Which air filter to use?

[Chiketkd]

Originally posted by lee
not so fast my fellow 4.11 club member

A direct comparison can't actually be made between foam and pleated. If you think about it for a minute consider if the foam holes were so large that they resembled chicken wire - I think you'd agree that flowed better than a K&N (altho all the dirt would flow too).

To gauge relative breathing ability you would need to know the size of the foam pores, if it was constant through the material, etc. - then compare that to the denseness of the weave in the paper or K&N/Green/etc.

I assume nobody (on the forum) has access to the manufacturer's specs for their product, so the only (& best) way would be to flow test one versus another.

Good point Lee. Those pores will need to be taken into consideration in a foam filter...

-Chike

OK, so who wants to volunteer to do all the testing??

[lee]

Can an electronic wizz-kids tell me why there are no electronic/ionic air filters like on a higher-end home A/C units. size, airflow, power draw, etc....what is it.

[SVXer95]

My opinion on this subject is that it doesn't matter. It does not matter whatsoever. Use whatever filter you want, you aren't going to notice a difference. Take out the resonator, you aren't going to notice a difference(except sound). Can you feel +/-1 hp? No, I didn't think so. I have a K&N. Do I need it? No. Do I like it? Yeah. Why? Reasonably priced and I can clean it instead of changing it. As long as you stay away from cone type filters that suck hot air, you should be fine. Happy motoring.

[SVXRide]

Hey Chike,
Why don't you bring your old K&N with you on the 15th and you could swap it in for your second run and see if the dyno indicates a difference from the STI filter...
-Bill (sticking with the Green!)

[Chiketkd]

Originally posted by SVXRide
Hey Chike,
Why don't you bring your old K&N with you on the 15th and you could swap it in for your second run and see if the dyno indicates a difference from the STI filter...
-Bill (sticking with the Green!)

Bill,

I thought about doing it, but I'm probably going to put my old K&N up for sale before then - money I could use towards other winter mods. All the tests I've seen comparing K&N's to other filters only show the slightest variances by 1-2hp.

We could always compare your green to my STI filter on both our cars for the fun of it.

-Chike

[Chiketkd]

Originally posted by Ciscokid
OK, so who wants to volunteer to do all the testing??

Why don't you be the one to step in and do the testing?

Seriously, dyno pulls cost $135 for 2 runs. It's not really worth it to do a dyno session to compare a $40 air filter to another $70 filter when the difference between the two might only be 1-2 hp???

Bill has installed the $200 ECUTune Stage 1 chip. An upgrade like that is worth a dyno session in my book.

-Chike

[svxwill]

I use K&N filter but are thinking to go with a foam filter. and here is what i read from the foam filter website. true or bs

True Flow foam filters are made up to two part polyurethane foam.* The composition of our foam filters is a series of tiny interlocking cells of uniform size without straight through passageways, that create an impossible journey for dirt particles. Each passageway is like hundreds of very small oil bath filters or cells connected one to another. The cell strands stop the dirt, while the oil film holds the dirt like fly paper until removed when the filter is cleaned. This is why foam filters are referred to as "full depth" filters.* Foam filters are over 12 times thicker than paper or gauze elements, which are screens, or "surface type" filters.

[SVXRide]

Originally posted by Chiketkd

Bill,

I thought about doing it, but I'm probably going to put my old K&N up for sale before then - money I could use towards other winter mods. All the tests I've seen comparing K&N's to other filters only show the slightest variances by 1-2hp.

We could always compare your green to my STI filter on both our cars for the fun of it.

-Chike

Chike,
I like your idea!!
-Bill

[oab_au]

Originally posted by svxwill
I use K&N filter but are thinking to go with a foam filter. and here is what i read from the foam filter website. true or bs

True Flow foam filters are made up to two part polyurethane foam. The composition of our foam filters is a series of tiny interlocking cells of uniform size without straight through passageways, that create an impossible journey for dirt particles. Each passageway is like hundreds of very small oil bath filters or cells connected one to another. The cell strands stop the dirt, while the oil film holds the dirt like fly paper until removed when the filter is cleaned. This is why foam filters are referred to as "full depth" filters. Foam filters are over 12 times thicker than paper or gauze elements, which are screens, or "surface type" filters.

The problem with oiled foam filters, compared with dry paper filters is this. The dirty air enters from the bottom of the panel, the dirt is filtered by the under side of the panel. If it is a dry type, the larger particles fall off the under side of the filter, to lie in the bottom of the air box.

With a oiled foam panel, the dirt is sucked into the holes and stuck there by the oil. The larger particles are stuck there to block a larger area of the filter surface. Over time the foam filter will lose its capacity to flow air quicker than the dry type. As the air flow capacity reduces, the velocity of the air flow through the still open holes, will increase, to take oil with it, to coat the hot wire in the MAF sensor.

If you use a oiled foam filter, it must be cleaned more often, to ensure it still has its flow capacity.

Harvey.

[Chiketkd]

Originally posted by SVXRide
Chike,
I like your idea!!
-Bill

Cool. To keep things consistent, you can do the first run with the green and the second with my STI. I'll then do my runs using the filters in the same order. We can then report back to the forum...

-Chike