[urq] K&N filters bad?

[Bob]

Some time ago a few of us at work got together and did some bench 
testing of the K&N and a couple others. I had a friend that worked at an 
HVAC place and had all the right equipment. In a nutshell, the 
conclusion was that the K&N flowed well, but didnt filter with a damn. 
There were particles getting through that would most definitely cause 
damage to a turbine over time.  The surprising result though was that 
almost no oil accumulated downstream from it.  I cant remember the 
numbers (flow rates etc) off hand but I can try to dig them up.

Bob

Jeff Roberts wrote:

>Once upon a time, there was something posted on the net about a company that
>tested the K&N filters for use in heavy equipment in a mine, or some such
>use.  They concluded that they weren't a good filter.
>
>This doesn't really surprise me, as the filters were never originally
>designed for these types of applications, or for use in street cars.  It
>just so happens that one of the two founders of K&N is a good freind of
>mine.  Way back when they started making these things, they intended them to
>go on sprint cars and keep the large chunks out of the engines.  As the
>engines were frequently rebuilt, long engine life wasn't an issue.  They
>began to use them in off-road events like Baja, where making it to the end
>of the race was the only concern.  Again, the filter was better than nothing
>but far from perfect.
>
>Now, you can get them to fit virtually anything and they are better than no
>filter at all but not as good as a typical stock paper filter.  And that is
>if they are used correctly, which is almost never the case.  Many idiots
>never oil them at all and those that do don't clean them often enough.  On
>many engines (not necessarily an Audi 5 cylinder) there is enough fuel
>standoff at certain points in the prm band that the filter gets essentially
>washed with gasoline, which does nothing good for the filter oil.  Take a
>look at a carburetted motorcycle on a dyno sometime - you'lll be amazed.
>
>When you are looking to find a better filter for your car, you have to ask
>yourself only one question.  Given that the car manufacturers are having to
>warranty engines on new cars for a lot longer than they would like to, and
>since the quality of the air filtration is a major determinate of engine
>longevity, if they could find a better filter than the one they use, don't
>you think they would use it?
>
>Go count how many engines are supplied new with a K&N filter.
>
>JR
>
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