K&N vs OEM Paper Airfilters

[jcduerr]

I just checked out their website, couldn't find a retail price...either of you guys have an idea? I think I paid around $6 for my MotorCraft filter over the summer...If Spectre is a generic brand of K&N and cheap enough, it might be worth a try.

interwebs price... i have never tired them but i keep seein them on speed channel

http://www.sfxperformance.com/parts/Spectre/Air~Filters/page_1.htm
or

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/category_10001_10002_10269_-1_10267 and look for spectre

 

[LEB Ben]

Thanks Josh...now what I wanna know is why in that first link is the white 14x3 filter $11 and the red 14x3 filter $23...must be the dye

 

[1985 Ford F-150]

Mines the red one and thats the exact price I paid at auto zone.

 

[LEB Ben]

Aww hell...not AZ...I vowed to never step foot in a AZ or Advance again...but maybe I'll make an exception this one time...pretty hard to screw up an air filter right?

 

[jcduerr]

agreed its all recycled t shirts an junk like that

 

[Fellro]

Don't write off all AZ's, not all are worthless... but I know what you mean, even as an AZ employee, I have stores I won't buy anything from... but before I became an employee, I had found some were pretty good. It is like anything, it all depends on the staff, mostly the manager. The manager sucks, most likely the crew will. But I know we deal some Spectre stuff, but we don't stock a whole lot for filters. I'm sure we can order them though. You can just go AZ online too if you so choose...the good part about dealing local is they don't charge shipping on the special order parts. They do if you order online.

 

[LEB Ben]

Fellro...I used to be a dedicated AZ customer, but I wrote off AZ and Advance for a few reasons...1) Any of the stores within a 20 mile radius employ folks that speak English as a 12th language...and they ask me if I can repeat myself more than I ask them. 2) Customer Service went down the drain about 6 years ago. 3) The last few times I went, I was simply getting inferior products, constantly bringing things back because they were broken (spliced plug wires, shot starter) or they didn't have what I needed in stock.


So now, I primarily get my stuff from Dennis Carpenter (panels, tanks, accessories, etc.), Jeff's Bronco Graveyard (replacement mechanical parts), O'Reilly's (fluids, in a pinch parts) and on the rare ocassion NAPA because they're 2 miles from the house. The percentage I go to these stores is 40%, 50%, 8%, 2% respectively.

 

[1985 Ford F-150]

Yeah I go to AZ cause its close but I dont think Im goin there no more cause they never have anything that I need.

 

[Fellro]

Not arguing, I have certain AZ's I will not step foot in any more than necessary for similar reasons. It is tough to beat the quality issues, even NAPA isn't immune to them. It may be different down that way, but customer service is our priority, and our staff fully knowledgeable, save a couple. Out of the 3 stores we have in town, ours is the busiest, and we do have a store to avoid, and many do. Unfortunately, the managers decide to go with cheaper labor instead of knowledge... just not every manager does. Our local O'Reilly's and Advance are not well received, and quality is another issue there... the people are outright rude at Advance. Knowledge is a big issue at O'Reilly's... Just got a NAPA back, and I have had issues with Carquest quality as well.

 

[LEB Ben]

Not arguing, I have certain AZ's I will not step foot in any more than necessary for similar reasons. It is tough to beat the quality issues, even NAPA isn't immune to them. It may be different down that way, but customer service is our priority, and our staff fully knowledgeable, save a couple. Out of the 3 stores we have in town, ours is the busiest, and we do have a store to avoid, and many do. Unfortunately, the managers decide to go with cheaper labor instead of knowledge... just not every manager does. Our local O'Reilly's and Advance are not well received, and quality is another issue there... the people are outright rude at Advance. Knowledge is a big issue at O'Reilly's... Just got a NAPA back, and I have had issues with Carquest quality as well.

Yeah man...I wasn't trying to argue either...just stating my experiences. There is a decent AZ here in Knoxville, but they're on the other side of town and there are 2 O'Reilly's on the way. And I also know the quality of the store is based on manager's decisions...but all too often it seems like they're willing to sacrifice knowledge/attitude/etc. to save in wages. But I definitely understand what you're saying about the lack of knowledge at O'Reilly's...seems to be about a 50/50 split on that front...but the customer service is always great, and I typically research exactly what I need before I go in, so that normally helps out. On top of that, O'Reilly's quality seems to be the best in my area(s)...and they'll match the price on any similar product.

 

[1985 Ford F-150]

Yeah weve got a carquest here but Ive never been in there before I might have to try it out. Ours around here are fairly knowledgeable for the most part but napa is better.

 

[TexasNomad]

If you want to use a K&N style filter go with a AirRaid filter, they have some that are Oil less filters and they have a heck of a lot of filtering capability then a KN..

 

[Bob Ayers]

Ok, I weant a step further today...and took a close up of the filter media, as suggested by a guy on TRS. This tells the story of how the K&N "could" flow more air, with so little filter media area, and it also explains why a K&N doesn't filter well:

K&N filter media:

Purolator OEM paper filter media:

 

[TexasNomad]

Does Purolator make a round filter I could use on my Gen6?

 

[Bob Ayers]

Ok, just to continue the comparison. Plexiglass tubes were used to make smoke machines. Carbon resistors were used to generate the smoke. On one end of the tubes was the filter media, and there was a fan on the other end,
which was not needed. Just the convection air flow off the resistors (smoke went straight up to the filter media) was enough to see the difference. As
you can see from the third photo, the OEM paper filter media blocked the smoke, the smoke went right through the filter media on the K&N:

 

[CowboyBilly9Mile]

Ok, just to continue the comparison. Plexiglass tubes were used to make smoke machines. Carbon resistors were used to generate the smoke. On one end of the tubes was the filter media, and there was a fan on the other end,
which was not needed. Just the convection air flow off the resistors (smoke went straight up to the filter media) was enough to see the difference. As
you can see from the third photo, the OEM paper filter media blocked the smoke, the smoke went right through the filter media on the K&N:


*Pics edited out by myself

Gheez Bob, this brings back memories of me toasting 22 ohm resistors on the power supplies back in high school and stinking up the electronics lab

*On air filters, I wouldn't put a K&N on anything I own, right on down to my leaf blower.

 

[TexasNomad]

Wow! hey Bob can you make me a flux capacitor?
Pretty pleaseeee

 

[big5oh]

Does blowing smoke through the filter determine how well it filters out particulate in the air? Dust, dirt ect. are what hurts the motor, not smoke or other vapors.

I would be curious to see something like this done with particulate filled air. A paper filter on one side an a freshly oiled KN on the other.

 

[Bob Ayers]

Does blowing smoke through the filter determine how well it filters out particulate in the air? Dust, dirt ect. are what hurts the motor, not smoke or other vapors.

I would be curious to see something like this done with particulate filled air. A paper filter on one side an a freshly oiled KN on the other.

Think about it, it doesn't matter! The purpose of this was to show the difference between the OEM paper filter media vs the K&N filter media. And
based on the holes in the K&N media, it explains why you hear so much about
"dusted turbos" with the K&Ns. If the paper does this much better with smoke, it will do even better with larger particulates.

 

[big5oh]

Think about it, it doesn't matter! The purpose of this was to show the difference between the OEM paper filter media vs the K&N filter media. And
based on the holes in the K&N media, it explains why you hear so much about
"dusted turbos" with the K&Ns. If the paper does this much better with smoke, it will do even better with larger particulates.

That could be.

I am not defending KN or anything, but they are designed to flow more VAPOR than the paper while using oil to catch the particulate. Saying that the KN does not filter as well because it flows more vapor (ie. smoke) doesn't make much sence to me since thats what it is supposed to do.