Is K&N Engine Air Filter good for our cars

[ken_teggy88]

Was thinking of putting a K&N engine air filter inside my stock intake box. I heard these allow more contaminants to go into the engine though. I was wondering if our cars would be fine with them

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[Frenzal]

More air = less filtration.

Been running K&N filters on all my last and current cars. Been keeping them for around 20 years without any problem. But I live in the city, with no dirt roads around and the air is mostly clean.

Might consider it if I lived on a dirt road or driving on dirt roads frequently.

 

[jedi03]

i have also run them on everything for the last 20ish years on many different cars, live in the desert and have had nothing pass through. I have seen on a diesel where it went into areas with super fine dust and ruined the engine, this was a weird situation and it was running an OEM filter.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Usually with wet filters it's the oil blowing out and dirtying up the sensors that will cause problems.

 

[Fred 930]

I suppose they could be acceptable if maintained exactly per specs. But as mentioned, people over oil them - making a mess and damaging air sensors. Considering they offer no advantage over a conventional paper filter - I've never seen any reason to waste my time with them. Just pop in a new paper filter and you're done in a minute or two.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

I suppose they could be acceptable if maintained exactly per specs. But as mentioned, people over oil them - making a mess and damaging air sensors. Considering they offer no advantage over a conventional paper filter - I've never seen any reason to waste my time with them. Just pop in a new paper filter and you're done in a minute or two.

Synthetic dry filters you can blow out can be an okay option. They muffle sound a bit less and some have been shown to have similar or higher airflow than stock, with similar filtration. They can dirty faster, so you should pull and clean more often, but otherwise I understand them to be okay given the trade off to benefit. Not all are created equal though.

From a sound perspective, I always felt the factory car sounded "choked" at 6500-7000rpm. With the aem dry filter I threw in it sounded a lot less so. Did it tangibly do anything? No, probably not. Does the car sound happier? Yes it does. Worth noting that with not many miles, my factory filter was GROSS. many other parts of my car were really dirty for factory new too, so who knows if that had impact on the engine filter

 

[ken_teggy88]

I was worried about pollutants/contaminants passing through, but I do live in a clean environment. So, just don't oil these filters too much?

 

[Victorofhavoc]

I was worried about pollutants/contaminants passing through, but I do live in a clean environment. So, just don't oil these filters too much?

If you're going to use it, I'd oil it and blow it out with compressed air after it dries some.

 

[Respectspirit]

K& N calls it a lifetime filter the way I see it don't be cheap put in a new one every two years it's only 50 bucks for God's sakes. I've been running them in my car for about 40 years.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

K& N calls it a lifetime filter the way I see it don't be cheap put in a new one every two years it's only 50 bucks for God's sakes. I've been running them in my car for about 40 years.

Do you clean them in between or just run for 2 then replace?

 

[Respectspirit]

I run them and toss them. It's 50 bucks versus contaminating your sensors and protecting your engine. That's not where we want to save money or cut corners. Trust me on that one.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

That seems like an awfully long time for a wet filter.

 

[Respectspirit]

It seems like that but it's really not. K& N actually rates them at 5 years 75,000 so running them every 2 years and tossing them is not out of spec unless like everyone says you're doing something different and your conditions warrant. If you went through a dust storm, you're in the desert something else obviously but under normal conditions you'll be fine. If you go down in flames it won't be because of the K&N I promise you

 

[Fred 930]

I've always been skeptical of those oiled filters. If they actually did anything to enhance the performance of the car (without possibly of doing damage), the factory would use them. Keeping dirt out of any engine is the most important thing you can do for longevity. So why goof around with some lame aftermarket part like that, versus simply buying a genuine OEM filter - which you know has been tested and qualified to work in the vehicle and provide proper protection?

In other words - there is no "upside" to using a filter like that (no HP gain, no improved fuel mileage, nor even cheaper cost), but there is certainly plenty of risk, So why would anyone even consider using something like that?? It makes no sense.

 

[Respectspirit]

With all due respect not 100% true. K&N has a rich racing history and you're not going to get a super horsepower gain from any one small upgrade with a few exceptions however it's the synergetic sum of them all that puts the magic together if that makes sense. I can tell you for sure that old adage about if it was great the manufacturer would have done it is absolutely not true. Their goal is profit and to be honest with you most enthusiasts especially people like me that have been running these cars for four decades we don't even run the stock fluids in them for more than 500 miles after we get them.
There are people that will tell you that about the OEM oil.

When we look them in the eye(people don't do that much anymore until they have) and ask them if they realized the manufacturer doesn't even make the oil or the OEM parts they just have a blank look. Just my own experience from a kid who was sleeping on the shop floors overnight watching the old timers building the engines.
They should bring all the shop classes back to the schools.
I apologize to you guys they took everything away we had auto shop, metal shop, woodshop, even home economics with a full kitchen, that was boys only separated from the girls by the way, drafting, computer class which gave me my profession, and even music and that was in a public school.
When nobody's around ask yourself why they took that away. Don't say the answer out loud but just ask yourself.

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