what I did to the Cavy today
 

got a K&N panel filter today for Tracey's Cavy...the old paper filter was getting dirty & well, she plans on driving the car into the ground, so the K&N was a logical choice, since it'll cost less in the long run, was only $34, versus around $7 for the paper panel

Also got a can of Seafoam, so i put 1/2 a pint in the oil to stir around for the last 500miles to clean out any deposits, then i ran the last 1/2 thru the intake to help clean out some carbon

Then i pumped the tires up to 44psi.

The car definetly accelerates better to my suprise (usually a panel filter doesn't make much of a difference) & it definetly rolls father when i coast

this tank is going to be a little less MPG from me, uh cleaning out the SeaFoam ;) but we'll find out exactly what these mods will do for my MPG the next tank, still has about a 1/2 tank of gas left in it

How do you figure?

Paper filters go 50,000m easy, in good driving environments even more. $35/$7=5; 5 x 50,000m = 250,000miles before k&n "saves" you money, if not longer. Don't forget the cost of the cleaning and reoiling kits! Oh, and the MAF cleaners you need to buy and use after the k&n gooks it up!

k and n gained me 2 miles a gallon in the geo after i put it in 52 mpg average, plus the old filter needed to be raplaced anyhow , so after 26 gallons i get a free gallon of 3.00$ , so every 1352 miles i get 3.00 back at 13,520 miles i got a free air cleaner, but if it didnt improve your mileage i dunno what to tell ya

the car would have to use a MAF first to gunk it up, & second, most of those issues are from people over oiling the filters, i've never had an oily intake from a K&N filter

plus i have a recharge kit, since 5 other cars at my house use K&Ns, so 10bucks for a recharge kit every couple years is basically unnoticeable anyways

ram-air picks up alot of dust & dirt fast, paper filters load up & start dropping flow almost immediatly, which in turn cuts down on power & fuel mileage, since the engine must work harder now to draw in air & also potentially sucking dirt thru the filter due to higher pressure(vacuum) difference on the filter

then if it does increase MPGs in her car, which i suspect it will, since its such an undersized filter for the engine, but i've now almost doubled useful flow, it'll pay itself back pretty soon

alot of the time, K&N stock replacement filters don't improve upon flow, cuz sometimes, the stock paper element is quite large & has plenty of flow capacity for the stock/given engine, but when the filter is quite small for given engine, aka like a Cavalier, the additional flow from the K&N is actully usefull, & don't forget about the rest of the intake design, some cars have horrific intakes, i remember a friends '92 Escort LX had an opening around 1.25" in diameter!!! right at the beginning of the intake...removed that piece along with the resonator in the fenderwell, improved acceleration drastically & MPG from now having a almost 3" opening for the airbox

ok, enough typing for now :thumbup:

Blah K&N... paper filters far out filter K&N...

Wow those OEM engineers must be stupid...

In the TDI community K&N filters are a big no no. Even when properly oiled, they have been known to kill MAFs due to oil contamination. It is also an established fact that K&N filters let more dirt through than most air filters ( http://www.duramax-diesel.com/spicer/index.htm ).

On the other hand it is true that they can improve mileage in a NA car, but at the expense of engine life.