High flow air filters and mileage

[Taking a Ride]

Looking at K&N permanent air filters and wondering if anyone has used them or another brand like them. They claim to boost horsepower slightly (up to 10 hp)and increase gas mileage by improving intake air flow. They can be cleaned instead of disposed of and retail under $50 bucks. I'm guessing any mileage increase would be measured in tenths of a gallon if at all but even a modest increase would justify the cost on a relatively inexpensive item. I am currently averaging around 8.1 + or - depending on conditions. What say those in the know ?

03 Pace Arrow 37A W22 CRV toad Fulltiming

[Taking a Ride]

Looking at K&N permanent air filters and wondering if anyone has used them or another brand like them. They claim to boost horsepower slightly (up to 10 hp)and increase gas mileage by improving intake air flow. They can be cleaned instead of disposed of and retail under $50 bucks. I'm guessing any mileage increase would be measured in tenths of a gallon if at all but even a modest increase would justify the cost on a relatively inexpensive item. I am currently averaging around 8.1 + or - depending on conditions. What say those in the know ?

03 Pace Arrow 37A W22 CRV toad Fulltiming

[r2dillon]

I used K&N on my V-10. Although they do increase performance, etc. it is due to the fact that they pass more air through less filtering. I discontinued the use after the concern (documented elsewhere) of the contaminents that are passed through the filter. My local Workhorse garage also related (unsolicited) that they were having a lot of work their way from the oil on the K&N filters coating the Mass Airflow sensor. That was probably due to inexperience by the owner, but is worthy of consideration.

[FrontRangeRVer]

I had to replace my MAS on my '03 Nissan Frontier because of the oil from the K&N filter....I went back to the OEM filter....the "savings" and "throttle response" wasn't worth it...

[Oemtech]

I went thru this when I build my first CAI and used a K&N filter I had from my V10. It is a 4 layer gauze filter.

A guy by the name of Alan Spicer did filter comparison and K&N didn't fair so well. So, I sent a email to K&N and got this reply.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> K&N recently invited Arlen Spicer to our facility to redo the test in our ISO5011-spec in house test lab. Mr. Spicer was allowed to pick his selection of filters from an auto parts store shelf (no filters were provided by K&N) and test in our lab. The disposable filter tests were almost identical to the first test, but the K&N results were much higher, because each test was held to identical criteria and environmental conditions (per ISO test protocol). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

As for fouled MAF sensors. This is usually caused by adding to much oil after cleaning. Most folks don't read the instructions on how to re-oil a filter.

I am currently using a 6x9 S&B 8layer gauze filter in my DIY CAI.

[Taking a Ride]

Thanks for the feedback. It makes sense that a less restrictive filter would not be as effective at removing particulates. Oiling it after cleaning would improve adhesion of dirt particles and I'm guessing this is how they upgrade performance on a coarser filter. I think I'll stick with the stock filter. My rig is performing well as is. If it aint broke....

03 Pace Arrow W22 CRV Toad

[Mahlon]

The only way that the K&N air filters could pass more air and still retain the same filtering efficiency is if the K&N filters had (considerably) more pleats, therefore more filter media surface area, than the stock filters. From personal experience I know that this is not so.