The truth about K&N air filters
Evolving Member
iTrader: (3)
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 457
Likes: 0
From: In Hell, but making my way out
Originally Posted by mrMTB
Dayton, you might try rereading the article.
1) The research was not sponsored by GM; the persons doing it were diesel enthusiasts, one of whom happened to work at a facility that had access to the tools to perform these tests.
2) All of the filters tested were purchased at retail by other deisel enthusiats and donated to the project.
3) The initial restriction (in in/H2O) ranged from a low of 4.54 for the K&N to 6.23 for the AC Delco (hereafter AC).
4) All filters were subjected to an ISO 5011 test to measure the amount of time and particles required to reduce the filter to its initial restriction + 10 in H2O. The K&N filter ran for 24 minutes before hitting this point, and the filter passed 7.00 grams of test particles through the filter in that time. The AC filter ran for more-than 60 minutes, while only passing .40 grams.
5) Based on the (4), the K&N filter held 211.6 grams of material before hitting the restriction limit. The AC filter help 573.9.
Now the good part...
6) Despite the much lower initial restriction, after less-than 200 grams of dust was delivered to the filter, the flow restriction of the K&N filter exceeded that of the AC.
From the article:
In summary, it would appear that _for this particular filter_, K&N's marketing materials do not stand up- it does not function as well at filtering air as the OEM part. Additionally, after a relatively short period of time your oiled gauze type filter can be performing more-poorly than an OEM filter. While K&N does publish their estimated HP gains for filters on their website, you must write in to ask them for a copy of their ISO 5011 testing results.
Based on the above, also, I would suggest that K&N's stated service interval of 30-50k miles is too long ensure adequate performance of their filters.
1) The research was not sponsored by GM; the persons doing it were diesel enthusiasts, one of whom happened to work at a facility that had access to the tools to perform these tests.
2) All of the filters tested were purchased at retail by other deisel enthusiats and donated to the project.
3) The initial restriction (in in/H2O) ranged from a low of 4.54 for the K&N to 6.23 for the AC Delco (hereafter AC).
4) All filters were subjected to an ISO 5011 test to measure the amount of time and particles required to reduce the filter to its initial restriction + 10 in H2O. The K&N filter ran for 24 minutes before hitting this point, and the filter passed 7.00 grams of test particles through the filter in that time. The AC filter ran for more-than 60 minutes, while only passing .40 grams.
5) Based on the (4), the K&N filter held 211.6 grams of material before hitting the restriction limit. The AC filter help 573.9.
Now the good part...
6) Despite the much lower initial restriction, after less-than 200 grams of dust was delivered to the filter, the flow restriction of the K&N filter exceeded that of the AC.
From the article:
In summary, it would appear that _for this particular filter_, K&N's marketing materials do not stand up- it does not function as well at filtering air as the OEM part. Additionally, after a relatively short period of time your oiled gauze type filter can be performing more-poorly than an OEM filter. While K&N does publish their estimated HP gains for filters on their website, you must write in to ask them for a copy of their ISO 5011 testing results.
Based on the above, also, I would suggest that K&N's stated service interval of 30-50k miles is too long ensure adequate performance of their filters.
Quote:
Gentlemen and Ladies, Marketing and the lure of profit is VERY POWERFUL! It is amazing how many people believe that better airflow = more power! Unless you have modifications out the wazoo, a more porous filter will just dirty your oil! Some will say " I have used aftermarket brand X for XXX # years with no problems. The PROBLEM is you spent a chunk of ching on a product that not only DID NOT increase your horsepower, but also let in a lot of dirt while doing it! Now how much is a lot? ANY MORE THAN NECESSARY is TOO MUCH!
Quote:
The stock filter will flow MORE THAN ENOUGH AIR to give you ALL THE HORSEPOWER the engine has to give. And this remains true until the filter is dirty enough to trip the air filter life indicator. At that point performance will decline somewhat.
Gentlemen and Ladies, Marketing and the lure of profit is VERY POWERFUL! It is amazing how many people believe that better airflow = more power! Unless you have modifications out the wazoo, a more porous filter will just dirty your oil! Some will say " I have used aftermarket brand X for XXX # years with no problems. The PROBLEM is you spent a chunk of ching on a product that not only DID NOT increase your horsepower, but also let in a lot of dirt while doing it! Now how much is a lot? ANY MORE THAN NECESSARY is TOO MUCH!
Quote:
The stock filter will flow MORE THAN ENOUGH AIR to give you ALL THE HORSEPOWER the engine has to give. And this remains true until the filter is dirty enough to trip the air filter life indicator. At that point performance will decline somewhat.
Last edited by Dayton_EVO; Jun 28, 2006 at 05:42 PM.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
ZEUS EVOX
Mid-Atlantic Region
9
Sep 10, 2010 11:16 AM
