K&N air filters?

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Eitsop

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#268279 9-Mar-2020 19:16

Are K&N air filters worth the expense on cars?

eg I can buy a new K&N for $100 and normal one for $40. But the K&N will need $20kit to clean (multiple times)

Makes sense.. keen on hearing others views

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#2435302 9-Mar-2020 19:25

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Scott3

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#2435303 9-Mar-2020 19:30

General consensus I have read is that the very small power gain you get from K&N oil based air filters comes at the expense of lower quality filtration. Potentially decreasing engine life.

I just run OEM white filters in my cars.

Jase2985

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#2435361 9-Mar-2020 20:01

attewell:

Are K&N air filters worth the expense on cars?

eg I can buy a new K&N for $100 and normal one for $40. But the K&N will need $20kit to clean (multiple times)

Makes sense.. keen on hearing others views

$20 cleaning kit lasts ages, you get maybe 4-5 cleans from it. so for $120 you get $160-$200 of your other filters.

Handsomedan

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#2435442 10-Mar-2020 08:10

attewell:

Are K&N air filters worth the expense on cars?

eg I can buy a new K&N for $100 and normal one for $40. But the K&N will need $20kit to clean (multiple times)

Makes sense.. keen on hearing others views

What sort of car is this going into?

Performance cars get some incremental gains, but standard road cars (i.e. Corolla 1.5 hatch) would see little benefit other than the possible savings as pointed out above

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Eitsop

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#2435460 10-Mar-2020 09:09

It is only a corolla 1.5. I am not expecting performance gains.
I just do 50k per annum. And I try and service every 10k.

Bung

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#2435470 10-Mar-2020 09:33

attewell: It is only a corolla 1.5. I am not expecting performance gains.
I just do 50k per annum. And I try and service every 10k.

If you're on sealed roads you wouldn't need an air filter ever service. I did 200k on 2 filters with no indication that anything would improve with more filter changes.

geoffwnz

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#2435675 10-Mar-2020 13:46

Oiled filters can also cause potential issues with air flow meters downstream of the filter (pretty sure they are all downstream) getting coated in oil and not reading correctly.

I run the OEM Subaru filter in my gravel rally car. Gets changed as needed, but usually once a year. The tow/recce vehicle runs a Ryco paper filter and also gets changed at least once a year. Partly because it eats more dust during one day of a rally recce in convoy than most cars would see in their life times.

I have previously run a K&N replacement panel in the factory air box, and also run some flavour of pod filter in place of the factory intake. The performance benefits didn't really stack up when balanced against the fluffing around to wash, dry and re-oil the filter rather than just swapping it out.

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#2435680 10-Mar-2020 13:52

Project farm does exhaustive reviews of all sorts of things. He's just done one on air filters today, including the K&N. The take-away from this was:

"Yes, the K&N has slightly larger airflow, but lets all sorts of stuff through. Not recommended if you care about your engine."

Batman

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#2435697 10-Mar-2020 14:25

where can i buy a wix or purolator?

xpd

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#2435702 10-Mar-2020 14:28

As with anything at all, you'll have some people say yes, makes difference, you'll have others saying no, some say its worth doing, others not. It really comes down to you - do you take the chance, and if you see performance/get what you need, then who cares :)

More so with cars.... ;)

IMHO BTW ;)

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ilovemusic

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#2437219 12-Mar-2020 22:30

used K&N in various performance cars - honda, bmw, subaru, vw, porsche.

dropped into the stock intake they basically do stuff all but can give your car a gruff induction sound.

and as stated previously, greater flow through, less filtration, not good for your engine.

save your money and just use a factory filter.

Jase2985

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#2437242 13-Mar-2020 04:36

ilovemusic:

not good for your engine.

where is the evidence of this though?

Goosey

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#2437249 13-Mar-2020 06:49

hahah, air filter service =

x1 high pressure air gun

x 2 minutes to air clean

dolsen

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#2437273 13-Mar-2020 07:59

Batman:

where can i buy a wix or purolator?

https://www.rockauto.com/

Even with shipping, I've found it much cheaper than buying from repco / supercheap auto etc. If you do a search you can often find 5% discount codes to use as well.

I've brought oil / cabin and air filters from them and have been very happy with their service.

ilovemusic

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#2437466 13-Mar-2020 11:39

Jase2985:

ilovemusic:

not good for your engine.

where is the evidence of this though?

try running your car without an air filter ;)

the K&N as tested by PF is abysmal as a filter.

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