I was looking at air filters and I was curious about the K&N cloth filters that claim to be fully reusable and claim to increase airflow to help engine performance.

Does anyone use these?

33-2422 - K&N Replacement Filters, Replacement Air Filter

Thanks,
Mike

 

K&N makes great filters, Just don't expect the world when it comes to hp and tq increase. I have a K&N on every vehicle I drive, IMHO I feel they increase power alittle, but they are reusable and last a long time and catch alot more dirt, add to that the fact that the drop in K&N filter is just alittle more than the stock paper element from honda and to me its a no brainer. I have the drop in and noticed alittle more power, feels a little peppier down low, but besides that it just gives me good peace of mind knowing I have a great product protecting my engine from dirt.

 

My girlfriend and I both have them in our 2009 Fits. If there was an increase in power, it wasn't enough for me to notice, but I'm not exactly a performance-oriented driver to begin with.

It's definitely more environmentally friendly than changing disposable filters every 15k miles, which we like.

I've only had to do one cleaning (after putting about 35k miles on one in a 2006 Civic), and it was pretty easy. For a few dollars, I bought what seems like a lifetime supply of their cleaning agent and oil.

As noted above, the paper filters are still fairly expensive for our cars, so dropping $50 or whatever it is now on a filter that will last the life of the car makes sense. Although, we both put on over 20k miles/year, which helps the financial justification.

 

Don't get rid of your stock paper filter. You will find the paper filter useful when you wash your K&N and are waiting for it to dry and need to go someplace.

 

Put one in my car. Not much for performance but I saw about a 1 mpg increase.

 

dont waste your money. just use the factory filter.

 

To offer another view, in general with air filters, more flow = less filtration and vice versa.

A K&N may flow more air, and that little bit of extra air, depending on the engine, may make more power, but you're likely letting more particulate matter into the engine in return. I've had 3 oiled gauze/K&N's for different vehicles and all of them, when held up to a light, you could actually see light through small holes between the fibers.

That's not to say that a bit of extra dirt ingestion is catastrophic or is going to ruin your engine, but since the air filter's purpose is to filter out the dust and dirt...

The ability to clean and reuse K&N's is nice though. But that can be kinda a pain as well. Instead of opening the airbox and swapping the filter and being done with it, you have to wash, rinse, let dry, and then reoil it(not too much oil). That's easily an hour plus unless you're going to dry it with a hairdryer or something. A paper filter for the interim is good, but that also means filter change x 2 every time a filter change is required.

If you want to read some tests...

Air Filtration Test

BMW E30 air filter tests

After having used K&N's in the past, I'm sticking with stock/paper filters from now on. A K&N may provide a negligible increase in power, likely allow more dirt into the engine (which ends up in the oil that we're running ~10k intervals), and my time I would otherwise spend cleaning a K&N is worth more than any long-term cost savings I would realize.

 

install is cake. no significant power increase, as expected, but does sound a little deeper around 3k+ RPM. i removed the silencer from air filter box as well, and now it sounds even better

 

I just looked at a Canadian Tire review of the product and the individual there said that the oil from the filter was accumulating on his mass airflow sensor, so he doesn't recommend them. Maybe he put too much oil on the filter?

Mike

 

i think this was the main reason i chose the cold air intake i did, because of the dry flow air filter has less flow, but its filtration is supposed to be like stock....

i knew in advance i was buying a filter that just did not flow as well as a k&n, if it wasn't for that i would have stuck to the complete stock air intake and filter as well, because man is the car so much louder now with out all that extra intake to silence up this thing. (i kinda prefer my car more silent to talk to friends in the car, and listen to music)

i am using a Pro Dry Flow on this car, but actually i have had 2 cars in the past that I used k&N, and it lasted me all the way untill i sold the car (around 100k miles)

 

The oiled vs. dry element debate has been going on for years and will keep going for a long time to come. It basically boils down to what you want out of a filter. Will it give you better gas mileage and more power without any negative affects? No. Unfortunately our cars use an MAF sensor, and those do not like oil. Even a properly oiled K&N will still allow some oil to get onto the sensor. However, if you are looking for every possible hp then it may be worth it to regularly clean your MAF so that you can use an oiled filter.

Another thing to consider: Auto manufacturers spend millions upon millions to get every last mpg out of their "efficient" vehicles. If getting better mileage meant simply changing the air filter, then they would've done it years ago. They haven't, though, so you have to wonder why.

 

I can't comment on K&N in my Fit as I haven't changed it yet but I can on my motorcycle and it performs great. Definitely breathes better and I love not having to buy a new one every time. As soon as the Fit is in need of a new filter...a K&N is going in.

 

Just my 2 cents.
With a K&N stock replacement filter performance is going to be minimal compared to stock paper filter. The only big advantage of the K&N you don't have to throw it away and buy a new one every time you need a new filter. All you do is clean it and recharge (re-oil) it and you're good to go. I had a K&N filter in my CL-S and currently have one in my TSX. My Fit has a re-usable dry-flow AEM filter that I made my custom intake with.

Per K&N

"Our automotive OE (original equipment) replacement air filters generally add 1-4 horsepower."

" K&N makes no general fuel economy claims, however we encourage you to try our air filter for yourself. Keeping air filter restriction as low as possible can be an important tool, among others, for maintaining high mileage."

http://www.knfilters.com/filtercharger.htm

 

I changed the stock air filter to K&N air filter after driving my brand new Fit for 4K. Right away I noticed that my engine was breathing better and easier. I also noticed my car mileage improved a little bit and my engine started sounding deeper and more growly. I've been using K&N drop-in air filters on all of my cars for past 7 years and I had a very good experience with them.

 

I recently went back to stock box because I was tired of the SRI noise level and I dropped in a K&N. Just took a 300 mile road trip last weekend and averaged 38 mpg driving 70-75mph on some hilly roads. As long as you properly wash & re-oil the K&N filter you will never have an issue with the M.A.S. I've have K&N for over 10 years in my past cars and never had issues.
Going from my SRI back to the stock box it seems I get slightly better fuel mileage especially in town. More air = more fuel consumption. Who knows maybe I am easier on the throttle now without the SRI.

 

I like K&N and other brands of cloth filters but I am aware of the fact that they don't filter as well as paper element or oiled foam type filters when they are clean... They filter very well and allow more air flow than the others when they have accumulated a little bit of dirt and lightly sprayed with filter oil and allowed to air dry before reinstalling... Under normal driving situations they can go 50,000 miles before needing to be cleaned and still out flow a paper filter.. If you aren't confident about using one in a dusty environment they make filter socks and foam pre filters to use when conditions warrant it... They are said to straighten the flow of air and have been used in watercraft in place of the stock flame arresters and were sold in a "Filtercharger" kit that included over sized carburetor jets for popular sport bikes in the 70s and 80s... I have used them in filter boxes I had removed the sides of and replaced the plastic with 1/4 square plastic hardware cloth and lined with pre filter foam... It is obvious to me that if larger jets are needed to use one on a sport bike they have to flow a lot better than the stock paper filters..A trick I use to see if a filter was doing it's job and catch some of what ever it didn't I coated the inside of the air cleaner box and the pipe to the engine intake with STP or something like it and periodically check it for grit with my fingers... I have never found any grit by doing this with a K&N product even though there would be a build up at times in the box outside of the filter.... My 2 cents.

 

I know I'm specifically replying to an old post...

And that one of the advantages is it's reusability... Why not buy TWO K&N filters? Keep the unused one in a resealable container. Then, when you need to swap, do the oiling or whatever prep you need, swap em and then wash and store the one you just pulled out.

The car will always be ready to go.

 

Damn!! Goobers you are a fookin' genius

 

Oh yeah, I'm so smart...

Went to Autozone just now to buy some oil, the oil and air filters.

They didn't have 0w-20 (I wanted to try it)... and I had no idea which oil and air filters I needed from their little collection!

What a total waste of time. Some genius, eh?

 

AutoZone doesn't have very helpful people here any more and a lot of filters they carry aren't able to be cross referenced in the books they wave to look up what filter or whatever it is you need either... I have had to do the same as you and just get the hell out of the place... You have a low frustration level when it come to crap like that too, don'tcha???