Do K&N air filters make a difference ?

Nissan 350z / Nissan 370z technical discussion forum: Maintenance, performance, installations, modifications, how-to's and troubleshooting.
Passion Red Z
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2018 8:19 am
Car: 2019 Nissan 370 Z Passion Red M6
Location: Florida

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New 370Z owner here. I just bought 2019 Z. Notice the two air intakes. Would any of you advise adding (2) K & N or Green air filters ? Would it even make a difference ???


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PapaSmurf2k3
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Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2002 3:20 pm
Car: 2017 Corvette, 2018 Focus ST, 1993 240sx truck KA Turbo.
Location: Merrimack, NH

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Not really... I use them on some of my vehicles simply because they are washable and re-usable.
We did an article on this a while back:
https://nicoclub.com/archives/kn-vs-oem-filter.html

amc49
Posts: 1183
Joined: Mon Jun 19, 2017 7:24 pm
Car: '11 Nissan Versa
'17 Nissan Altima

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Before I say what I will, realize it is only an opinion........................but they can damage your engine. They are fine once any over-oiling is drawn off but that extra oil in the intake air then pollutes your MAF sensor if you have one. It also gets on plugs to make them bang out easier until they burn completely off.

Once you run the engine long enough (a couple of weeks) pull the filter and look through it in strong sunlight, all the millions of pores you see are ports where grit can go right through without touching any oil at all to trap them.

Why the foam type that has a longer pathway that convolutes through the material traps dirt better. The K&N work fine when fresh and wet, it dies off once they suck to be drier past a point. The K&N are thin enough in cross-section to let dirt go past but the convolute in foam forces the dirt to twist and turn more due to the thickness and traps better as a result. I found that out after lots of use of both types on hotrod motorcycles.

The dry paper type is so much less work to deal with. And I have reused them many times by simply blowing them out every once in a while. They say you can't......but do you listen to the people who want to sell you the new one? I don't.

As of late I have even carefully used solvent to clean a Nissan OEM paper filter and it ended up in like new condition.......on car working fine right now. Used fuel since it contains ethanol, the ethanol allows the fuel to rinse off much faster and complete with water after and no blowing out at all to preserve the paper structure and a complete air dry. Idea worked like gangbusters, don't let the filter SIT in the fuel-get it in and out as quick as possible to avoid letting the solvents attack the resins holding the filter together.

Passion Red Z
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2018 8:19 am
Car: 2019 Nissan 370 Z Passion Red M6
Location: Florida

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Thanks for your responses guys. For the amount of HP you might gain I now believe its not worth it.

amc49
Posts: 1183
Joined: Mon Jun 19, 2017 7:24 pm
Car: '11 Nissan Versa
'17 Nissan Altima

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I bought plenty of K&N setups back when they were new and an unknown company but once they got the fat head to jack all prices into the ionosphere I went to other and what proved out to be better choices. The prices are often 10X what they used to be and I found the K&N were destroying high precision 2 stroke race motors (the grit slipping through the open pores eats the crank and rod bearings alive), dropping back to the foam type cured all that. You can't stop any dirt from going through the filter that is small enough in size to slip right through the pores without touching any oiled fabric at all. Like I say, hold the used filter up to strong sunlight and look through it, all things become crystal clear then.

chasracer2
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Feb 07, 2016 7:39 am
Car: 2003 GT350

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They don't damage engines - another f'ng wives-tale.

Currently have 147000 miles on my K&N setup and haven't had to do anything but a normal spray cleaning on the MAS at 50k.


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