Is a basic k & n air filter worth it?

VADER332 · May 24, 2018

Lucky14 said:
I like it. Without a tune/dyno, it's all subjective. But you can hear it when you get on it. The quality of the unit is outstanding. It seals against the hood with rubber seals. It also leverages the stock lower portion of the airbox. That plus a pre-filter pretty much offsets concerns over injestion....

I was thinking of going with a drop in K&N filter. I assume no tune is needed to run the drop in filter.

Snowsled · May 25, 2018

Other than being able to re-use it there is NO good in using one of these filters in a daily driver. They allow tons of dirt through into your engine, the stats are incredible. You might be better off just not running a filter between the oil fouling the airflow sensor and massive amount of dust it will feed your engine.

Awesome marketing, probably one of the worst things you can do to your truck though...

Jimster58 · May 25, 2018

BIRDMAN said:
what i'm looking to do is also replace the stock air intake tube from the MAF tube to the intake. I already have the K&N, and intake tubing shouldn't be too much. most of the restriction is in the intake tube not the filter so spend $80 instead of $350 and bingo you have a mostly stock air intake with little restriction.

Birdman - you talking about the Gotts Modification? Yes, it's absolutely ingenious and effective - and depending on how elaborate one wants to get, can be done for $10-15, courtesy of Lowe's or Home Depot for parts.

Sozzy12 · May 25, 2018

Any minor power gain is offset by the decreased oil life. On a vehicle being used heavily off road, best to stick with paper filters.

AndysLog · May 25, 2018

if you are not going offroad ever I think they are a neat novelty.

however if you see dirt often, I will take my paper filters always over any of those k&n or cai filterless filters.

they let more garbage particles in. that's how it gets you more air lol.

MTF · May 25, 2018

Snowsled said:
Other than being able to re-use it there is NO good in using one of these filters in a daily driver. They allow tons of dirt through into your engine, the stats are incredible. You might be better off just not running a filter between the oil fouling the airflow sensor and massive amount of dust it will feed your engine.

Awesome marketing, probably one of the worst things you can do to your truck though...

I've been running oiled air filters for 20 to 25 years now on all my 4x4s never had any issues.
Now if your a lazy person and let it get too dry, I can see it maybe letting dust in.
Or your spray water on the cotton to hard and punch holes in it, that will be an issue.
If you do use a brush to pre clean better find the softest brush you own and gently brush.
This is were guys do the most damage to the cotton fiber web,
I always check the cotton against a light or sun and check for holes.
If there is one I use super glue gel to fill it up.

And if your lazy on applying the oil and over oil it, yes you may need to clean your MAF sensor after the first rain you drive in.
MAF sensor should be clean at every oil change!!! I spray mine about every three months.

With the paper element it does starve your engine once it gets dirty and then wet from driving in the rain, robbing you of fuel economy and power.
My daughters 2013 Titanium Eco boost Escape suffers from this she needs a new filter every four months, more in the winter months.
Luckily I have a maintenance plan on her car and after a little fighting they change it.

Snowsled · May 26, 2018

MTF said:
I've been running oiled air filters for 20 to 25 years now on all my 4x4s never had any issues.
Now if your a lazy person and let it get too dry, I can see it maybe letting dust in.
Or your spray water on the cotton to hard and punch holes in it, that will be an issue.
If you do use a brush to pre clean better find the softest brush you own and gently brush.
This is were guys do the most damage to the cotton fiber web,
I always check the cotton against a light or sun and check for holes.
If there is one I use super glue gel to fill it up.

And if your lazy on applying the oil and over oil it, yes you may need to clean your MAF sensor after the first rain you drive in.
MAF sensor should be clean at every oil change!!! I spray mine about every three months.

With the paper element it does starve your engine once it gets dirty and then wet from driving in the rain, robbing you of fuel economy and power.
My daughters 2013 Titanium Eco boost Escape suffers from this she needs a new filter every four months, more in the winter months.
Luckily I have a maintenance plan on her car and after a little fighting they change it.

Thanks for the lesson in cleaning your K&N. I will not own one so I don't really care, but thanks!

Unfortunately you have some really bad info on the differences between a K&N and a paper filter. I can post up the independent scientific test results but I suspect you would ignore them and continue to defend the indefensible position that K&N filters have merit.

The K&N will pass 18 times the dirt a paper filter will. It plugs up faster, holds less dirt, lets more through, I mean seriously, these are BAD for your engine plain and simple. Heck, I'll post the link anyway. That way the reasoned among us can view the facts about that garbage product....

ISO 5011 Duramax Air Filter Test Report

MTF · May 26, 2018

Yeah @Snowsled, I've seen those independent vids years ago and the ones that debunk them as well.
Again if don't follow the proper instruction and maintenance of these filter you can get results like they claim. For a price!!

I just don't understand how all those Supercharged sand rails and those that run them in the Baja 1000
manage to not have any issues like you claim by using oiled air filters. Hummmmm, you really must be on to something there.

Snowsled · May 26, 2018

MTF said:
Yeah @Snowsled,
I just don't understand how all those Supercharged sand rails and those that run them in the Baja 1000
manage to not have any issues like you claim by using oiled air filters. Hummmmm, you really must be on to something there.

Oh Man!, you really got me there...

How about, NOBODY running a toy hard expects it to last very long. Those things get fresh engines all the time. I think you should go that way. Then, you will end up on the same rebuild schedule. They don't run those for 100,000 miles...

So you didn't actually read that couple of pages... Pretty solid test IMO. Pretty damning evidence against running a K&N. Again though, I think you should keep running them. Good Luck

MTF · May 26, 2018

I will, I unlike you do look at both sides of the coin.
And I should have added that those guys and alot of Supercharged Raptor owners do run the pre filter sock over them as well when out in the desert, My bad.
And they still out preform the stock paper at high cfms.
But that's ok, you do what you want and I'll do what I want.

Is a basic k & n air filter worth it?

VADER332

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Snowsled

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