shikbas

Hi,is it realy worth it to use the K&Y reusable air filters.

bizzy928

Personally I like to stick with the OEM filter. However a lot of people use the K&N Filter for increased performance gains via more airflow. (It won't increase that much though)

Don't be puting K&Y in your airfilter

Lexusfreak

LMAO bizzy!

I use a K & N filter personally, not much power gain, but ever so slightly fuel economy gain.

TunedRX300

I have K&N for better air flow and higher miles per gallon. Still have OEM paper just in case of a dusty day or a trip to the desert. You do let more dusts in with K&N but everything is relative, paper filter also let in particles. If you want no particles into the engine, you have to weld that intake hole shut but the engine won't run either.

HarrierAWD

My problem with K&N is that it lets in too much dust particles that are too big. While it is true that paper element also let in dust, but it's small enough to fly out through the exhaust. Big particles stay in the cylinders and scratch things.

I had the drop-in type K&N in my last car. It did not improve gas mileage nor gave more power. It's all psychological. It also let in too much dust that scratched the cylinders, causing lower compression and oil burning overtime. I would never use K&N again and advise anyone not to use it.

TunedRX300

HarrierAWD, did you actually see sandblasted cylinder walls? I plan to switch back to paper when it is summer but winter is fine in california with record amount of rain fall. As far as fuel economy, I keep a very details log of gallons vs miles driven, all I can say is K&N helps my RX300. I agree the HP gain is not big enough to be noticeable.

parula

Not taking sides here but isn't there a way to filter air with less resistance in this high-tech era as in the filters for household HVACs - why not just expand that type of filter and accomplish what the typical auto OEM filter does, or that coupled with the venturi mechanism to remove larger particles? Is a vacuum cleaner principle needed for this application?

HarrierAWD

Sure did. It was a mess though I elected not to have it fixed. The header was removed to fix a valve clicking noise problem. The tech looked inside the cylinders and told me about it. Therefore I'd never put it in my Lexus.

Amazingly the GM car still runs at over 130,000 miles. Still passes NY emission inspection. Though it burns about 1 quart between oil change - every 2,000 miles now because lots of blow-bys are getting into the oil due to the messed up cylinder walls. The oil is nearly pitch black by 2,000 miles.

Just pick up the K&N filter and look through it against light. You'll see holes big enough to pass spaghetti through. The filter oil cannot catch all the dust. Those bigger holes give the illusion that it's letting more air through compared to paper. Not so. K&N filter element surface is much smaller compared to paper. It's curved shape about 1/3 of an inch. Paper filter "zig zags" about an inch and a half thick thus has more filtering surface.

As for fuel economy, put the paper filter back the next time you fuel up, see if there's really any meaningful difference. I tracked my gas mileage when I used K&N and didn't notice any difference. I didn't put it on dyno, but if there were any performance gain, it was too little to notice.

parula

Harrier. thks for the information and your experience.

HarrierAWD

My pleasure. Just want to warn my fellow CL members about a *****ty product. Unfortunately I don't have a multi-million-dollar ad campaign budget like K&N.

TunedRX300

Paper filters better, no question, but if you ever cut open an used paper filter, you would wonder how air pass through that many layers. Replacement paper filter, OEM or aftermarket is a big $ business. K&N does hype up their products, but those who make paper filters are not clean either. As far as researching for better technologies, there is little financial incentative for them to do so. I use K&N during winter/fall, change oil sooner, and use a good oil filter w/ synthetic material to catch finer particles. But that is just me.

parula

If a vacuum cleaner http://www.factorydirectsuperstore.c...cuums/s143.htm filters 80cfm (just the first one I Googled) why is this filtering for cars still even an issue? It even has, "HEPA Optional certified H.E.P.A Active Filter is available to remove 99.97% of all particles as small as 0.3 microns in size, eliminate odors and filter exhaust air." What does a car engine need for cfm?

TunedRX300

An engine not only needs clean air, but it also need good airflow. If you have not noticed we are trying to balance the two conflicting requirements. Obviously we can't live with extreme cases like no air filter which gives max flow but zero filteration, or welding air inlet hole shut will give you max filteration but no air. Delta P accroess a HEPA filter would to too big if I have to guess.
Here is good web on paper, foam, and oil filter. Note the balance of testing on air flow vs filteration.
Filteration Test

dmc888

I am planning to buy a k&n drop in for my rx300 soon.

I have had them in 3 of my other cars. Very small increase in hp. . All made the car louder. Which probably won't affect the rx that much do to better silencers.

I will be removing the silencers.

Murrays actually had a display up. It consisted of a acrylic box with a fan and tube with a ping pong ball in it.

They had the ball floating in the tube with the k&n as the intake. The fan was moving the air. Me and my friend found a fram air filter that was the same size and popped it in . The ball dropped and would not move. So the K&n was letting more air in. But i am sure fram is not comparable to lexus filters.

TunedRX300

The link I provided is a good one, aftermarket filters give better flow, but not as big as we are led to believe; but paper filters also do not filter much better than aftermarket ones. Draw your own conclusions and decide whether a few hp is worth the extra particles going into your engine.