Truck Trend claims 10% more MPG with K&N in 2009 Ford F-150 after bogus road test

[Frank Lee]

I don't know... is truck trend a printed rag too?

I used to get all that junk but cancelled it years ago after finally getting fed up with stuff like breathless accounts of how awesome the newest BMW is because the windshield is tilted back 1 degree more vs. last year's newly obsoleted junk, and **** like that.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I don't know... is truck trend a printed rag too?

I used to get all that junk but cancelled it years ago after finally getting fed up with stuff like breathless accounts of how awesome the newest BMW is because the windshield is tilted back 1 degree more vs. last year's newly obsoleted junk, and **** like that.

Yeah, it is printed. It shouldn't be, but it is.

I stopped getting rags when I started noticing more ads than anything else, and the only "reader's ride" that were ever featured were the ones that used all the products the rag featured the month before...

[jamesqf]

I guess I'm a little puzzled about some of this. So maybe that magazine article did not use a decent test design (I didn't read it, so can't really comment) but why would you expect that sort of magazine to do so? After all, they're hardly a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

As for the claims about K&N improving mpg and/or performance, have any of you actually done the testing you're talking about, or are you just spouting your own opinions?

[Christ]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

I guess I'm a little puzzled about some of this. So maybe that magazine article did not use a decent test design (I didn't read it, so can't really comment) but why would you expect that sort of magazine to do so? After all, they're hardly a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

As for the claims about K&N improving mpg and/or performance, have any of you actually done the testing you're talking about, or are you just spouting your own opinions?

I think all of maybe 1 person in this thread claimed either of those... that I read, anyway.

[tasdrouille]

It all comes down to filtration and flow. This study proved that K&N flows better. Yes, by a huge 2 inches of water at 350 CFM. That sure is good enough for a 10% in fuel economy. It also does not filter very well.

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by tasdrouille

It all comes down to filtration and flow. This study proved that K&N flows better. Yes, by a huge 2 inches of water at 350 CFM. That sure is good enough for a 10% in fuel economy. It also does not filter very well.

NO air filter at all has even better flow and even worse filtering (and costs less than K&N), but will it increase FE by as much as 10%? Maybe if you add to it LRR tires and an alternator kill switch, then maybe so. That reminds me of an advert spoof in MAD magazine:
Play-C-Bow health pills - When taken with a glass of water they help hydrate your body. They help increase muscle mass when taken before or after intense weight lifting training. Etc.

The best way to increase flow through a filter, without increasing the amoung of dirt that makes it through, is to increase the filter's area. Just adding a second OEM filter and intakes, parallel to the original, would give better flow (and cost about the same) than most super aftermarket stuff. But how much will it help? I thought about doing just this, but after talking to a few car mechanics it turned out that I'd spend time and/or money on something that wouldn't make a noticeable difference, especially at the rpm range I stay in.

[SVOboy]

Darin did some of his own testing on various filters: Testing a 'performance' air filter for MPG - Part 1 - MetroMPG.com

[blueflame]

Does ecomodder forums get hijacked by loyalists of K&N or Amsoil?

At times I thought that spies from organisations such as these make contributions to many different auto forums. Usually spouting claims that make these products look good, and influencing others with authoritarian dialogue. Its cheap covert advertising!! Maybe they are just ordinary people who repeat these bogus claims. But, if it is effective cheap advertising....you would expect some corruption.......

Like the article in question. A glorified infomercial

What about all those poor people who buy pods for economy.....usually good intentioned, hard working souls. Lied to by society and its champions of industry once again.

But as far as getting screwed in the a** by an air filter company goes, its only a wee one in comparison to stuff like people who bought leaky homes, and perpetually sick people who trust their health provider(at a large financial, personal and mortality cost), when they should go elsewhere.....

[elhigh]

What I've read is that while K&N's pass more volume at a specified pressure, they also pass more and larger particulates. Well, my engine ain't gettin' any younger, and making it inhale the grit that passes for air around here isn't going to improve matters. So, paper filters get the nod. They've gotten the job done all this time. They're a buttload cheaper, too.

Now, "we take our testing seriously around here" would imply that, if you're going to take the trouble to hook the silly truck up to the dyno, you might as well engage all the bells and whistles the dyno has, yeah? So seeing the Power gauge and Torque gauge on the dyno readout didn't impress me any. They both read 0.

I do these magazines the right way - at the library. At one time they were pretty fun, but anymore the mags are entirely too biased toward manufacturers. Whoever has brought out the most recent product is going to place either first or second in whatever comparison. If a next-level ringer is brought in, usually they'll let the newest product win and count coup against the ringer.

It's all just dumb.

I read Jalopnik a lot. Some Winding Road. And then I just wander around and drooooool on eBay Motors.

[Frank Lee]

"Snowmobile of the Year" is a meaningless and quite obvious exercise in stupidity. They rotate it among the Big 4, just like clockwork. It matters not who actually has the most innovation that year. The rags don't want to make their bread-and-butter ad revenue generators angry.

Same with all the other products and mags too.