Debunking the K&N Myth: Why OEM is Better

GRiSO Capo Posts : 956 Join date : 2014-06-05

Here is a very enlightening read with empirical data, illustrating why oiled media air filters are a pox outside the realm of racing.

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GRiSO Capo Posts : 1785 Join date : 2015-02-02 Age : 63

Very interesting. I've never used one and always felt a bit suspect of an air filter you can see through. Shocked

I've never done any racing but I can see their use there.

GRiSO Capo Posts : 10200 Join date : 2013-09-30

Excellent! Thanks for posting this Don. Cred for you!

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Tanabuso Posts : 87 Join date : 2015-06-16

waterbottle wrote:: Very interesting. I've never used one and always felt a bit suspect of an air filter you can see through. I've never done any racing but I can see their use there.

Yep couldn't agree more on the "see through / FAIL" test.

I've used the Australian-made UNI oiled foam air filters with a prefilter / stripper outerlayer on many of my engines. Not one of them show the slightest sign of dusting on the walls of the filtered side of the exhaust tract however a number of paper element air filters have allowed dusting to occur.

GRiSO Capo Posts : 10712 Join date : 2013-05-29 Age : 67

Aftermarket air filters are almost universally awful. If you want to waste some money and trash your engine there are few better ways. Oh, you could add an O2 sensor fooler I suppose and one of those washable oil filters if you want to complete the full trifecta of awful! Very Happy

Pete

Nibbio Posts : 569 Join date : 2014-06-21

Don't forget stick-on vortex generators!

Tanabuso Posts : 63 Join date : 2015-07-05 Age : 32

False. I took a hole saw and punched through the top of my airbox lid, and the filter itself and gained 15 rwhp. The chucks of paper and plastic in the intake track are especially beneficial.

^^
highly sarcastic.

Anyway, the air filter debate reminds me a little of when my dad was teaching me how to drive a car down a drag strip, and I asked him about "power shifting" by keeping the throttle floored and jamming the next gear in as fast as possible because I'd seen it in a youtube video. He said something like "shifting like that might make you a tenth or two faster down the 1/4, but it'll probably cut the life of your transmission by 1/4 too. Is that worth it to you in a daily driven car?"

Same thing sorta applies with high flow air filters. Is 1 or 2 horsepower at the top end really worth the reduced protection for the engine?

GRiSO Capo Posts : 10712 Join date : 2013-05-29 Age : 67

As has been pointed out repeatedly a smaller filter will quite happily flow enough air for a 140+HP Aprilia V4. There is a reason the Guzzi 8V won't produce the same sort of performance as a 1098 or whatever the designation of the current Ducati shitbox is and it ain't the air filter.

Pete

GRiSO Capo Posts : 1657 Join date : 2014-09-22

Very interesting, many thanks

Tanabuso Posts : 87 Join date : 2015-06-16

You are all entitled to your own opinions.

I have used the Australian - made UNI, oiled urethane foam air filters (not oiled cotton gauze as per K&N) for many years in dirt bikes, four wheel drives, cars, karts and speedway bikes. All these filters were fitted as 2 stage / layer filters.

At 275,000km when my 4WD was having a head gasket refit, the cylinders were measured and found to have less than 0.001" lip wear. There has never been any discoloration of the inside filter layers nor has ANY deposits of dust been detected on the clean sides of the air boxes / inlet tract in any of my engines or engines I have maintained.

At 390,000km the 4WD engine performs as new and DOES NOT BURN OIL.

Even under extremely dusty conditions, the inner layers of the filters and the clean sides of the inlet tracts DON'T GET DUSTED.

To my horror when I was assessing the state of my recently purchased GRiSO last month, I found a light dusting on the airbox surfaces - it's running a genuine paper filter and there's no sign of spaces or gaps around the exterior mating faces. The paper filter is not heavily loaded or showing signs of deformation / failure ?????

Oiled cotton gauze filters are stone sieves not dust filters from the results I have seen with them.

GRiSO Capo Posts : 10712 Join date : 2013-05-29 Age : 67

My friend, you are welcome to your opinion, and also we are talking chalk and cheese. A from filter will filter well, it will clog quickly. This is a different situation to a K&N type labyrinth filter.

IMHO a correctly installed and serviced paper filter will not only flow more than adequate air, (And we won't even start on the way the engine breathes.) will work much better and add much greater protection with less effort than any of the aftermarket alternatives.

You won't suddenly pull an extra 15HP out of your 8V Guzzi with a filter, even if you go bonkers on mapping. The end!

Pete

Tanabuso Posts : 87 Join date : 2015-06-16

Pete Roper wrote:: ...... The end!

Pete

Agreed my friend

GRiSO Capo Posts : 10712 Join date : 2013-05-29 Age : 67

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