Probably a stupid question (air filters)

[NVSteve]

So, I was just ordering a few extra bits and pieces from Courtesy Parts, and one thing led to another. I ended up buying a drop-in K&N filter from Amazon. I've heard people rave about K&N in the past, but the only reason I picked one up is because I could clean & reuse it. I could care less about increased HP or whatever, and actually don't even buy into any performance gains with a simple drop-in replacement filter.

I just received it in the mail today, and I unfortunately decided to search for K&N product tests and reviews. The info I found supports the "hi flow" claims from K&N, but it seems the filter lets in more crap than the OEM paper filter. Since I live in the desert, this is a huge concern. Even driving off the highway in the mountains here, there is dust everywhere. I'm now wondering if I should just return the filter and stock up on a few OEM filters instead. Anyone have any thoughts on the matter? And no, cold air intakes (or hot air intakes) are of no interest to me as I have seen horrible problems with them in the past.

[blink32]

I agree with the independent tests of "more crap" coming in. There are better filters out there that are reusable that correctly filter the junk, but I don't know of one for the path. You could try rigging some sort of oiled foam pre-filter to eliminate the bypassing garbage. That is a viable solution for the big round style filters at-least.

[RacerZX]

I totally agree NVSteve. In spite of all my other modifications, I'm sticking with paper.

[Fofiddy]

Blink don't you have a Cotton gauze and oil style filter yourself?

[blink32]

I do :-/ I need to get a better one that filters correctly. My only saving grace is that I don't drive in dusty areas at all, I clean it and change my oil frequently and I am still only at around 4000 miles on it.

[Fofiddy]

I have the K&N drop in, yall hit a nerve
On the plus side I clean it about once a year and it hardly looks that dirty.
But now you got me thinking

[goblue90]

So, I was just ordering a few extra bits and pieces from Courtesy Parts, and one thing led to another. I ended up buying a drop-in K&N filter from Amazon. I've heard people rave about K&N in the past, but the only reason I picked one up is because I could clean & reuse it. I could care less about increased HP or whatever, and actually don't even buy into any performance gains with a simple drop-in replacement filter.

I just received it in the mail today, and I unfortunately decided to search for K&N product tests and reviews. The info I found supports the "hi flow" claims from K&N, but it seems the filter lets in more crap than the OEM paper filter. Since I live in the desert, this is a huge concern. Even driving off the highway in the mountains here, there is dust everywhere. I'm now wondering if I should just return the filter and stock up on a few OEM filters instead. Anyone have any thoughts on the matter? And no, cold air intakes (or hot air intakes) are of no interest to me as I have seen horrible problems with them in the past.

I can't speak for this as I installed a Volant intake, but has anyone looked into this filter:

http://www.trueflow.com/tes.php?make=Ni ... ld_engine=

The trueflow website contains a video of a test performed between paper, gauze, and trueflow filters.

[RacerZX]

Interesting, I may need to give them a call...

[Fofiddy]

sharp looking path Goblue

[goblue90]

sharp looking path Goblue

Thanks Fofiddy!

[phantom2]

That's always been the rub on K&N filters.More air in...more dirt in

[SHAWNATGERBROCK]

Hmm, I have run K&N on all my cars ... dang my Altima has had the K&N since 100K miles , now has 195K miles and after more than 200 passes down the 1/4, 4 road race track days and very hard street use , its still going strong ... No oil usage , no issues with more dirt , I have NEVER had to clean my MAF or throttle body ..... still runs better than new .... I would have to see the real tests to see if its true .... since I have never seen any evidence of K&N causing more dirt to get into the engine ...

[amr40509]

So how often do you guys really change your filter?

I KNOW I should change it more often, but just don't. I've had my Pathfinder for 13 months and over 21,200 miles -- but still have the original air filter. It just doesn't look that dirty at all. I changed my oil at 18,750 (next one is at 22,500) and took the filter out, blew it out w/ my air compressor (just a bit brown on one side), rotated it so that the brown side was on the other side, and put it back in. Still get 21-22mpg on the highway.

[NVSteve]

Hmm, I have run K&N on all my cars ... dang my Altima has had the K&N since 100K miles , now has 195K miles and after more than 200 passes down the 1/4, 4 road race track days and very hard street use , its still going strong ... No oil usage , no issues with more dirt , I have NEVER had to clean my MAF or throttle body ..... still runs better than new .... I would have to see the real tests to see if its true .... since I have never seen any evidence of K&N causing more dirt to get into the engine ...

I just got back from another long weekend in the dirt (story & pics shortly in the adventures thread). I think I might just pull out the stock filter this weekend and see how bad it is at this point. One option I'm toying with is to just keep the K&N in the vehicle when driving to & from work, then popping in the paper filter when I leave on roadtrips. If it will cost me $8 to return the filter, I'll most likely just keep it since it only cost me $30. I just hope I don't find out something about K&N the hard way.

While reading up on all the discouraging K&N info, I also came across much more concerning paper and foam. It seems foam filters quite well, but just doesn't breathe like the K&N or paper. At this point, it sounds like paper is the best option since it breathes better than foam & lets in less crap than K&N.

[phantom2]

amr...rotating your air filter is like turning your underwear inside out so they'll be clean.I must admit,you've given me a good laugh