Ok then ,,What about air filters for a good brand

[Elephanthead]

Paper blocks more dirt, but needs to be changed more often, also restricts air more, hence the blocking more dirt. The others let in more air and last longer, but also let in more dirt. You decide which is better for your situation. A paper filter big enough to not be the limiting factor on your engines air flow is probably the best choice, unless your changing it every 3 days.

[mtndewmaniac66]

My father-in-law, a good man that I can trust, tells me the same thing about my K&N filter and full flow lid. Since it is a street truck, I have no issues running it. If I were to use a K&N filter for my 4WD suburban, I would run a pre-filter wrap. I say that there has to be a happy medium for an air filter to perform. It has to let in as much air as possible while trapping as much contaminants as possible, and I am willing to bet that the engineers at K&N have thought this through, thoroughly, and came up with a compromise. What is the acceptable amount of contamination allowable vs. maximum airflow. It is obvious that the density of the filter media is proportionate to the contamination allowed, then add the oil and thus further reduces the chance of contamination pass-through.

[hilandr452]

Just like my recommendation for oil filters, we use Baldwin on all our equipment. They are high quality with more surface area, letting in more air than conventional brands because of the larger area, but good material to keep out the dust and dirt. Machine I used to run had a trencher mounted about 3 feet from the air cleaner and that motor was clean inside. Change the filters more often depending on your driving conditions no matter what filter you run, you will be happy with the results.

Dan

[69halfton]

i buy the paper filters, and i run an open element air cleaner on my truck. my rule is that, the more VOLUME of paper you have, the more air the filter will flow. I run a 5 inch tall filter on my 383 stroker, as apposed to a...2 or 3 inch stocker?

its like sucking air through a staw, small straw, hard to suck the air, bigger straw, easier to suck the air. right?

i dont live in a dry or dusty area, so the paper element works just fine.

WIX filters is generally what guys run at the circle track where i race, they seem to be the best bang-for-the-buck and flow the best too. other guys just run with no filter.

[leddzepp]

Lots of good points discussed here.

[Sport/Truck]

Here's my experience with K&N. I had installed one on my brand new car. I was living in Texas at the time, and I didn't notice any issues until I moved to New Mexico. I built a house in the mountains and have about a 350 yard gravel/dirt road to drive on daily.
I started seeing the truth about K&N. It lets dirt get by. My oil would turn black the air flow sensor would have a real fine build up of dust on it. I should have taken pictures of it. but it was gray and you only could see it if you wiped it with you finger.

I agree with allot of what is said here regarding K&N, except about using them only on a dirt roads.
I like how K&N says the more dirt that's on it, the better it filters.

If you don't think K&N is letting in dirt in on your vehicle, just send an oil sample to Blackstone Labs.

What I ended up doing on my car was put a larger air filter to allow more air in. It's not rocket since.
s/t

[Andy4639]

OK first I'm not trying to Hijack this thread, with that said everyone has me thinking about my K&N filter. So I went out this morning and pulled it all apart to see if I could see anything getting into the TPI unit. This is what I found.
This is my setup:


4" hole in support where the old external regulator use to be.


1990 Caddy air box with factory opening sealed off and 4" hole in bottom of it.
With a coupling flange that was sawed off with a 4" ninty hooked to it then another 4" coupllng going through the support. This is been in place since 191 and has had the K&N filter the whole time.


Here is the filter itself and I think it tells the story.
This is the motor side of it which happens to be the top side of the filter.


Bottom side which is the inlet side. I haven't cleaned it in about 6 months.

Bottom of housing as I pulled the filter out. Very little dirt and a few small bugs.

I herd everyone concerns but I just can't see them having any concerns with it. I could maybe see a problem if you live and drive on a lot of dirt roads but for me I'm satisfied with what I have and it's not a concern to me anymore.

[Spray-Bomb]

I saw a video of the testing lab at K&N, and itr was pretty cool, seemed like they would trap a lot of dirt if used properly
I have one on my truck & dont have a problem with it, but Im not saying that its the best

Now, my dad has a AFE on his diesel & I personally think its a pretty darn good filter

[Andy4639]

I'm not trying to say it's the best or the worst, just that I think it does exactley what they say it will do. More air and better filtering in one.

Spray-Bomb

Now, my dad has a AFE on his diesel & I personally think its a pretty darn good filter

Can you post some info on this and maybe a picture of it.

[Lugnut64052]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

if they were so good, over the road HD semi trucks would run them. More power, better MPG, true, but they let dirt in your engine wearing out the engine faster.

Agreed.
My position is that if they're so superior, OEMs would be using them, or at least the technology, but they don't. And OEMs are always actively trying to squeeze every last horsepower out of their cars for marketing purposes as well as performance.

I once happened onto a forum somewhere populated by guys who were extremely vigilant in their vehicle maintenance. Several of them were sending off motor oil samples for oil analysis after each change. This is rather absurd maintenance overkill for family grocery-getters in my view, but to each his own. Anyway, there was a long thread going on K&Ns, and many of them were saying they saw a sudden increase in particulate matter (dirt) in the oil after switching to K&Ns.

[Shane]

... "small" bugs got in but dirt didn't?

[Andy4639]

Shane

... "small" bugs got in but dirt didn't?

You didn't read it as good as you think. You need to read it again. I said it had a few small bugs on the intake side of the filter not the motor side.
Video of K&N.

YouTube - Cool trip to the K&N Air Filter...

[kamikazekyle05]

We put an S&B filter on my buddies dodge and i think its pretty good http://www.sbfilters.com/products/universal_filters.php

[Shane]

... some folks just don't understand sarcasm OR smiles in a post.

[leddzepp]

K and N Rules!

[dieselarmy13]

Take a K&N and hold it up to the sun. You will see holes. Trust me. Not sayin they aren't good filters, just sayin...