K&N Cotton Performance Air Filters

[Nathan Richards]

Is it worth getting a cotton air filter?

Topic

[Reg]

Depends on what your motivations are. I’m more utilitarian so I wouldn’t use one since, despite increased airflow, they’re said to have poorer filter capabilities than paper filters. There have also been problems with the oil on those filters screwing up MAF sensors. They’ll make a turbo sound way more audible and I’ve seen some people post that they’ve run K&Ns on so and so vehicles for more than a decade without a problem but I’ll take a good paper filter over it anyday.

Your mileage may vary. If you do some googling you’ll get a lot of results on that topic.

For better responses from others, it might help to post what car you intend to put it in and what you’re looking for. Is it the sound, potential horsepower gains, etc?

I know for a Chevrolet Cruze I wouldn’t consider it unless I was sure its filtration was just as good as the paper filter, but that’s just me (long-term reliability oriented). On the other hand, pearsonba350 on YouTube put one on his Cruze and he seems to love it.

[ryan stuvick]

on average if you are replacing the filter with an oem sized filter, 3 to 4 paper ones in the trash just &for the K&N filter mine picked up about 2mpg

[Ian Williams]

You’ll possibly get more induction sound , maybe better performance and economy , be aware though that oiled filters can coat MAF sensors

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dan]

as many will tell you over and over again, it largely depends on what you want, and what vehicle you have, honestly just replacing the panel filter will get you noticeable gains in reality on most cars, and installing a aftermarket cold air intake by K&N can have varrying results.

[Richard Kirshy]

I install this to replace the bulky factory air intake,

several years ago, I also purchased the cleaner / oiler kit.
Twice a year I will wash and soak the filter, then apply a light coat of K/N oil and let it soak in to the cotton material as instructed.
Never had an issue with its performance or operation

[Samuel]

If you want a reusable performance air filter but don’t want to risk ruining things with oil, AEM has their Dryflow line of oilless reusable filters. They have both OEM replacement and pod style filters.

http://www.aemintakes.com/dryflow_air_filters.htm

[Author]

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