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was looking to replace my air filters, im at 31k miles now. I saw that the K&N ones are $50 each. seems like a hefty price for filters. I put one in my XFR, i dont recall it was that expensive. thoughts? alternatives?
Yep they are expensive but are reuseable after a clean/re-oil so work out cheaper in the long run. My car had them fitted from the previous owner. At the first service they were deemed fine and Indy just blew out the leaves and insects with an air line
At 2nd service I had a spare new set and had them swapped for the new ones. Cleaned and reoiled the old so they are ready to go back in again next time.
That way I'll never have to buy an air filter again!
interesting you said that. i just read something on an older thread, one of our more senior residents suggested NOT to do K&N as our cars dont really like it
Been using WIX for years, on various cars & boats. Good product at a fair price.
K&Ns get you a bit more power at the price of pretty poor filtration. If you consider that the primary job of an air filter is to protect the engine from wear-causing particles, K&N aren't such a good choice.
For air filters I usually go for the best price among the quality brands - WIX, Mahle, Mann, Denso, and so on.
I have been using K&N for 5 years on my car. I thought I might have an issue with the filters causing an imbalance of air flow (was getting a P0101 code), but turned out that my throttlebody had some build up and once I cleaned it, the problem has not returned.
K&N filters can be good, they can be bad. It really depends on how the person cleaning them does the work. One would think that adding more oil to the filter would be good (catches more dirt). NO NO!!!!!!! In short, the oil will get sucked out of the filter and go down and contaminate the MAF sensors. So, proper oiling of the filters is critical. The other "downside" to K&N filters is if you look at the particles that get through the filters (ALL!!!! filters let some measure of particles through), K&N lets more particles through when the filters are brand new. Now, stand by to get your mind blown. As you run K&N filters, they actually start filtering better because the "big holes" (yeah, we are talking on the micron scale here) fill up with dirt and K&N filters will actually start filtering better with more dust/dirt in them. This is where if you have a 20K mile K&N filter and a 20K mile paper filter, the K&N filter is actually better for the car because it is filtering better and is not providing as much restriction. Depending on who you believe and what you are comfortable with, they really say not to clean K&N filter for 50K miles. Me, I clean mine once a year as part of the spring cleaning I do and this has the filters at around 20K miles. Keep in mind that particles in the less than 5 micron size have a very minimal effect on the longevity of the engine. If you can get particles of 0.6 micron size and bigger out of your oil (yes, they make special filters for this), you can pretty much stop all wear on your engine. Granted, this requires a special filter setup, but they do make them and you can actually extend your oil changes out for 100K plus miles (do need to do oil analysis to check the condition of your oil).
So, are K&N bad for a car, it really depends on the person behind the wheel that is cleaning the filter.
Granted, I am thinking about going back to a modification I did to the car to help free up the air flow and see if that has any major benefits. Granted, thinking about getting a whole new intake too. A few options to ponder.
Whilst I use K&N's I would happily change to a cheaper Wix, Mann or even bluelrint filter and change ever 4k miles.
That's what I use to do with my Audi, but that filter was easily accessible and could be done in 5 mins...on my X150 each one takes an age.
As to oil from the filter causing contamination, the air flow on most engines is pretty direct, on my 5.0 it is pretty long and convoluted. I've seen no evidence of oiling of my intake pipe on into rhe TB in 10k miles
I have been using K&N for 5 years on my car. I thought I might have an issue with the filters causing an imbalance of air flow (was getting a P0101 code), but turned out that my throttlebody had some build up and once I cleaned it, the problem has not returned.
K&N filters can be good, they can be bad. It really depends on how the person cleaning them does the work. One would think that adding more oil to the filter would be good (catches more dirt). NO NO!!!!!!! In short, the oil will get sucked out of the filter and go down and contaminate the MAF sensors. So, proper oiling of the filters is critical. The other "downside" to K&N filters is if you look at the particles that get through the filters (ALL!!!! filters let some measure of particles through), K&N lets more particles through when the filters are brand new. Now, stand by to get your mind blown. As you run K&N filters, they actually start filtering better because the "big holes" (yeah, we are talking on the micron scale here) fill up with dirt and K&N filters will actually start filtering better with more dust/dirt in them. This is where if you have a 20K mile K&N filter and a 20K mile paper filter, the K&N filter is actually better for the car because it is filtering better and is not providing as much restriction. Depending on who you believe and what you are comfortable with, they really say not to clean K&N filter for 50K miles. Me, I clean mine once a year as part of the spring cleaning I do and this has the filters at around 20K miles. Keep in mind that particles in the less than 5 micron size have a very minimal effect on the longevity of the engine. If you can get particles of 0.6 micron size and bigger out of your oil (yes, they make special filters for this), you can pretty much stop all wear on your engine. Granted, this requires a special filter setup, but they do make them and you can actually extend your oil changes out for 100K plus miles (do need to do oil analysis to check the condition of your oil).
So, are K&N bad for a car, it really depends on the person behind the wheel that is cleaning the filter.
Granted, I am thinking about going back to a modification I did to the car to help free up the air flow and see if that has any major benefits. Granted, thinking about getting a whole new intake too. A few options to ponder.
Im glad you chimed in, because it was your advise on another thread that said K&N was not recommended haha. ill probably just bite the bullet and get them. now i need to learn how to properly oil them
carzaddict, that was probably when I was battling the P0101 code and from what I could tell, things pointed to the filters. But, after getting a clean bill of health and figuring out what was happening, I figured out it wasn't the filters after all.
As for oiling them, this is what I do: I clean the filters and let them dry. From there, hold the can of oil about 6 inches away and give 3-4 sprays across the filter (going the short way across the filter, moving down the long ways of the filter, taking about 0.5 to 1 second to go across the filter the short way). Put that filter down and spray the other the same way. Give the filters a few minutes, then repeat for a second "coat" of oil spraying the other side of the filter. Wipe the oil off of the rubber part of the filter and then put the filters on their corners. If you get a drop of oil to form on the corner, the filter is over oiled. Rinse and repeat, making faster sweeps across the filter or only making a single coat of oil.
As Thermo described so well, K&Ns are great IFF used correctly.
But if you want a good selection of disposable, high quality and (I think) K&N, go to Rock Auto.
I use K&N on a lot of vehicles, but I bought some Wix filters for the Jag & RR recently for good prices.
If the prices wren't as reasonable at Rock Auto, I'd be putting K&Ns in these too.
Right now Rock Auto has Wix air filters for mine (2012 NA 5.0L) for $9.86 each.
Last edited by 12jagmark; Sep 22, 2020 at 08:08 PM.
Are K&N engine air filters worth the cost? Maybe, maybe not.
The OEM engine air filter in my 1960 Corvette (bought new) was a foam element bathed lightly in oil, similar to today's K&N filter. When I swapped out the original 283/230HP engine in 1965 for a 1965 327/365HP crate engine (WOOHOO!!!) the OEM GM filter was a paper element.
Oiled foam is ancient technology. I learned my lesson many years ago after falling for K&N's marketing hype and buying 2 for my 1993 MBZ 600SL V12.
That was a big waste of money IMHO. A high quality paper filter works better and costs less. If the K&N oiled foam method was better, manufacturers would have continued to use it after the '60s.
K&N oiled filters may work for racers who need to squeeze every last drop of horsepower out of their engine. Better airflow usually produces more horsepower at high RPMs, provided the filters are clean. For most of us, a matched set of conventional paper filters makes more sense. They're less messy, there's no risk of oil contaminating the MAF sensors, they're cheap, and you don't get any CELs. The clean/change interval is the same for K&N oiled filters and paper filters. I couldn't tell any difference in my 600Sl, and I doubt that anyone else can. Even if there's a HP gain, it's too small a bang for my buck.
Stuart S, I am with you. I am not doing the K&N filters because of the power gains. I am doing it because long term, I feel that I am getting a better bang for the buck (ie, less cost) because I am buying one set of filters, not 10. I know guys in my truck club put 1 truck on a dyno and ran more filters and intakes through that one truck than I care to admit to. The result, regardless of the type of filter or the intake used (from a $30 e-bay special to a $400 top of the line system), the motor still made essentially the same power. Most modern day engines are pretty well balanced between air in, what the motor can pull, and exhaust. So, upgrading 1 thing is not going to show any results. Now, you do the K&N, port the heads, and do a custom exhaust, then I bet you will see a difference. But, how many people are going to rip apart their motor to do a valve job/port and polish? I only did it on my truck because I had the heads off anyways for another problem and figured why not.
I believe that they let more junk through, However, wouldn't changing the oil often solve that problem? I had the K&N racing cold air intake on my 300c and they said an extra 21 horses,but the dyno said 14,but 14 is 14 more than I had,then I got serious and had it massaged properly by a Chrysler mechanic....then it was loads of fun.
I believe that they let more junk through, However, wouldn't changing the oil often solve that problem? I had the K&N racing cold air intake on my 300c and they said an extra 21 horses,but the dyno said 14,but 14 is 14 more than I had,then I got serious and had it massaged properly by a Chrysler mechanic....then it was loads of fun.
There's a distinct difference between a CAI kit and a drop in filter, yes a CAI can give double digit % bhp increases in certain engines and applications courtesy of ram-air. This isn't possible in my 5.0R and the stock set up is just fine.
The max increase you'll see in a drop in filter is perhaps 2-3%, which you're not going to notice on a big engined V6, 8 or 12. But if I am putting out 510bhp as stock 2% will still be double digits
robi, yes, the cleaning kit has instructions on how the filters should be cleaned and how they should be oiled. It gives pretty specific instructions on what should and should not be done.
Recommended air filter?
