Do K&N's make for a louder intake?

[Klutch9]

Hey all, just curious about this one. my car has had a k&n on it since i bought it just over a year ago, and the car's intake has always been pretty audible. the actual intake ducts go into the fender and into the bumper so IMO it shouldnt be that loud. would switching to a paper element filter help reduce this noise? i've added aftermarket intakes on other cars before that made the intake noticeably louder, but this car still has the stock intake, just a different filter. i want your thoughts please

 

[SZR48207]

This seems to be a common occurrence with most vehicles, but on a lot of the forums where I see posts about intake noise, the guys usually like it.

I'm not fond of K&N intakes due to the oiling of the filter and the subsequent silicon that is sent downstream onto the MAF wires and into the engine.

 

[Klutch9]

keep in mind though that i dont have an aftermarket intake, just the filter. my car also doesn't use a MAF, it has a MAP sensor... but thats unrelated at the moment. the thing does a good job trapping big debris, as any filter should. but i have also become concerned lately that it may not be filtering as well as it should. after this next ARX run im doing synthetic OCI's for 7,500 miles so i want a good filter, not a loud one. yes i know, im 19 and i want my car to be quiet... call me weird

 

[2003f7]

YES! The k&n fipk I had on my silverado was so loud when pulling my camper that I removed it and gladly put the stock one back on.

 

[SZR48207]

Originally Posted By: Klutch9
keep in mind though that i dont have an aftermarket intake, just the filter. my car also doesn't use a MAF, it has a MAP sensor... but thats unrelated at the moment. the thing does a good job trapping big debris, as any filter should. but i have also become concerned lately that it may not be filtering as well as it should. after this next ARX run im doing synthetic OCI's for 7,500 miles so i want a good filter, not a loud one. yes i know, im 19 and i want my car to be quiet... call me weird

Exactly. Folks who have simply dropped a K&N FILTER into their vehicles have experienced increased noise since it is less restrictive.

But, are you getting less restriction at the price of more debris being sucked into the engine? UOAs here where the vehicle uses an oiled filter usually show higher levels of Si, as the oils in the filter material do get sucked into the intake manifold.

 

[zulu]

Inside the stock airbox, it makes no difference what filter is in there. Paper, K&N, foam, no filter... the intake resonance volume is controlled by all the baffles/chambers built into the stock system. Only when you remove the box and replace it with an open element cone filter and/or associated piping will the intake tone become much more audible.

Any perceived noise you hear from a drop-in K&N is just a placebo effect... it's not flowing that much more.

 

[Klutch9]

im gonna propose a challenge here... since i've been reading up about the increased levels of silicon in the oil with the k&n air filters, and since wix filters can be bought for so cheap (i like their oil filters and i hear good things about the air filters too), im gonna buy one and drop it in. even if the sound difference is null, i'll at least know the filter is doing its job and doing it well

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: zulu


Any perceived noise you hear from a drop-in K&N is just a placebo effect... it's not flowing that much more.


All air cleaner elements (or no element

)flow within a couple of percent of the same when installed in the same automotive air cleaner box. Any difference in sound comes from the damping and sound absorbing properties of the filter element. If you don't have a well muffled intake, you can hear a difference. Of course, the average factory intake is fairly well muffled.

 

[ARB1977]

Any aftermarket cone type filter will make a louder noise for any CAI. I had a AEM intake with a Dryflow filter, way too loud for my liking...sold it to some kid who thought it was pretty cool.

 

[Klutch9]

Originally Posted By: XS650
Originally Posted By: zulu


Any perceived noise you hear from a drop-in K&N is just a placebo effect... it's not flowing that much more.


All air cleaner elements (or no element

)flow within a couple of percent of the same when installed in the same automotive air cleaner box. Any difference in sound comes from the damping and sound absorbing properties of the filter element. If you don't have a well muffled intake, you can hear a difference. Of course, the average factory intake is fairly well muffled.


seeing as how my intake only has one intake resonator, and is mainly hard plastic (instead of tubing, there's this huge plastic box that leads into the throttle body), i can see how it would naturally by pretty loud. so im just gonna try swapping in your everyday filter to see if it makes a difference.

 

[Bamaro]

Yes they are louder.

 

[Buffman]

mine is louder because I frankly only have light a foot of intake tract before the IM and that's including the filter. About 50 secs in this video you can hear how loud intake is on startup..

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Exhaust-Compilation-1995_81348.htm

 

[ARB1977]

Originally Posted By: Buffman
mine is louder because I frankly only have light a foot of intake tract before the IM and that's including the filter. About 50 secs in this video you can hear how loud intake is on startup..

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Exhaust-Compilation-1995_81348.htm

Pretty cool video. I dig the sheet metal work on that intake.

 

[Buffman]

not my work. place sells those. For a hefty price too. Wish I had that much skillz

 

[hal]

Originally Posted By: zulu
Inside the stock airbox, it makes no difference what filter is in there. Paper, K&N, foam, no filter... the intake resonance volume is controlled by all the baffles/chambers built into the stock system. Only when you remove the box and replace it with an open element cone filter and/or associated piping will the intake tone become much more audible.

Any perceived noise you hear from a drop-in K&N is just a placebo effect... it's not flowing that much more.


+1

If you really want some intake growl you gotta take off the resonator [censored].

 

[sprintman]

Yes but they also give wondefully screwed up UOSA's with lots of SI (dirt). Every engine loves that...

 

[Buffman]

Maybe it's just a K&N issue (cheaper quality) but with my S&B filter my silicon levels (when they didn't get spiked because of a sandblasted intake manifold) were well within universal average.

 

[mechtech2]

Yes, K+Ns are louder.
But not exclusively from simply having more holes than paper.

 

[joel95ex]

Originally Posted By: zulu
Inside the stock airbox, it makes no difference what filter is in there. Paper, K&N, foam, no filter... the intake resonance volume is controlled by all the baffles/chambers built into the stock system. Only when you remove the box and replace it with an open element cone filter and/or associated piping will the intake tone become much more audible.

Any perceived noise you hear from a drop-in K&N is just a placebo effect... it's not flowing that much more.


the air charge is normally silenced by a stock intake tubing's strange shapes. the filter has no effect on it. I would purchase a good dry filter. I ran k&n's but recently ditched them on both vehicles. Mileage has not suffered at all and i feel better about it after reading hi Si UOA's from other people.