[MyNameIs]

How often are you all cleaning your K&N filters?

[sklippi2018]

Personally it says lasts about 50K miles so i just buy a new one. I guess it beats purchasing the cleaning materials or having replaced paper filters every 3-5K miles. Ends up being six of one and half-dozen of the other.

[NYTMARE23]

I live in the Midwest. Not SUPER Dusty around here, just occasionally. I have a drop in K&N for my wife's Traverse, a K&N CAI for my truck and my ZL1. I clean and re-oil the truck and Traverse one's twice a year(Spring-April and Fall-October) since they are daily drivers and the Camaro one once in the fall before I put it away for winter(because I only drive it about 1,000-1,500 miles a year). Haven't had any problems doing it this way for years.

[FlukeSS]

About the same for me since I daily my car once or twice a year depending on how dusty the summer was. I use the cleaning kit myself.

[WhiteMale]

I will do mine annually. It works out to about 11K miles.

[Mark R]

As someone who drank the K&N Koolade for 40 years, I stopped using them after I read this article. I have one on my V-Twin choppper that gets ridden 400 miles a year, but they are really bad filters on cars and trucks.

They pass massive amounts of dirt and clog very easily. Act accordingly:

http://www.billswebspace.com/AirFilterTest.htm

[NYTMARE23]

Originally Posted by Mark R

As someone who drank the K&N Koolade for 40 years, I stopped using them after I read this article. I have one on my V-Twin choppper that gets ridden 400 miles a year, but they are really bad filters on cars and trucks.

They pass massive amounts of dirt and clog very easily. Act accordingly:

http://www.billswebspace.com/AirFilterTest.htm

Can appreciate the info. Very informative article and graphs there. .
Only using MY own experience. I've used either a drop-in or CAI from K&N on 9 vehicles the past 20 years, using regular and proper cleaning, drying and re-oiling methods provided in the instructions with the re-charger kits and I've never had any issues with engine performance, clogged filters or any problems with the MAF sensors. . To each their own of course, but until I have an issue with K&N products I'm using or have used, I'll continue to use them.

[PostalLDMC]

I had K&N on my Harley for 17 years in Az. and it rolled on 175,000 miles before I traded it in. Got 20,000 on the Camaro in mid-west dust from corn and beans no problems.

[NashZL1]

My 1971 Datsun 240Z has twin air filters and twin SU carburetors. I've had K&N on it for 25+ years. 283,000 miles on original engine. Actually, just cleaned and re-oiled mine last week after ? years. Can't even remember the last time.

[FlukeSS]

Originally Posted by Mark R

As someone who drank the K&N Koolade for 40 years, I stopped using them after I read this article. I have one on my V-Twin choppper that gets ridden 400 miles a year, but they are really bad filters on cars and trucks.

They pass massive amounts of dirt and clog very easily. Act accordingly:

http://www.billswebspace.com/AirFilterTest.htm

So you do realize the purpose of high performance filters is less restriction right? So naturally that article supports exactly what those filters are designed to do. More air-flow than your AC Delco filter.

And people don't drive through sand storms in the middle of a desert as a matter of habit which is basically what that test is about.

It is important to take that article in the proper context. People don't put AC Delco Filters on their cars because they want to increase airflow.

[Mark R]

Originally Posted by FlukeSS

So you do realize the purpose of high performance filters is less restriction right? So naturally that article supports exactly what those filters are designed to do. More air-flow than your AC Delco filter.

And people don't drive through sand storms in the middle of a desert as a matter of habit which is basically what that test is about.

It is important to take that article in the proper context. People don't put AC Delco Filters on their cars because they want to increase airflow.

On modified cars, obviously, you need bigger or higher flow filters. More air is demanded than the stock air box can provide in that case. But the OP did not say if his car was modified or stock. He was asking about the filter itself.

On a stock car, the stock paper filter will filter more dust out of the air, and will pass less dirt, and will clog less easily than a K&N, over the same mileage and conditions. And based on numerous posts where people have made dyno runs before and after with CAI's, the immediate gains they get with the CAI are eventually eliminated by the ECU after a couple of weeks of driving. So they are getting the same amount of air into their engine, as well as more dirt, but the CAI looks cool.

Anecdotes about "never having a problem" with a K&N are immaterial, non-scientific, and don't allow for factual discussion.

I simply posted the tests, which are non-controversial. If you want more air, you have to let more air in. So, unless you increase the size of the stock filter so that it passes enough air for the modifications of the engine, one will have to grapple with the fact that more dirt will enter the engine when it is modified, needs more air, and the filter is oiled gauze.

Otherwise, if a ZL-1 is stock, the paper filter will out perform the filtration of a K&N filter in the stock airbox, AND not reduce HP compared to a CAI.

[JT6Speed]

I just never really liked the idea of putting oil on an air filter. I much prefer the standard dry paper filter. The performance gain of a few hp at best isn't worth it to me, and changing the filter isn't costly when you only drive 2,500 miles a year.

[olrocker]

The K&N, cold air intake idea is actually not really much of a performance improvement, if any at all. On modern cars, the manufacturers really do have the most efficient, least restrictive intake plenums already on the engine from the factory. It might not look like it, because they're heavy thick rubber instead of the lightweight aluminum tubes, and you may think the K&N filter itself lets more air through (which technically it CAN because it's by nature less restrictive than a factory filter), but keep in mind your throttle is completely computer controlled and the MAF sensor still must be installed on your CAI. So your air intake butterfly valve will only open to the amount of air that's required from the computer relative to the engine demand. The K&N and CAI do not increase the airflow actually going into the engine - that's exactly the same as it was with your stock intake plenum and factory air filter.

It just sounds better because there's less material enabling more of the sound to come out.

[NYTMARE23]

Serious question....so are K&N's (or any other companies') dyno sheets they provide on the websites false? For the CAI I have it's "advertising" 23/24hp increase on a stock ZL1...yes, I realize there are other variables..like air temp/humidity/sea level etc...so if someone like myself or others with any CAI aren't gaining 20+ hp or more....do we file class action lawsuits against all these companies(K&N, Corsa, Roto-Fab etc)...since we're not gaining the advertised hp gains?.Most people on the forums seem to think adding ANY CAI only gets you 3,5, 7 hp....??