I really don't want to kick up any more dust, or a new discution about this, but since you challange me to.....
I used to work for this company for 4 years, selling K&N products and developing K&N intake kits for the local marked cars.
Peugeot 306 1.9 TD 1994-97 - DOT Engineering ApS - alt om filter, luftfilter, filtrering, kn luftfilter, knfilter, sportsluftfilter, tuning, autotilbehør, scooter tuning, auto tilbehør, auto udstyr, motorcykel udstyr, motorcykel tuning, knallert tuni
Here you see a Dyno graph for a K&N airbox element. It typically yields about 2 - 4 hp on an standard 1,5 - 2.0 L engine.... (more the bigger the engine, and better on diesels as the always drive with a fully open air vent)
This is indeed not much - but normally we would see that people could use the extra hp to either drive faster or drive longer on a tank of fuel. But speeder responce improvement is the most common and most valued effect.
Depending on how the car's intake system are made we talk about 3 - 10% better FE. That can be compared to driving 50 - 70 km exstra on at tankfull of gas or diesel. For instance the firs Peugeots 206'es was terrible made in the air intake systems, and benefitted big from K&N filterelements or intake kits.
The reasons beeing:
K&N flows 40 - 80% more air than a stock paper element - especially in damp, rainfull of foggy conditions where paper take up moisture, swells/ expanding the paper and blocking air through the filter material.
K&N work on an enterily different principle:
- The paper filter is a mecanical filtrer. Just like your coffe machine filter. If the dust / dirt particle is bigger than the small holes in the paper its get caught and sticks in the paper. If its smaller it goes right through.
Therefore paper elements are typically designed to flow extra when new, and as the "holes" trap dust their airflow decline gradually. This is a linar function of time / km.
The K&N filter are based on an enterily different principle:
It's an electrostatic filter. As air flow through the oil treated cotten, the filter becomes electrically charged. Endeed so does every matrial/ fabric through which you flow air. (Green filters use no oil, but filers and flows less than K&N, they use a synthetic fabric)
Dust particles are drawn out of the airstream because they naturally are charged electraically opposite of the filter, and sticks to the OUTSIDE of the filter material.
Therefore - In time particles build up upon ecah other, genereting a seceond and much more fine filterelement catching even more and even smaller dust particles, un til the filter becomes clogged. (Normally 50 - 100.000 km on normal roads. Faster on dirt roads). When clogges airflow decline a lot.
The filter have been used on motorcars, motorcycles, offroad vichles, cross machines, speedways machines, F1 racers etc. for many years, with supirior results regarding both performance and filtration.
There's NO doubt WHAT SO EVER about it's capabilities to filter the air, or to flow ekstra air compared to paper filters.
Sorry - but usually - people who says otherwise, tend not to understand the principle nor the product.
Personally I have used K&N filters on all my cars the past 15 years, and also on my motorcycles - never a single problem - supiror performance - supirior filtration.
Think about this: Millions of K&N filters have been sold world wide every year. If the product was bad, didn't filter good enough - the company would have closed many years ago due to claims for compensation for worn out engines....
To my knowledge - not one single case has been proved that K&N dosen't function - nor with regards to flow - nor with regards to filtration.
Every filter slips through particles - it's only a question of how much and how big.
Paper elements are quite good filters - execpt in damp conditions. Also they quickly decline in airflow. Foam are crap in every regard.
K&N are supirior in regards of airflow, sizes of filtered particles, lifetime and price.... - expensive!
So every filter has it's plusses and minusses.... Paper are cheap - filter well, short lived, loses flow in damp conditions.
Also consider, that the factories fabricating and selling paper filters are owned by the car factories.... They love to sell you a new filter every 15.000 or 20.000 km.....
The K&N pay for it self with in the first 80 - 100.000 km's.
By the way - I don't work for that company any more, mut still use the product....
End of rambling.