I have owned my 2016 3.0L supercharged XJL for about a year now and put about 12K miles on it. I figured it was about time to atleast look at the air filters and since I was looking at them, I upgraded to K&N oiled filters. Definitely an improvement over the Fram air filters that were in there. Lots more throttle response.

My question is that when I went to remove the Fram filters, they were stuck to a baffle/secondary filter/not sure what to call it. There was 2 lines of glue on each filter that had attached itself to this golden high density "filter" that had a wire mesh over the one side facing the filter. Is this a normal part of the intake box. I do not recall this on my 2012 NA 5.0L XJ. I am willing to say that it was not on the car. So, why do I have this on the 2016? Is it due to having a supercharged engine and the supercharger can pull enough air that it can distort the air filter and therefore they added a support for the air filter? To me, I kinda feel like part of my restriction is that golden support piece. It is riveted into the air box. so, this does not seem to be an aftermarket piece. I am a bit clueless as to what it is really there for. I am guessing. I cannot say I have heard anyone else talk about this baffle/support. If it is there to support the air filter, I can think of much better ways to do this same thing and not be a restriction to the air flow.

Waiting to hear your thoughts.