Which filter is better paper or k&n?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Mar 27, 2011
Messages
342
Location
Chicago
Hey guys its time for a new air filter for me and I was thinking to get a k&n but reading the differences between oiled and paper I'm not sure which one to get? Which one will filter better and bring in more air?
 
Originally Posted By: boostedtsiawd
Hey guys its time for a new air filter for me and I was thinking to get a k&n but reading the differences between oiled and paper I'm not sure which one to get? Which one will filter better and bring in more air?


Do you think you're not getting enough air now?
 
K&N is oiled cotton gauze which has a low efficiency compared to paper. Paper is better at keeping dirt out of your engine.

Oiled paper filters like Fram Tough Guard are even better than regular cellulose/paper filters.

I highly recommend you stay away from K&N air filters in a stock vehicle.
 
It really won't matter unless you plan on keeping the vehicle over 500,000 miles. Use whichever you prefer.
 
I use treated paper air filters.

I found a way to increase the air flow. I push down on the gas pedal. It works really well and because I almost never use full throttle more than a few seconds hear and there, I understand that for most of the time I'm driving around I have to accept the better filtering properties of the treated paper filter and always remember that during the few seconds I'm at full throttle I won't get that last hundred or so rpm.
 
I have a 2002 F150 with the small v8 that has crossed the country 4 times pulling trailers and has 180K+ miles on it. It runs like a top and uses .5 qt between M1 extended oil changes. I have had one of those aluminum tube CAI with a K&N filter on the end. Its in a box that is sealed up against the breather hole in the drivers side front so it pulls cool air from outside the engine compartment. I also got a superchips programmer at the time allplied "max tune" and the engine immediately woke up and the tranny shifts tightened up.

The engine definitely breathes better and makes more power but not because of the filter alone. Choose any filter you like if you maintain properly it is not that huge of a difference.
 
Have you ever seen a K&N and held it? You can see right through it! If you can see right through it one can only imagine it's filtering capabilities.

Just plain garbage.
 
While some will say that K+N filters won't add power, that's often not true.

I installed one in my Jaguar X-Type. There is no question it helped. However, it's a 190HP engine with a tiny filter.

Same goes for my airplane. The 5 inch by 6 inch pleated filter. Swapping it out for a K+N helped quite a bit.
 
Originally Posted By: Kawiguy454
I have a 2002 F150 with the small v8 that has crossed the country 4 times pulling trailers and has 180K+ miles on it. It runs like a top and uses .5 qt between M1 extended oil changes. I have had one of those aluminum tube CAI with a K&N filter on the end. Its in a box that is sealed up against the breather hole in the drivers side front so it pulls cool air from outside the engine compartment. I also got a superchips programmer at the time allplied "max tune" and the engine immediately woke up and the tranny shifts tightened up.

The engine definitely breathes better and makes more power but not because of the filter alone. Choose any filter you like if you maintain properly it is not that huge of a difference.


I have a 2002 Expedition 5.4L that has pulled numerous trailers and also has north of 180,000 miles on it. Goes through no oil between changes using AFE 0w-30. I have the stock air plumbing and run an AMSOIL Ea filter in the filter housing (more efficient than a K&N) and before that, ran factory filters.

The factory plumbing pulls in cold air from the fender, the big restriction in the stock system isn't the filter, it is the numerous silencers in the plumbing, the smallest being on the end of the filter housing, and then another one closer to the TB. I pulled both of those and replaced the one at the airbox with a straight piece of PVC tubing (a common mod).

Never had a need to wake up the engine or transmission (I have the 4R100, it shifts fantastically well). The engine works great. Most tuners appear to offer very little for the 5.4L 2V engine
21.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet
Same goes for my airplane. The 5 inch by 6 inch pleated filter. Swapping it out for a K+N helped quite a bit.

I would think airplanes would be one of the best applications for a K&N, given the normal operating mode of the engine and the value of flow in that mode.
 
In case you missed my other post
Had K&N in three vehicles street driven. All showed dirt in the intake on the clean side. cleaned them out and went to Amsoil and AE dry and now they stay clean. I had Spectre in a couple cars and same thing but not as bad. One is a truck that goes off road in sand and Mt st Helen ash on occasion and one in a street car and even the truck was better than the K&Ns. I took those Spectre out and put in AC. From what I can see Spectre worked better than K&N but none were acceptable in my opinion. Also not as much light through the SPectre as I see through the K&N. Just my two cents. I still have one K&N and it is an air sucking 502 beast. I cannot find anything else that will fit and it is always dirty on the clean side... So I just clean it keep looking for another way. Clearance and the oval LS throttle body has me stuck sucking dirt for now. So while I have no clinical DATA I do have eyes not blinded by sales hyp. A white paper towel coming out brown is DATA point #1. Taking the intake tracks off and cleaning them with throttle body cleaner watching the brow liquid run out is DATA point #2. Changing to better filters and the brown stopping well that's Data point #3 and more than enough for me... ANd no my filters are not damages=d. In fac t it happened first time after new.
 
The differences on each side are so slight that i say get what you want and sleep well...

Will K&N offer any tangible benefit? Yes, reusable, aural and some say, an indeterminable amount more power. Will the paper filter better? Yes, it will, by a negligible amount. Many here site the invalid nature of the Timken Test and Four Ball Wear Test as it relates to actual application use, but are quick to reference other online tests that do the same where K&N is concerned to back their own beliefs. I believe the K&N claims of more HP and better MPG as much as i do the oil on MAS and large dirt particles getting through. And of coarse you can see through a K&N easier than a paper filter. For one, the paper filter is thicker and second, K&N uses a red-tinted oil as part of the filtration process. When applied to the cotton gauze, it extends the diameter of the gauze and becomes semi-translucent by nature. The sun can be seen thru this film but the film is there.

So again, Yes, paper filters better but K&N will not "destroy" your engine. I have gone back and fourth on this topic myself but that's just my indecisiveness.

Just another polarizing topic on Bitog.

whistle.gif
 
Never had a MAS problem, seeing light through it doesn't mean much but the dirt in the intake tract is enough for me to pitch them all. Do you really think I pitched three K&N filters just for the heck of it. Oh well believe what you want, wipe your tract with damp paper towel, use alcohol or whatever solvent you want and look at it.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top