CVT side air filter vs. engine side air filter

[Peter Aawen]

Is there any difference in sound using the K&N on the engine side.. one review i saw said it was a little deeper sound but noone else seems to mention it

That's probably because it's such a minor difference....

Sure, if you haven't lost too much hearing yet, then you might be able to tell the difference; and checking the dB's might show a measurable fraction of a difference; but really, any air intake noise is most likely going to be well & truly lost in amongst all the rest of the noises once you get moving! :thumbup:

 

[RykerRick]

This one is pretty interesting, its lengthy but thorough.

 

[ravensrest]

Great post, Rick. This test seems to offer more realistic results than the one I posted. Unless you are seeking out-and-out best performance though, it looks like the paper filters do a better job protecting the engine. They also have an economic advantage if you figure you are never going to drive more than about 25K miles. I am not a competitor, so it looks like I'll be sticking with paper filters.
BS

 

[Eckhard]

BS

The cynic in me thinks that these closing 2 letters detract from all of the letters/words/thoughts/arguments in the replies you post. If there is a significance to these letters other than the disparaging one please, please enlighten me.

 

[BajaRon]

I really like this guy. I've watched a number of his Project Farm videos and they tend to be quite good. But a big part of any test and results are process based. Good process, good results, and vise-versa.

The theory here is pretty good. But there are some unanswered questions in this testing. Like what is the CFM or volume of air being pulled in these tests? Does it match up with the CFM that the filter is designed for? A typical 350ci engine will draw about 400 CFM at 5,000 RPM. PM's setup could easily well exceed this air volume. He doesn't give a CFM so we don't know.

Paper filters are not much affected by an over CFM draw. But an oiled fiber filter like the K&N is because it distorts the overlapping filament pattern which will allow particles to pass that under design parameters, would not. If the CFM is not real world, then the test is invalid.

A second issue is that filters are not designed to have large amounts of material just dumped in heaps on top of them. They are designed to remove material which is suspended in the air as it passes through the filtration medium. This was not a real world environment and basically, invalidates the test.

Again, dumping large clumps of material onto a paper filter isn't going to affect it all that much, other than doing a good job of clogging it up. But dumping a pile of material onto an oiled filament filter is going to unnaturally spread the overlapping fibers, allowing large amounts of impurities to pour through. Which is exactly what the test proved. But this isn't the real world where your air filter lives. To expect any filter to do well in an unrealistic test is not fair.

Oiled filament filters may or may not do as good a job of filtration as a paper filter. But this is not an accurate way to test that function. This portion of the video is unfortunate and misleading.

I am not saying that you should not seek out the facts. But I would say that basing your filter purchase on the results of this video would not be your best choice.

One thing is for sure. If you plan on dumping large amounts of fine dirt on top of your air filter. Paper is definitely the way to go. But you'll need to change your filter as soon as you've done this.

 

[KnurledNut]

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• politics
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