 min job.

If your only fitting one to save buying paper filters, I wouldn't bother.

Best reply really .

They are messy to clean, for both your hands and your sink.

In some applications they are proven but not all that many.

[RetroWarwicK]

not all paper elements are 'restrictive' either. Obsiously depends on the car in question but as an example, my old mk4 golf gti was mapped from 150 bhp to 205bhp on a standard element.

[ChasR]

Nov 13, 2017 8:34:00 GMT RetroWarwicK said:

not all paper elements are 'restrictive' either. Obsiously depends on the car in question but as an example, my old mk4 golf gti was mapped from 150 bhp to 205bhp on a standard element.

On that note the oiled filters can also play havoc with MAF sensors, which can soon get expensive for a MAF that actually works.

[xbl]

^^ Only if you over oil the filter, I've used K&N for years and never had a single maf fouled with oil

[ferny]

[ChasR]

That's interesting. The FRAM paper element didn't kill that much!

Quite interesting to see that! I see the filter my Stag had ( a dropped base 14" item) was better than the smaller Edelbrock triangle filter that a famous Stag specialist swore by! Yes, I know the salad bowl would have been better but I did fancy keeping an untouched bonnet, especially when they are rare and pricey when they do turn up.

[sausage]

In my brief experience of using one on my mapped Lupo TDI for about 1k miles it plays havoc with the maf which I cleaned twice in that milage, I have now reverted to VW paper filters which are capable of plenty of HP and provide better filtration for my turbo. I no longer get the occasional boost related limp mode I was getting either.

I wanted one because i thought it would be better but it wasnt in my application.

[ChasR]

Regarding the Engine Masters take here is another one on a Clio 172.

They found the OEM was best. The Caveat was that it was for cars with a Phase 1 or Renault V6 airbox. Those airboxes are command a bit of a premium.

www.cliosport.net/threads/fastcar-clio-172-air-filter-test.445339/

[Ryannn]

I ran a K&N cone filter on my mini for years, they give better top end but sacrifice bottom end and increase noise. After finally getting sick of the noise I swapped back to the original air box last year with a K&N inside, it’s noticeably smoother from a standing start, perfect for town driving, it’s quieter inside and using the original air box again means I can get cold air straight to it!