shepuz2

iTrader: (2)

I went to an auto parts store yesterday and they sell a K & N air filter for $59. The guy said it will never need to be replaced as long as I keep it clean. They sell the cleaning solution for $10.

He said it will increase my '02 Formula's HP from 305 to 320.

Any truth to this??

How often would you need to clean it (assuming it's not being driven too hard)??

Thanks.

Weezzer

Nope.

'Trust'

iTrader: (24)

No truth to the 305 to 320, if they knew anything about these cars the would know that that rating was underrated and they all have about 350hp. The k&n is really only good to have so you dont have to replace it, and as long as you keep it clean you wont have to, the hp gains are MINIMAL if any.

Wong

iTrader: (3)

You wont gain much feel unless you have a very dirty very stuffy airfilter right now. Mabey if you have a turbo or supercharger you'd notice something otherwise no.

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

If you read the promo material really carefully, you'll see
(last time I checked) that the put-up is stock lid, stock
filter vs aftermarket lid, K&N filter. The lid is what makes
the difference but K&N is pleased to take all the credit,
leaving you to sort out the facts for yourself (if).

black01_WS6

iTrader: (13)

only one way to find out. most people have a k&n because it came with the lid. i put the stocker back in and couldn't feel a difference, but not saying there was any. I just couldn't feel it.

GXPPOWER

u think the whole K&N thing is more mental.. we have been told for how many years K&N drop in are better than ac delco's ect ect ect. i doubt their any better. i remember seeing tests where the K&N actually did worse in some dyno testings.

shepuz2

iTrader: (2)

i'm a technical dummy

when u say "lid" do u mean hood??

WhiteKnightZ28

iTrader: (5)

No the "lid" is just the peice of plastic over the air filter, they look like this:



Aftermarket ones flow more air, good for 5-10hp... most people do it as their first mod because its cheap and easy.

Before you ask... all aftermarket lids are basicly the same.

gnomee

iTrader: (16)

Well they were for sure wrong about the hp numbers. As to any performance gain. I've put a K&N in every car me or someone in my family has owned. My dads 01 dodge with a 360 saw a 2mpg increase, this is the only car i've put one in that always tells you the mpg. On smaller engines it is usually noticable on the butt dyno like my sisters sebring. Our cars even if it added 5 hp would be nothing to our already gigantic amount of power. For the most part its only really worth that type of money for the fact that you can clean it. Past that everyone else is right you will get more out of a lid.

99camarosupersport

iTrader: (6)

i dont know how you could logically say one flows better vs. another (assuming both are basically clean and i'm talking noticably). it all has to do with the air coming in the filter does just that and only that...filters it. i have a k&n just so i dont have to buy more filters, that simple for me. tell that dude at autozone he's a tool btw.

Ell Ess Won

305 to 320? pfft, more like 305 to 370. It will make your car a friggin' rocketship!

Lucas'02SS

iTrader: (4)

Hahaha(^^^). Yeah, won't help HP at all. Just worth it because you can clean it as many times as you want.
I don't think you can use a K&N with a supercharger. Maybe some people can, but a guy that I know up here couldn't use the K&N because his supercharger sucked all the oil out of it. And you don't want that to happen.

02 Camaro SS

iTrader: (4)

Is the aftermarket filter at least more efficient at keeping crap out of your engine than the stock paper?

SladeX

The K&N filters have shown a small gain in hp and torque over the stock lid at all rpm. My local group did a little controlled experiment with a few runs running k&n vs stock filter. It was one of those noticable 1-2hp improvements over the whole torque/hp curve. Any air starved engine will like anything that can be done to help it breath better, but its not one of those "must have" mods.

My ls1 came with it, so I use it because I bought a set for my 88 camaro, just keeping it simple since I already have the cleaner kit etc...

A lid is shown to improve hp/torque as much as 10 pts, so, I'd go for that as a worthwhile mod.

Lucas'02SS

iTrader: (4)

It should keep the little stuff like dust and dirt out better since it is oiled.

black00TA

iTrader: (3)

ok so u can clean the k&n , well you will also be cleaning your dirty MAF sensor off with all that damn oil they come with.

any improvement noticed from a k&n is marginal and in all actuality will NOT make a difference. track times and dyno times.

as far as the 305-320 increase. thats ridiculous.

if your looking for power gains in the filter area, use panty hose.

Benjamin Russick

iTrader: (1)

I did K&N vs. paper back-to-back on the dyno. No difference in power. As for filtering better, I've gotten better performance out of a Fram paper filter than a K&N. The conical K&Ns are good, but the flat-panels suck.

300bhp/ton

Save your money. There's nothing really wrong with K&N filters, so for any who already have them don't panic.

But although they do offer slightly better flow it comes at the cost of filtering ability. Having said that the stock OEM paper filter is good for around 500bhp, so you will not see any noticable gain by going to a K&N.

Other issues are that a cotton weave filter will need cleaning more often than a paper one needs swapping. This obviously means the K&N will cost a lot more to maintain and personally I'd rather just by OEM ones. IT WILL BE CHEAPER.

Unless of course you don't clean your k&N very often, but here's the other issue with them. Although they offer better flow it's only when they are clean. And they become glogged much quicker than paper ones (hence the cleaning required). A dirty paper filter (can't remember how much but something stupid like 80%) will still flow very similar to a new one. Where as a partially dirty k&N will have a massive drop off in performance and place well below the abilty of a paper filter.

Another downer with K&N is you just don't need to clean them you also need to oil them after every clean. Which again adds more cost. Plus many people have a lot of issues with over oiling the filter this then leads to issues with the MAF sensor getting an oil coating on it and causing mis-readings making the car run bad.

To clean and oil a K&N will cost you more than a new OEM paper filter. And you have to do it more often. This means K&N filters cost far too much $$$$$

My advice is don't bother with it and spend your money on other more worthwhile mods.

300bhp/ton

NOPE - Paper filters filter better than any cotton weave filter. Simple logic. You can't have more air flow and better filtering as the two are contridictions in terms.