K&N Air filter

[Bobdillin]

Good Evening all 

im thinking about replacing my air filter with a K&N one for my 2014 170 cr diesel 

has anybody changed there’s to a K&N are you glad you did and are they really worth the price. Does it actually make a difference to the car at all ?  I’m just thinking in the long run it may pay for it self by not having to replace the filter every service I don’t do a great deal of mileage and i always use a good fuel usually esso or shell. Tia 

[Ootohere]

No it will not pay for it's self unless you are very good at cleaning and treating.

Or doing a bit of offroading / wading, working in a dusty environment.

 

Best buy nice clean filters regularly, let the engine breath, and get good economy / mpg.   Just my opinion and experience.

[xman]

£7 for an air filter from carparts4less (same company as Eurocarparts)

[snowathlete]

I just pondered this and we decided on a standard Mann air filter. They aren't very expensive and you can change then regularly. Maybe if I did very high mileage a K&N might make sense but otherwise I don't see how it can. I got mine from Eurocarparts for £7.24 using a code they have/had running.

[HughGabriel]

The problem with K&N filters is they are oiled, and the oil then contaminates the MAF so it gives an incorrect reading.  Best just to replace the standard filter regularly IMHO.

[chimaera]

53 minutes ago, HughGabriel said:

The problem with K&N filters is they are oiled, and the oil then contaminates the MAF so it gives an incorrect reading.  Best just to replace the standard filter regularly IMHO.

+1 on this. Also the pores in a K&N filter are much larger than those on a paper filter, so you will see larger particles getting past it into the engine.

 

Air filters are generally oversized anyway so I wouldn't be worried about performance using the standard filter.

[chimaera]

To put this in some perspective, my old B5 Passat TDI with 90 bhp used the same filter element (p/n 058133843) as the B5 Audi RS4 with 375 bhp.

[vborovic]

Same question, different car - I was thinking of getting one K&N for my 3.6 FSI (don't mind the regular filter cleaning, not for economy, but for performance) ... I even saw some other "brands" of high-mileage filters (Pipercross if memory serves me) ... I'm only thinking of letting more air in my car, if I could get some extra performance out of it. Where I'm from the air is very clean (no air pollution, pollen or other debris that could be a potential risk factor in doing the change). Or to just get a quality FRAM or MANN and don't expect miracles?

[chimaera]

I'll refer you to my previous comment here: chances are the stock filter is already capable of flowing more air than your car can use.

Edited 28 January, 2018 by chimaera

[vborovic]

Fair enough, but I think I'll experiment, curiosity killed the cat, right ...

[chimaera]

2 minutes ago, vborovic said:

Fair enough, but I think I'll experiment, curiosity killed the cat, right ...

It's your money, do as you wish with it. You'd probably get more use out if it if you just piled the cash up and set it on fire though.

[TLV]

Those K&N style cone filters and their performance gains are a bunch of baloney. Engineers spend countless hours to design airboxes with favourable performance characteristics and then some dunce comes along and tells you that ya should put a cone on it instead for mad gains. Without meticulous maintenance (cleaning with air filter cleaner and oiling with air filter oil) they flow so well that they suck dirt in as well. Even in ideal conditions regular air filters are better at filtration.

 

Factory air filters have more surface than the engine requires. Even for a commuter car, so it would take longer to clog up thus has a longer service interval.

Those filters are used in racing applications because instead of a large airbox you get a small cone that attaches with one clamp. Lighter, smaller, faster to replace.

 

One thing you might like about those filters is increased induction noise. Throatier exhaust and/or increased induction noise fool people into believing they've got more power because more vroom, but without a proper remap you may even lose power. If not peak power, probably across the rev range, especially low rpm torque.

[xman]

Indeed. I don't know about the diesel engines but all the tsi petrols now have a tuned inlet pipe using helmholz resonators so any change to the airbox, piping etc is likely to affect that and probably reduce or mess up performance.

 

 

[Bobdillin]

On 28/01/2018 at 15:14, vborovic said:

Fair enough, but I think I'll experiment, curiosity killed the cat, right ...

My thoughts exactly lol

[Bobdillin]

Fantastic reply’s thanks guys and now I’m really stumped obviously I’m a proper novice and I just want to do good with my pride and joy. I might consider a remap stage 1 but the increase on insurance is putting me off. Especially as I dont do a lot of miles. I drive 1900 miles a week in a truck and the thought of going out for a drive on the weekend is crazy lol 

[cssuk]

snake oils and in fact will cause more engine wear than a standard filter, those types of filters are great on race engines which get rebuilt every few thousand miles, on a road car no not good but dont take my word for it here is some science and real world tests

 

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest3.htm

[vborovic]

Slowly but surely ... the actual filter is next on my list ...

 

 

[Bobdillin]

About to fit mine soon I’m sure it was save me in the long run 

[brad1.8T]

On 1/31/2018 at 08:36, Bobdillin said:

Fantastic reply’s thanks guys and now I’m really stumped obviously I’m a proper novice and I just want to do good with my pride and joy. I might consider a remap stage 1 but the increase on insurance is putting me off. Especially as I dont do a lot of miles. I drive 1900 miles a week in a truck and the thought of going out for a drive on the weekend is crazy lol 

Best performance gain you can make if you don't want to remap is some really sticky tyres and an advanced driving course.

[Wile7]

I've posted elsewhere on here about fitting a K&N filter to the Superb (with photos).

 

Having used them for over 30 years in cars (from early RS2000 avo and Mexicos on...) across Jap, German and American cars I have to say that I have always experienced top notch service from them.

 

My xflow Caterham has standard K&N's on twin 40's too and they are still running fine 23 years on (with a clean every couple of years if they are lucky). Great bits of kit and I tend to see slightly better MPG  (but to be honest I'm not into the pros and cons of a 2mpg gain on a tank...).

 

On the Superb, the induction roar at full chat is lovely (3.6). 

 

Dave

[vborovic]

So, to all the haters out there ( ), I've ordered a K&N filter for my car, looking forward to installing it next week when it is due to arrive (price: 48 GBP)

[pablomax]

Not a K&N hater, I used them often on my offroad vehicles. I think they do not filter quite as good as a stock paper filter, but as I drove offroad in the desert very often, it would cost a bundle to replace the paper filter 4 times a month. With the K&N, I would wash it, dry it and re-apply the oil every time I took them out.

I guess saying that they do not filter quite quite as good is not really accurate. The paper filter will get stuffed up and you notice the drop in performance.

The K&N let a bit more particulate through, but was a lot slower to get clogged up.

But.... That was for offroad use with a performance engine. The superb is FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR away from a performance engine.

 

I am curious though what is the point to use a filter like that for the Skoda. Your money, so you can spend it however you like, but I don't see the benefit over a good normal filter for street use. It's never going to be a performance car no matter what and it certainly won't prolong the life the engine.

 

[vborovic]

1 minute ago, pablomax said:

It's never going to be a performance car no matter what

 

With a proper remap, everything is possible, but as I like to experiment on my cars, why not - and the price for it wasn't over the top as it is on some other markets

[TLV]

Wouldn't we all like a cheap performance upgrade with no negative consequences? The one manufacturers don't want you to know about?

[vborovic]

I never once mentioned there aren't downsides to any performance upgrades, the tricky part is to find those that are manageable or cheap to fix/prevent, anything else is risking it in the long run