I recently replaced my wife's breather filter with a cheaper one temporarily...until I can find a better one. I got what was available locally with a promise to replace it with a better one.

Looking at the K&N filter for her car, it is advertised as being constructed of surgical gauze and it is oiled. Supposed to have a lifetime guarantee?

I am not looking for 1000 new ponies from the filter ( ) just want a good filter.

What about other brands such as Fram, Wix, etc.

TIA

 

The K&N is kind of designed on the same principle as the old oil bath filters. Using oil to catch contaminates in the air. I have one in my truck and it works great but when it's time to clean it, I don't really get a lot out of it. So it leads me to believe it may not be as good as a paper type. There are some that say the oil in these filters tends to mess with the MAF sensor.

 

If you're looking for the best filteration then stick with the paper filter. According to this test......paper filter does a better job trapping particles and also the air flows between a hiflo and paper is minimal: Air Filtration Test

If you're looking for alittle more air flow then go with the high flow fliters but becareful which you choose as some vehicles have sesitive MAF. I blew my MAF on my '04 E500 after installing K&Ns. According AMGod on the MB forum," MAF's have historically failed secondary to over oiled aftermarket air filters coating the hotwire in the MAF itself. This renders the sensor useless to determine the proper fuel to add to the metered air usually causing an over rich mix and rough idle, if any." I should have used a paper towel to soak off some of the oil from the new K&Ns before installing. What happened was very rough idle and almost dies at a complete stop. Confirmed from the dealer the oil in the MAF. Read that some MB guys used Green Filter and so I switched and had no problems. As for K&N.....I first had them on my C5 (even with removed screen and ported MAF) and had no problems......which leads me to believe MB's MAF is probably more sensitive. I currently have the conical hiflos on my XKR and so far no problems.

 

I thought there is no K&N for the '07 and up XK?

 

I'm sure there is an universal KN filter if you give them the dimensions. Also......PP carries some high flow filter and they look exactly like KNs: Paramount Performance Ltd - Jaguar XK and XKR MY 2006 Engine Upgrades

 

Also, remember that K&N is only as good as its maintenance. That is, it needs to be cleaned and oiled at certain intervals. If you fail to coat it fully with oil, the K&N would actually pass more micron sized dirt particles than a paper filter would.

I used them on a good number of cars, including on my '05 XK but, never confirmed any real-life advantage to it. I think that the surface area of a filter is more of a factor in the amount of air it can pass than the construction difference between various top filter types.

Albert

 

After mkt air cleaners/filters, if they work at all, produce only a handful of add'l ponies at the top end of the rpm curve under WOT. One assumes that in order to enjoy this extra power, that red line is where you like to be.

I would not buy a car with an altered induction system because I would always suspect that the previous owner did a lot of WOT driving at red line. I'm just saying --------.

You've got one of the fastest, most well sorted out cars on the planet. Fooling around with the induction is usually counter productive. I tell you like a brother - think about it.